Oil Water Separation Using a Mobile Centrifuge

I think I see what you are getting at.

I picture a large open circle (cone or semisphere), with water pumps causing the water to rotate. I don't know for sure, but would it vortex and begin pushing water down through the a hole in the center while spinning oil to the collectors at the rim?

I don't think it would be necessary to go to such extreems.

Ordinary oil water separators merely use a multiple chamber method where water / oil mix is deposited in the first chamber and water is allowed to flow to secondary chambers by pipes at the bottom. This could be done with a wide V shaped skimmer on the front of a ship and water could exit the bottom while oil is collected at the vertex of the V. I picture several of these staggered like snow plows in an interstate.

I havn't looked into the type of skimmers they use, I have only seen small scale ones that utilize a drum and squeegee. The drum sits half way in the water and is spun, the squeegee scrapes the oil from the surface and collects it in a hose connected to a vacuum truck.

I don't think the problem is on how to collect the oil from the Gulf, it is the quantity of oil there is. They just don't have enough collectors out there to handle 200k per day.

Drew

http://www.celicahobby.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=57266&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=2&o=&fpart=1

This makes the Exxon Valdez spill look like a drip.

I'd say that the 200,000 gallons/day leaking roughly equates to the dollar amount the lawyers are already making on this.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VH4-3VWNFHH-H&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1996&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1321034756&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=be3a39830b0b08dda7133d02cc0ceb9f

http://www.directindustry.com/cat/machines-and-equipment-waste-water-management/liquid-liquid-liquid-gas-separators-oil-skimmers-coalescers-AP-780.html

An Alfa-Laval MAB 209 is rated at 53 gpm. The oil leak in question has been estimated at 137 gpm, but it may be hard to quantify how much oil versus water can be collected, and over how wide an area.

It is probably too optimistic to envision a relatively narrow plume of oil rising the surface, surrounding it with a boom before it spreads rapidly on the surface, and then centrifuging it.

Even if the idea proves impractical, it is good to see it brought forth for consideration.

if it stays together as a plume before it gets to the surface lower pipes inot centre of plume and suck it into taker for processing later ?

even if possible lower suction pipes down close to rupture and suck from there to try and contain

Place non cutting explosive charge( possibly slow speed front explosive ) on good section of pipe and flatten it to restrict or stop flow to buy time

http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=40&contentId=7061696

I like the idea. I wonder if centrifuging is necessary though. Can you just let it settle in a tank and pump the water from the bottom of the tank? Not perfect but cheap and fast and gets most of the separation done.

The comment about collection and not separation being the main issue is quite correct. Corralling a hundred square miles of oil slick seems to be a tricky task requiring more vessels, sea curtains and skimmers than are currently available.

Cheers, Turk !

<...What would it take to power such a device?...>

→ Perry, "The Chemical Engineer's Handbook", any edition.

OK so you pull up to the oil spill with your ship with several cargo holds, start skimming oil and seperating into holds. You go to shore with a ship load of oil eventually and find a refinery to process it ?

Whose oil is this anyway ? Is it free for the taking ?

What about what washes ashore ?

From satelites they have been seeing oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico and off California for years,

Why aren't there oil prospectors cleaning up on this "waste oil" ?

Having had similiar ideas I want to say it needs be based on volumne. That said if the collector is a floating unit, much like a drain in a bath that allows fluid to come over the top, than a pump can collect. The issue is collecting all fluid. So if our output in oil is X than we process fluid at 10X.

Basically knowing that with our pumps and process we collect 10 times the fluid of the bad stuff. Not an ideal but it than allows for rougher seas, and especially in inland areas could capture more fluid.

Multiple units as stated, look at how vacumn dredging works, with system of pipes floating to tanks and barges and or sewer cleaners.

In July 2010, Florida-based Enviro Voraxial Technology (EVTN) announced that it has received a purchase order from BP for an underwater version of its Voraxial 4000 Separator. Mounted on a skimmer vessel, the machine takes oil-laden water from the sea and spins it at high speed in a central cylindrical chamber. The resulting centrifugal force pulls the water to the outer edges of the chamber, leaving the oil in the middle. Once separated, that oil is then captured and stored in onboard holding tanks, while the water flows back into the ocean. BP wishes to try out their single 4000 on a trial basis, with an eye towards using multiple machines for cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

According to EVTN, oil-skimming vessels using its invention can operate for ten times longer than other vessels. This, the company claims, is because the oil a Voraxial Separator collects is much more concentrated than the oil/water mixture obtained by other systems, taking up one-tenth the amount of space in the holding tanks – while other oil-skimming vessels need to go back to shore to empty their tanks, a Voraxial-equipped vessel can keep going.

EVTN also maintains that due to the small physical footprint and low energy requirements of the various Voraxial models, almost any type of boat can be converted into an oil skimmer. A fishing boat, for example, could reportedly be equipped with two 4000's, processing over 1.4 million gallons (5.3 million liters) of oil and water a day.

The company is currently developing its own, ready-to-go oil skimming vessel. At under 40 feet (12 meters) in length, it would utilize two 4000's. A similar planned vessel would sport dual 8000's, capable of processing 14 million gallons (53 million liters) of oily water per day. EVTN proposes that drilling rigs, tankers and marinas could keep such a vessel on standby, ready to spring into action as soon as oil is spilled.