Oil-Water Separator
Additional Information
1. Inlet and outlet piping enters the vessel through the top centerline of the separator per UL-58 requirements. This assures that the separator always operates full of liquid,
thus utilizing the total volume of the vessel.
2. Flow is directed towards a single corrugated plate at an angle perpendicular to the entrance pipe. This method of separation, known as the Buffalo-Morse Principle, serves multiple functions.
- It reduces the velocity head of the incoming stream.
- It spreads the flow out over the entire cross sectional area of the separator and prevents channeling of the flow.
- The plate corrugations create sinusoidal flow patterns, which cause solids to break out of the flow stream and oil droplets to collide and coalesce.
3. The second stage of separation in the PSI separator is based upon the proven
Royal Dutch Shell Principle of using multiple corrugated parallel plates. The parallel plate
pack in the PSI oil-water separator consists of a special arrangement of heavy gauge
removable corrugated steel plates. The plates are inclined at a 45 degree angle to
prevent the accumulation of solids and the plate spacing is large enough to prevent
plugging from debris and trash. An open area is located directly below the plate frame
to prevent the accumulation of solids in front of the plate pack. The plate pack provides a crucial role in separation so it is vital that this pack is located in the front end of the vessel in order to maximize the effective separation chamber of the separator. This is the case in the design.
4. The internal sludge baffle in the PSI separator serves two primary functions. First, solids are carried downstream in the separator by the internal hydraulics of the vessel where they collect in front of the sludge baffle.
The baffle is located directly below the access manway for easy sludge removal from grade. Second, the sludge baffle directs the flow from the bottom quadrant of the separator towards the top of the vessel aiding in the floatation of small oil particles in the flow stream.
