Dimitar Georgiev

Investigation on the Effect of Properties of the Filler on the Efficiency of the Separation of Water-Petroleum Emulsions

Abstract. The aim of the present paper is to select suitable filtering material which would be effective for the separation of the aqueous petroleum emulsion. Furthermore, the paper discusses the principles and conditions for separation using filtering materials of different natures. During the experiments, the influences of several factors on the degree of separation were studied: 1) filler material 2) period of contact between emulsion and filler (by varying the model emulsion feeding rate and reactor size) 3) emulsion flow direction through the reactor (to study the effect of gravitation during separation). The experiments were performed with a cylindrical reactor. It was found that the effective separation of water and petroleum requires periods of contact between the emulsion and the filler. Besides, filler should have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties.

Synthesis and Properties of Lightweight Geopolymer using Ash from Thermal Power Plants

A lightweight inorganic polymer is obtained using ash from thermal power plants, metakaolinite and lightweight aggregate. This inorganic material is activated using small amounts of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution. Processing parameters and various curing conditions, such as curing temperature, curing time and moisture, are investigated. Compressive strength, rate of water absorption and density of each sample were measured.