Advancement of oil and water separating materials brings benefits and demerits to real time applications in today’s world. Separating oil from water is essential in the refined petroleum market. The material is extracted with the aid of a mechanical or chemical process. However, there are many factors that affect the performance of these separation processes.
Factors for considering Mechanical separation
Mechanical separation methods include mechanical vacuum, pressurized gas, gravity, or oil and water separation through super-fine grain boundary operations. The mechanical separation of materials requires high-pressure and high-water temperatures and other pumping actions. This results in the separation of aqueous humor from the receiving solution. Mechanical separation can also be achieved by physical means such as heat shock, alkaline shock, ultrasonic, or bubble jetting. The mechanical separation of materials used in surface engineering includes sand filtration, abrasive blasting, abrasive rolling, and chemical precipitation techniques.
On the other hand, low-molecular weight polymers are ideal for recycling and other remediation processes. As a result, low-molecular weight polymers are used as solid waste dilution and as aquaculture bait. In addition, low-molecular weight polymers offer many benefits such as reduced costs, increased processing times, reduced packaging, and increased product life. Furthermore, low-molecular weight polymers are useful in the production of anti-carcinogens, anti-freeze, plastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, lubricants, synthetic rubbers, thermosets, and synthetic fibers. With the use of a single-stream recycling system, separation of materials such as oils, grease, diesel, epoxy, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and vegetable oil is possible. The benefits of single-stream recycling systems are:
With one stream separation, there is only one container required to separate materials, making it more efficient than most other methods of recycling. It also creates an environment-friendly approach to recycling because the separating liquids and greases from different materials do not create additional chemicals. Separating materials in this manner, does not pollute the environment. Furthermore, in single-stream recycling, material parts are recycled into new products. This allows reuse of materials reducing landfill waste and therefore effectively reduces greenhouse gases.
There are three types of separating material processes. The least expensive procedure, which is known as bag flow, uses screen equipment in the line of aisle or in the receiving bin. The second process uses a chute or slide to separate liquids from greasy or oily materials. The third process, known as solid waste removal, uses a slurry pump or filter paper to separate solids from liquids or greasy materials. In order to separate materials using these three different methods, special filtering equipment must be used.
