Study on an improved rotating microchannel separator in the intensification for demulsification and separation process

An improved rotating microchannel(IRM) separator was further explored in the intensification for demulsification and separation process. Oil-in-water(O/W) emulsion system of 2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid-2-ethylhexyl ester(P507)–water without emulsifier was employed to evaluate the performance of the new equipment. In this experiment, the influence on demulsification separation process was explored by changing the geometrical structure and channel height of the microchannel and combining the liquid–liquid two-phase flow pattern, and the correlation general graph between demulsification efficiency and dimensionless parameters was established. The total demulsification effect of the IRM and the separation capacity of the clear organic phase recovered from demulsification are significantly improved. In addition, the liquid–liquid two-phase flow pattern of the clear organic phase after demulsification and the remaining emulsion in the IRM are observed and recorded by high-speed photography. The separation ability of organic phase from the upper outlet can be significantly improved when the total demulsification rate of IRM is up to 90%. There are 3 types and 6 kinds of flow patterns observed. The results demonstrated that the suitable demulsification performance is obtained when the liquid–liquid two-phase inside the IRM is in a parallel pattern. Finally, the relation map between total demulsification efficiency and the universal flow is drawn, which provides a basis for the accurate control of the IRM device.

Coupling magnetic particles with flocculants to enhance demulsification and separation of waste cutting emulsion for engineering applications

Magnetic particles were coupled with a flocculant to enhance the demulsification and separation of waste cutting emulsions.The optimal magnetic particle size and critical magnetic field conditions were investigated to achieve large-scale engineering application of magnetic demulsification separation for waste cutting emulsion treatment.The micro-scale magnetic particles were found to show comparable effects to nano-scale magnetic particles on enhancing the demulsification and separation of cutting emulsions,which are beneficial for broadening the selectivity of low-cost magnetic particles.The critical magnetic separation region was determined to be an area 40 mm from the magnetic field source.Compared to the flocculant demulsification,the magnetic demulsification separation exhibited a significant advantage in accelerating flocs-water separation by decreasing the separation time of flocs from 180-240 min to less than 15 min,compressing the flocs by reducing the floc volume ratio from 60%-90%to lower than 20%,and showing excellent adaptability to the variable properties of waste cutting emulsions.Coupled with the design of the magnetic disk separator,continuous demulsification separation of the waste cutting emulsion was achieved at 1.0 t/hr for at least 10 hr to obtain clear effluent with 81%chemical oxygen demand removal and 89%turbidity reduction.This study demonstrates the feasibility of applying magnetic demulsification separation to large-scale continuous treatment of waste emulsion.Moreover,it addresses the flocs-water separation problems that occur in practical flocculant demulsification engineering applications.