Numerical Analysis of Emulsion Separation Processes in a Continuous Centrifuge

Abstract

The present article investigates the separation of a two-phase liquid system in a centrifugal force field on the basis of concepts underlying the hydrodynamics of interpenetrating and interacting media. On the example of a continuous centrifuge, a theoretical justification and quantitative analysis of the processing of a liquid (oil-water emulsion) flow in the working volume of the machine is presented. A numerical analysis based on the obtained dependences and process-specific operating parameters revealed the distribution and sedimentation velocity of the oil-phase concentration, which can be effectively used to predict the behavior of emulsion separation processes when designing innovative centrifugal equipment.