Oily Wastewater Treatment through a Separation Process Using Bubbles without Froth Formation

Abstract This study seeks to investigate the use of a surfactant derived from coconut oil in the recovery process of organic compounds from oily effluents. To evaluate its efficiency in oil removal and its optimal concentration for each oil/water ratio, experiments were carried out using water/oil emulsions (50, 100, 200, and 400 ppm of oil) and produced water (50 ppm) in a small-scale column. According to these experiments, it was verified that there is an optimum surfactant concentration for each emulsion, and for produced water the extraction efficiency reaches a maximum value (80%) at a surfactant concentration of 0.1 g/L−1.