ABSTRACT
Emulsions with surfactant concentrations higher than 2 kg/m3 were deemulsified with a combination of electrostatic and membrane separation tech niques, using the apparatus shown in Figure 38b. When the electric cell with membrane was operated with 1000 mL of emulsion for 60 minutes, 702 mL of oil phase containing 830 ppm water, and 134 mL containing 3.2 ppm tetradecane were recovered. The emulsion loss (144 mL) was due to the holdup volume of apparatus. If the electric cell had not been used for this emulsion (i.e., if only membrane separation had been applied), the aqueous phase could not have been recovered.
