Upgrading Petroleum Terminal Separators Using Coalescing Plates

Abstract

In 1999, a project was instituted to replace two oil-water separators at Mobil de Colombia’s terminal facilities in Cartagena, Colombia in order to bring the facility into compliance with environmental law. The separators were concrete in-ground pits equipped with rudimentary baffles and skimmers, as well as built-in tanks for accumulation of separated oil. They processed water from equipment washing, as well as from rainwater runoff. Inlet to the separators was by gravity flow sewers. It was suggested that it might be possible to inexpensively upgrade the performance of the existing separators using multiple angle coalescing plates instead of providing above-ground steel separators. This would also avoid the additional cost of pumps and utilities to pump the oily water into the proposed new separators. The existing pit separators were evaluated using a proprietary computer program and it was determined that the existing pits were large enough to meet the national environmental regulations for effluent oil content if fitted with multiple angle coalescing