METHOD OF EMULSION SEPARATION

The proposed solution relates to the field of emulsions separation by filtering, in particular, to the field of cleaning liquids from oil and oil products, as well as from organic substances. It can be used in the oil producing, chemical, petrochemical, food-manufacturing, pharmaceutical, engineering and other sectors of industry, as well as in wastewater treatment systems.The device for emulsions separation contains a case, wherein the filtering bed is located. Granules formed from crushed particles of diatomite and burned at the temperature of 700-1,000 °C are used as the filtering bed, which ensure sintering of particles of diatomite to each other while retaining pores available between the particles.When cleaning water from oil, the filtering bed is pre-filled with clean water, which fills the pores of granules, creating zones nonwettable for oil (dispersed phase) at exit points of pores on a granule surface. Only then filtering of the water-oil emulsion through the layer of diatomite granules is started.Since the flow rate decreases sharply in the course of filtering in the pyramid-like cavities between granules, the dispersed phase begins to settle on protrusions of the surface of granules (primarily, in side cavities), gradually filling these cavities completely. When backwashing, the granules are shifted, spatial structure of cavities is destroyed, and dispersed phase accumulated in the pyramid-like cavities and on the surface of granules it is carried away by the washing liquid.The technical result of the proposed solution consists in the efficiency enhancement of the emulsions separation process.