Evaluation of a Dissolved Air Flotation System for Different Operating Conditions

One of the water treatment process used in the petroleum industry is the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) system. In this paper, an alternative from the conventional DAF equipment is studied which consists in the use of an extra air diffuser in the separation zone, in order to allow a better treatment. The implementation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to assess the flow structure of the DAF tank proposed. It was evaluated in three different operating conditions and as a result the DAF tanks operating as the study case III will present a stratified flow that could lead to improvements in the separation process.