TPI [Tilted Plate Interceptor] separator also referred to as CPI [Corrugated Plate Interceptor] separator, parallel plate separator, or generally as the oil-water separator is designed based on “API421 guidelines for design and operation of oil-water separators”. TPI is designed for the separation of free-floating oil globules of 60 microns and above from the waste-water stream. The design is relayed on the density difference between oil globules to that of effluent water and is defined by ‘Stokes’s Law’ and is applied to the laminar flow condition.
TPI separator consists of parallel plates in the separation chamber resulting in the increased surface area due to the sum of horizontal projections of the corrugated plates added. 20 mm spacing is maintained between consecutive parallel plates between which the oil globules coalesce and rises along the inclined plates [usually inclined at 45 degrees] forming an oil layer on top of a process chamber. This top layer of oil is then skimmed off using a slotted pipe oil skimmer. Since the oil flow is counterflow to that of wastewater, the efficiency is at least 90%. The oil removal efficiency can be further increased up to 98% by adding a polypropylene [PP] coalescer mesh forming two stages of separation in a single TPI/CPI unit. The oil skimmer used in TPI can be a manually operated slotted pipe skimmer or a motorized slotted pipe oil skimmer, chosen based on the user’s requirements.
Since TSS [Total Suspended Solids] particle is co-flow to that of effluent flow, its reduction will be limited to 60-70% to that of inlet value.
Application: rainwater run-off treatment, tank storage farms, refinery, petroleum & petrochemical industry, oil rigs/produced water treatment, shipyard cleaning, train wash water, power plants., etc
