Coalescence characteristics of droplets in insulated compact electric demulsifier

In order to increase the demulsifying efficiency of water-in-oil emulsion, a new compact electrostatic coalescer was designed by analyzing the force summing condition of the droplets in the rectangle coalescing pipe and considering the effect of the insulate coat and laminar flow pattern on the coalescing process of droplets in electric field. The electric field intensity and residence time can be regulated by changing the applying voltage and flow rate. The volume mean diameter of droplets were measured by particle and droplet size analyzer. The data of the experiments indicate that the electric field intensity can be enhanced by decreasing the distance between the electrodes, and the electrode plates with insulate coat can effectively demulsify the emulsion and avoid puncturing when the distance between the plates are relatively small. The results show that a longer residence time and a stronger electric field intensity can result in enhanced coalescing efficiency of the droplets. The compact electrostatic coalescer can improve the coalescing efficiency of water-in-oil emulsion and reduce space substantially.