Flocculation and Separation of Oil Droplets in Ultrasonic Standing Wave Field

Abstract

A new method for breaking oil in water emulsion based on flocculation of droplets in high intensity ultrasonic standing wave field was developed in this study and the effect of initial droplets size, type of disperse phase as well as the time of sonication and the height of emulsion in the chamber on the extent of interdroplet interactions were investigated. The results showed that type of disperse phase affects the efficiency of separation process through controlling the initial size of droplets. For the two types of disperse phase in question the efficiency of separation was calculated to be 42.7% for canola oil/water emulsion and 37% for sunflower oil/water emulsion. The time of sonication was found to have a positive contribution to the percent of flocculation and coalescence, so that the largest aggregates were formed after 30 minutes treatment. Also, the optimum height of emulsion in the treatment chamber was determined to be λ/4 at which the strongest flocculation and highest percent of coalescence took place. Increasing the height of emulsion did not significantly influence the course of aggregation and separation.