In this article we will be talking about oil/ water separator- a major stage in wastewater treatment and on the 2 major desalination processes.

When we talk about wastewater treatment system, oil/water separators are usually the first and one of the most important stage of any waste water treatment systems. These separators are designed to separate free and dispersed oils and greases (as well as gross quantities of suspended solids) from wastewater or process streams, making it possible for sensitive downstream equipment to perform as designed. A properly designed oil/water separator will reduce your overall operating costs and improve overall system maintainability. Properly designed, installed, and operated, oily water separators provide a treatment system for handling oily wastewater that prevents the entry of unacceptable levels of contamination to a storm sewer or sanitary sewer system. 

Oil Water Separators (OWS) are used wherever there is a problem of disposing of oily water, typically:

  • Decommissioning of service station forecourts.
  • Effluent treatment systems
  • Emergency clean-up operations

Humans cannot drink saline water but saline water can be made into freshwater, for which there are many uses. The process is called "desalination", and it is being used more and more around the world to provide people with needed freshwater.

Water demand is increasing with the growth of population and industry, particularly in emerging countries. Consequently, the necessity for seawater desalination plants is rapidly increasing. 

There are two technological possibilities for desalination: distillation (known as thermal desalination) or membrane. These two processes can be combined in what are known as hybrid plants. The water is first collected at sea, before undergoing several filtration stages prior to the desalination process.

  • In thermal desalination, the salt and the water are separated during several evaporation cycles.
  • In membrane desalination the filtration uses reverse osmosis, which consists of pushing the water under high pressure through a membrane which retains up to 95 % of the salt particles and 99 % of the impurities.
    The desalinated water finally undergoes various post-treatment phases during which it is re-mineralized and disinfected.

Watermaker is a device used for desalination of sea water through reverse osmosis technology (RO). Sea Water Makers (SWM series) provide drinking and process water from salt water. The small desalination units help to minimize the disadvantages of water scarcity by allowing decentralized water supply. 

Our units are ready-to-use, skid mounted and easy to operate. SWM production can vary from 150 to 10,000 liters per hour. Our system benefits are:

  • Compact design
  • Low energy demand, small carbon emission footprint and high water recovery
  • Low operational costs
  • Fully automatic, microprocessor controlled, with remote mobile monitoring
  • Compatibility with a wide range of water salinity, from seawater to lightly brackish water

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