SEPARATION CHARACTERISTICS AND PRESSURE-D ROP FOR DEEP BED FILTRATIONOF HEAVY OIL WATER EMULSION BY FLOW-THROUGH GRANULAR BEDS/

The separation characteristics and the pressure drop for deep bed filt ration of heavy oil/water emulsion were experimentally investigated wi th granular beds of glass beads and Toyoura sand. A mathematical model for calculating the separation process was proposed on the basis of d eep bed filtration theory. The filter coefficient was correlated by em pirical formulas with particle diameter, particle shape factor and sup erficial velocity. Furthermore, a calculation model was presented for estimating the pressure drop and the hydraulic pressure distribution i n granular beds by considering the deposition change of oil droplets i n the pores calculated by both the deep bed filtration theory and the Kozeny-Carman equation. It was shown that the proposed method was usef ul for predicting the separation efficiency of oil droplets and the pr essure drop for the separation of oil/water emulsion by granular beds.