Combination of coalescing spheres and electric fields generated by matrix electrodes to enhance W/O emulsion demulsification

The demulsification and dehydration of water-in-oil emulsions are crucial to waste oil resource treatment. However, the single current process and its devices can hardly meet the demand for efficient demulsification and dehydration in waste oil resource treatment. In this paper, we propose a treatment method that combines spherical coalescing particles with a matrix electrode structured electric field to enhance water-in-oil emulsions' demulsification and dehydration process and improve the dehydration efficiency. Static demulsification and dehydration experiments were conducted on water-in-oil emulsions, and the results showed that the combined treatment significantly improved the separation performance compared with electrical demulsification alone. The dehydration efficiency of the bidirectional pulsed electric field was 38% at a run duration of 4 min, while the combination treatment was 60%, an improvement of 22% under the experimental conditions. The creative content of this work can suggest new ideas for industrial applications.