OPTIMIZATION OF RECOVERY AND CONTAMINATION MINIMIZATION FOR OIL PRODUCTION WATER

HYDROCYCLONES HAVE BEEN USED FOR LIQUID/LIQUID SEPARATION AND FOR DEGASSING LIQUIDS FOR MORE THAN FORTY YEARS AND MAY UTIMATELY BE THE UNIT OF OPERATION OF CHOICE FOR OIL/WATER SEPARATION ON OFFSHORE PLATFORMS AND ON THE OCEAN SEABED BECAUSE OF THEIR COMPACTNESS AND SIMPLICITY OF OPERATION. HOWEVER, FLUID SHAR BREAKUP OF LARGE OIL DROPLETS AND PERHAPS EVEN FORMATION OF A STABLE EMULSION HAVE LIMITED THE WIDESPREAD USE OF HYDROCYCLONES AS LIQUID-LIQUID SEPARATORS. NEW APPROACHES TO HYDROCYCLONE DESIGN ARE CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED IN CONJUNCTION WITH FUNDAMENTAL EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL RESEARCH. TO ACHIEVE THE LEVELS OF SEPARATION EFFICIENCY NEEDED IN PRACTICE, THE EFFICIENCY OF REMOVING PARTICLES IN THE SIZE RANGE BETWEEN 10 AND 20 MICRONS MUST BE INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY WITHOUT CONCOMITANT DROP BREAKUP. IN ORDER TO QUANTIFY THE EFFICIENCY OF PARTICLE SEPARATION, AN IN-SITU OPTICAL MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE IS REQUIRED TO MEASURE THE INPUT AND OUTPUT OIL DROPLET CONCENTRATIONS OF THE HYDROCYCLONE. THIS PHASE I PROJECT WILL MODIFY AND OPTIMIZE AN OPTICAL INSTRUMENT CONFIGURATION WHICH ADDRESSES THE HYDROCYCLONE DIAGNOSTICS QUESTIONS.