Oil field effluent water treatment for safe disposal by electroflotation

The separation of finely dispersed oil from oil-water emulsion was carried out in an electroflotation cell which has a set of perforated aluminium electrodes. The effect of operating parameters on the performance of batch cell were examined. The parameters investigated are pH, voltage, oil concentration, flotation time, and salinity. The batch experiments have been conducted to optimize electrical input in the effluent. It was observed that at 5.0 V and 0.4A current is optimum and for this condition the energy consumption was 0.67 kWh/m(3). The optimal treatment time was observed at 20 min. Also oil removal efficiency is 90% at 4.72 pH in 30 min treatment time for 50 mg/l concentration of oil and 94.44% of oil removed within 30 min at 4 mg/l of salinity. It has also been observed that decrease in salinity and increase in oil content of the effluent enhances the efficiency of the electroflotation process. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.