A coalescer is installable on a flow path for a target liquid to be treated containing oil droplets. The coalescer includes sheets of metal mesh with, for example, a plain weave, twill weave, or thick weave stacked on one another to form mesh layers and interlayer portions between the layers. The metal mesh has a surface extending along a flow of the target liquid. Oil droplets come into contact with either or both of warp wires and weft wires to form an oil film that moves downstream with the target liquid flow. The oil film grows into larger droplet particles at downstream ends of the mesh layers. The larger droplet particles leave the coalescer with the flow of the target liquid.

A separation apparatus for separating hydrocarbons and water, comprising a vessel (1) and an insert (5, 6) within said vessel (1). The has a bottom (7), a conical wall (8) and a quiecer (10) at the top of the wall (8), which enclose a separation chamber (11). The insert (5, 6) has an inlet pipe (12) for a mixture of water and hydrocarbons and a spreader arrangement (13, 14) arranged inside the separation chamber (11), which directs an inflow of fluids in a tangential direction, setting the fluids into a tangential laminar swirl. The vessel (1) has at least one manhole (3, 4), and said insert bottom (7), wall (8) and quiecer (10) are assembled by a plurality of generally wedge shaped segments (7a-l, 8a-l, 10a-l) having a size that allows the segments (7a-l, 8a-l, 10a-l) to be brought through the manhole (3, 4).

A process of dewatering oil sands/coal tailings includes generating nanobubble water, mixing a chemical dispersant into the nanobubble water to form a nanobubble-dispersant mixture, adding tailings to the nanobubble-dispersant mixture to form a nanobubble-dispersant-tailings mixture, and agitating the nanobubble-dispersant-tailings mixture to form an agitated nanobubble-dispersant-tailings mixture having a solid portion and a liquid portion. The solid portion is thereafter separated from the liquid portion. The agitation may be a centrifugal motion or shaking motion to agitate the nanobubble-dispersant-tailings mixture The chemical dispersant may be sodium hydroxide dispersant for asphaltenes and the volume of the tailings added may be substantially equal to the volume of the nanobubble water generated. An oil layer may further be skimmed off the liquid portion a polymer clarifier may also be added to the liquid portion. The process may be applied to achieve accelerated tailings processing for rapid and economic environmental remediation.

Systems and methods using: a membrane unit to treat fluids recovered from an oil and gas well are provided. The membrane unit may include a membrane having a porous substrate at. least partially coated with graphene oxide, making the membrane hydrophilic. The membrane separates water from other components within a fluid stream. The membrane unit may include an inlet to receive a fluid stream into the membrane unit. The fluid stream may be pretreated prior to reaching the membrane unit The membrane unit may also include a first outlet in fluid communication with one side of the membrane and a second outlet in fluid communication with the opposite side of the membrane.

A method of manufacturing a hydrocarbon absorbent structure comprises providing a lower sheet of material and dispensing a hydrocarbon absorbent polymer mixture thereon. The polymer mixture is then preheated so as to at least partially melt the polymer mixture. An upper sheet of material is then provided onto the at least partially melted polymer mixture on the lower sheet of material. The lower sheet of material, polymer mixture and upper sheet of material are then laminated together to form a hydrocarbon absorbent laminate structure.

A method of synthesizing a medium for fast, selective oil-water separation and/or oil absorption comprises providing a toluene solution containing a polymer or a polymer mixture; immersing porous wool-like structure (PW) in the toluene solution for a period of time; and removing the immersed PW from the toluene solution, and heat-treating the immersed PW to obtain the medium comprising polymer-modified PW, wherein the polymer or the polymer mixture is adapted such that the medium is a superwetting material that is superhydrophobic and superoleophilic under water or salty water.

A universal, scalable, solvent-free, one-step method for thermal annealing a stainless steel membrane to create a superhydrophilic surface. The superhydrophilic membrane itself, and methods for using it to separate oil and water in an oil and water mixture or for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and other organic contaminants.

A system and method for a gas oil separation plant (GOSP) that receives crude oil from a wellhead. The GOSP has a sand filter associated with a water-oil separator vessel that removes crude oil from oily water in the GOSP. The sand filter is a filter having sand as filter media.

This invention relates to a process for the recovery of cobalt ions and tungstic acid and/or its derivatives from aqueous solutions, such as in particular the spent catalytic waters deriving from processes for the oxidative cleavage of vegetable oils. In particular this invention relates to a process for the recovery of cobalt ions and tungstic acid and/or its derivatives which provides for the use of cation-exchange resins.

A method, a system and an apparatus for wastewater treatment using a combination of separation of fat, oil and grease (FOG) and biological treatment for reducing the amount of fat, oil and grease (FOG) in wastewater with the aid of a liquid culture of microorganisms is provided. In particular, the technology disclosed relates to a method and process for the separation and treatment of FOG, as well as a container tank and an outlet pipe construction adapted for improving the gravimetric FOG separation process and the breaking down of FOG using microorganisms.