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Waste Treatment Methods 175
other. The effectiveness of hydrocyclones in separating oil and water
depends on a large number of parameters, including oil droplet size
and oil/water density difference, inlet water velocity, solution gas,
solids, and system geometry (Flanigan et al., 1989; Jones, 1993;
Meldrum, 1988; Smyth and Thew, 1990; Young et al., 1991b), Depend-
ing on the conditions, hydrocyclones can reduce oil concentrations to
10 ppm, but 30 ppm is a more common average (Simms et al., 1990),
As summarized in Table 6-1, hydrocyclones can also have operational
difficulties under some conditions. A schematic of a hydrocyclone is
shown in Figure 6-2,
Hydrocarbon Outlet
Inlet
Swirl Section
Taper Section
Tail Section
Water Outlet
Figure 6-2. Schematic of a hydrocycione.
