The aim of this work is to develop alternative techniques for the treatment of waters heavily contaminated by oil. Furthermore, the treatment system should achieve high removal efficiencies even under unfavorable conditions, when oil is finely dispersed in the water phase and oil droplet sizes range from 5-30 mm and concentrations are between 100 and 300 mg l(-1). The first experiments were carried out in an induced air flotation system where a flotation column performance was evaluated in batch and continuous operation. The second system investigated in this work focused on the association of centrifugal separation in a hydrocyclone and the flotation operation. The considered system is characterized by the association of these two processes, resulting the set-up in a compact unit (centrifugal flotation system). The bubbles generation and the droplet-bubble contact are performed through a gas-liquid ejector, while the separation of the phase rich in oil (froth phase) is promoted by a hydrocyclone. In both systems, it was possible to reduce the chemical demand of oxygen by more than 85% and the oil concentration of an emulsion containing droplets with sizes between 10 and 20 mm, using Polyacrilamide as destabilizing agent.
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Melo et al. (2003) studied this question.