Application of Coalescing Oil-Water Separators in Wastewater Treatment
In industrial wastewater treatment, oily wastewater has always been a technical difficulty. The KHC high-efficiency coalescing oil-water separator developed by SINOKLE Technology provides an efficient solution for high-concentration oily wastewater through innovative physical separation technology.
Technical principle and working mechanism
The KHC coalescing oil-water separator uses super-oleophilic hydrophobic coalescing fibre materials and integrates cyclonic centrifugal separation, wetting coalescence, collision coalescence and interception filtration. Its working principle is based on specially designed coalescing media: when oily wastewater passes through, fine oil droplets are first captured and adsorbed by polyester fibres and, driven by the flow, move along the fibres towards the crossing points where they accumulate. At these crossing points they collide, demulsify and coalesce; small droplets grow into large droplets, detach from the fibres and continue downstream, repeating the process until efficient oil-water separation is achieved.
The technology removes emulsified oil droplets larger than 0.1 μm, with oil removal efficiency above 95% and effluent oil content stably controlled below 10 ppm.
Core technical features
High-efficiency separation capability: special axial cyclone technology, optimised through CFD simulation to form a stable vortex flow field, achieves rapid separation under strong centrifugal force. A single unit can handle up to 50 m³/h with a system pressure drop of ≤0.05 MPa.
Extra-long service life: the filter element uses a modular design for quick and easy replacement. The special fibre material offers excellent wear and corrosion resistance, with a service life 2-5 times that of conventional coalescing elements.
Strong adaptability: excellent chemical compatibility means performance is not degraded by the presence of surfactants, so the unit can handle oily wastewater in oilfields, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and other industries.
Environmental and economic advantages: the purely physical separation process requires no chemicals and produces no secondary pollution such as oily sludge; the recovered oil is of high quality and can be reused directly.
Actual application results
In a coking oily wastewater treatment project in the petrochemical industry, the technology successfully treated highly emulsified wastewater with an oil content of 10%-20%; the effluent showed significant demulsification and all indicators stably met standards.
The equipment is skid-mounted with a small footprint and a high degree of automation, supporting rapid deployment and online implementation. A special sand-flushing and sludge-removal device ensures that the media do not clog and the unit does not foul, enabling long-term stable operation.
A coking acidic water treatment unit at a petrochemical plant and its treatment results
Application prospects
As environmental requirements become stricter, the KHC high-efficiency coalescing oil-water separator shows broad application prospects in oilfield produced water treatment, petrochemical wastewater treatment and pharmaceutical extraction. Its efficiency, stability and environmental friendliness provide reliable technical support for the green transformation of industrial enterprises.
Through continuous innovation and optimisation, the technology keeps improving its treatment efficiency and adaptability, and has become an important technical choice in oily wastewater treatment today, injecting new vitality into the sustainable development of the industrial wastewater treatment industry.
