Designs - Steel Above Ground

        MSR OIL WATER SEPARATORS ARE FOR ALMOST ANY SERVICE

        MSR Coalescing plate separators are one of the best ways to separate two non-mixing liquids. Almost any hydrocarbon oil and most non-hydrocarbon oils such as corn, orange, or other vegetable oils may be separated from water very satisfactorily. MSR has many years experience in designing systems for varying applications. Please contact us see how our experience can work for you in meeting your environmental needs.

        Coalescing plate separators can be used to:
          • Separate oil from wastewater as an industrial pretreatment system prior to directing the water to sewer or other disposal.
          • Separate oil from circulating water or other aqueous phase systems to remove the oils so that the stream can more economically be reused. A good example of this is use for machine tool coolant recycling.
          • Separate oil from water or water from oil so that either the oil or water or both may be purified and reused or recycled. It is also possible to separate a mixed oil and water stream to both remove the oil from water to low concentrations and remove the water from the oil to low concentrations in a single system.
            Design and Materials
        MSR designs oil water separators for all industrial uses from the simplest to the most difficult to manage systems. All of our industrial systems are custom designed to exactly fit the customer's needs. We can provide separators in steel, stainless steel, or aluminum as required by the needs of the service. Unless requested by the customer, all of our steel units are coated inside and outside with a chemical resistant epoxy coating. We also provide units in corrosion-proof polypropylene plastic - for information on these separators please see the Non-Metallic Units tab.

        In general, our systems are used in atmospheric design tanks, but if pressure vessels are required we will be glad to design separators for whatever pressure is required.
        Advantages:
        MSR Coalescing plate separators have many advantages over other methods of removing oil from water:
          • Coalescing plates are not used up like coalescing or other filter cartridges and have extremely long field life. Ten years or more life before replacement is common, making maintenance infrequent.
          • Recovered oil may recycled.
          • Coalescing plate systems are cleanable and can often be cleaned in place, making maintenance easy in addition to being infrequent.
          • Oils recovered may be recycled, minimizing waste.
          • May be installed in existing vessels, tanks, concrete pits or other housings. MSR will be glad to evaluate your system to determine if it would be suitable for such an upgrade.
          • Can be used in either atmospheric tanks or pressure vessels.
          • Possible flow rates are almost unlimited. MSR engineers have designed systems up to 20,000 US gpm flow rates.
          • They have relatively wide spaced plates which do not plug easily like coalescing cartridges.
          • No absorbents to be used up and require disposal.
          • They are suitable for installation in systems where some surface active agents such as soaps or detergents are present. Note: coalescing plate separators are not suitable for all such systems and special designs are necessary. Please consult MSR if you have a system of this type and would like suggestions on design.
          • Unlike cartridge type coalescers, coalescing plate separators can recover from large amounts of surfactants which would require replacement of cartridge type coalescers.
            Design Standards:
        All MSR pressure vessel style separators are designed to the ASME Section VIII code and atmospheric tanks are designed to AWS D1.1. Other codes may be used if appropriate. We custom design to customer specifications as needed.

        Standard Features:
        The MSR separator is an enhanced gravity separation system for removing oil droplets from water. The design utilizes the difference in specific gravities between the oil and the water to perform the separation.

        MSR uses one of several different coalescing plate designs to accommodate the special circumstances of different applications. The coalescing plates are made of a special oleophilic plastic that allows the oil to wet the surface and encourages coalescence. Two different plastic materials are available to fit any chemical compatibility requirement. The plates are provided with a precision integrally molded tab and socket system that not only supports them, but also ensures they are accurately spaced.

        The separators are generally rectangular in shape and provided with external stiffeners as required to maintain structural strength. Standard features are:
          • Inlet baffle to control flow upstream of media.
          • Two adjustable horizontal skimmers, one upstream of media and one downstream. If it is possible to get slugs of oil in the inlet, the upstream skimmer will be designed for high oil flow.
          • Integral oil holding tank
          • Coalescing media, either polypropylene or polyoxymethylene (POM) as required for chemical compatibility. Coalescing media provided in the quantity and configuration necessary for the inlet conditions so that the effluent conditions will meet requirements.
          • Oil dam to retain oil upstream of outlet (clean) end of separator.
          • Water overflow dam to set the elevation of the interface between the water and coalesced oil.
          • This dam is either fixed or adjustable depending on the needs of the system.
          • One-piece covers for strength and to avoid vapor migration.
          • Coatings, both Internal and External as necessary for the service and customer requirements.
          • The MSR Industrial Separator is designed to handle either gravity or pumped flow on a single-pass or re-circulating basis.
          • Systems are available in stainless steel or corrosion resistant plastic and may also be used in existing tanks or concrete pits.
        Optional Features:
        Many optional features are available with MSR separators:
          • Multiple rows of coalescing media
          • High capacity skimmers
          • No oil holding tank (tank is standard)
          • Cover gaskets and vent pipes as required
          • Floating skimmers
          • Belt skimmers
          • Outlet clear well for clean water accumulation
          • Outlet water pump system
          • Inlet water pump system
          • Outlet oil pump system
          • Level switches / alarms / controls
          • Experience and Design
        Our many years of experience designing specialty industrial separators in conjunction with these unique design features make the MSR system the best separation package available. Mohr Separations Research offers complete consulting, design and equipment service in removing oil from water. We utilize a proprietary process simulation program to custom design each separator so that you can be sure that the effluent water will meet your regulatory requirements or process needs. Please contact us see how our experience can work for you in meeting your environmental needs.