A three-phase centrifuge to minimize waste from production tank bottoms and sludges: An economic analysis

The performance of a three-phase centrifuge process in separating tank bottoms into salable oil, brine and solids was scaled using the sigma method. The profitability was analyzed for a range of processed volumes for three business scenarios: producer owned, service company and a disposal facility. Centrifuge processes operated at full capacity in these situations may be very profitable investments but any investment decision should be heavily influenced by the annual volume to be processed, the quality of the feed and the price received for separated oil.