PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE SEPARATION OF AN OIL / WATER MIXTURE IN A RICH PHASE IN OIL AND A RICH PHASE IN WATER

摘要

The invention describes a process for the separation of an oil/water mixture into an oil rich phase and a water rich phase using an inline separation device, an inlet, a vortex generating chamber, a central separation chamber, and an outlet and providing an oil rich phase discharge pipe and a water rich phase discharge pipe. The process further also comprising a) the provision of an additional tangential or axial inlet into the vortex generating chamber or the central separation chamber and introducing an additional amount of oil/water mixture tangentially and/or axially into the vortex generating chamber or the central separation chamber, or b) adjusting the vortex generating means to control the rotation of the vortex, or a combination of a) and b). The invention further relates to a device for carrying out the above process and to the use of such a device in the separation of oil/water mixtures.