Rimozione Oli e Grassi nel Trattamento Acque

Oil and Grease Removal from Waste Water

Sedimentation, flotation and chemical treatments: some of the processes, also exploited by MITA technologies, for the removal of oils and greases.

Removal of oil and grease: the need in water treatment

Industrial and civil wastewater can contain various pollutants: among them, oils and greases are particularly harmful when dispersed into the environment and critical within the treatment plant itself. Their origin can be threefold: animal, vegetable or mineral.

Both oils and fats are pollutants that contain fatty acids. In the case of oils, these are unsaturated fatty acids, that is, consisting of atoms linked by at least one chemical double bond. In contrast, in the case of fatty substances, we speak of saturated fatty acids, whose carbon atoms have single bonds between them.

Both domestic and industrial effluents can contain a large amount of these substances. As far as domestic effluents are concerned, they are normally products of animal and vegetable origin. In the second case, they may come from manufacturing processes, discharges from food plants, discharges from metal processing plants. It is evident how their removal is a must in both municipal and industrial wastewater treatment.

Rimozione Oli e Grassi nel Trattamento Acque

Oil and grease removal from wastewater: processes and technologies

Several processes are available for removing oils and greases from wastewater. Here are some examples.

  • Gravity Separation. Oils and fats are separated from water by gravity, taking advantage of their different specific gravity relative to the liquid to be treated Lighter substances in water tend to accumulate on the surface, while heavier substances precipitate to the bottom of tanks.
  • Flotation. Where the specific gravity of these components is lower than the liquid medium (especially oils), the reverse process to the previous one is applied: the substance to be separated is in fact floated to the surface, where it forms a foam that is removed. The special feature of flotation is that the separation process of oils and fats is accelerated by the formation of micro-bubbles of air, which, as they rise to the surface, drag the oil droplets and fat particles with them.
  • Chemical treatment. Oils and fats are oxidized or reduced by chemicals.

MITA technologies for oil and grease removal

MITA Water Technologies’ solutions for oil and grease removal include some solutions that are particularly popular with customers.

  • Lamella-pack oil separators. The lamellae in this solution increase the useful surface area for treatment. They combine high oil removal efficiency with their characteristic simplicity and compactness. If settleable suspended solids are also present in the effluent, they precipitate to the bottom of the tank.
  • Dissolved air flotation units. A device that takes advantage of the lower specific gravity of some pollutant components, aided by the formation of micro-bubbles of air that drag the pollutants with them to the surface. Excellent solution for the removal of oils and greases, as well as light suspended solids (fibers, etc.).
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