Paper: Induced Gas Flotation Process Performance

Separation of oil and water has been important in crude oil production historically. Some oils and produced brines do not mix with enough stability to seriously complicate handling. Water in oil emulsions are more common than the oil in water type, often called "reverse emulsions" or "O/W"S". We will see, however, that there are problems in clarifying produced water, or more specifically removing trace amounts of suspended oil and solids from this water. This discussion will bear upon resolving the more stable dispersions of oil in water that are encountered in oilfield production practice. Therefore, it will concern clarification of that water by several methods including the induced gas flotation process (IGF).