Microwave Heating and Separation of Water-in-Oil Emulsions

Laboratory and field tests showed that viscous and stable water-in-oil emulsions can be demulsified and separated into oil and water layers by the combined process of microwave heating and gravity sedimentation. The process provides an opportunity for waste reduction and oil recovery from waterin-oil emulsions.The process was tested with bench-scale experiments using laboratory samples and sludge samples collected from a dump-site. The laboratory samples were 50–50% and 30–70% water-in-oil emulsions. The results were encouraging and consistent with the observation in field tests. In some cases better than 80% of the water in emulsion samples was separated.