Electrostatic separation of water from oil

Project Title

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

Electrostatic coalescence was invented for the petroleum-related industries, and this method uses electric fields to promote the coalescence of small water droplets in water-in-oil emulsions. In electric fields, small water droplets move towards each other or collide with each other due to the electrostatic forces, such as dipole-dipole interaction and di-electrophoretic force, acting on them. As a result, the merging and coalescence of those droplets will increase the droplet size and eventually lead to settling and separation of water from the oil.

Project Objectives

Removing residual water from oil.
water separtion from oil through high voltage.
electrostatic method is used to remove water from oil.
the break down of oil can be observed under different conditions or distance(mm) between the electrodes.
the excitation frequency, voltage,oil flow can be studied.

Project Implementation Method

The method of Electrostatic coalescence is used in our project.Electrostatic separation is a process that uses electrostatic charges to separate impurities. An industrial process used to separate large amounts of material particles, electrostatic separating is most often used in the process of sorting mineral ore.The principle of separation is that as the particles to be treated are passed through an intense electric field each particle acquires a charge.

Benefits of the Project

The project have a good impact on Environment and society.
In industry this type of Tecnique is used to separete impurities from oil.
in petrolium and oil industry this project have great benefit.
In future some modifications is required to increase the certainity level.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

First of all, we will take a container (6x4x8) inch.
We will add oil (triacylglycerol) in it at a specific level (1000ml) .
Then we add some amount of water in it 250 ml
The container will have electrodes fitted in it.
We will apply variable voltage on the electrodes until enough of energy to the water droplets reaches to evaporate it.
We will have a water level detector at the bottom.
This detector will indicates the water level at the bottom through led lights.
When the water reaches at a specific level, the LED will glow .

Due to this, a high voltage will be supplied to the mixture through the electrodes, which will then evaporate the water contents.

Hence, we will get a purified oil at the end.