Gravity Separator

Gravity Separator
An invention by Saleam Essop of South Africa in 1991, developed primarily for the separation of oil from water. Environmental protection and conservation was the foundation block of this invention at a time when single hull oil tankers were prone to damage in turbulent weather as well as to damage from running aground.Its uniqueness was characterised by the fact that it could tilt on any plane allowing the separation process to continue. This feature was never seen on any device before. This made the separator extremely functional in reasonably turbulent water, a common recovery hurdle.The license was later sold to a Louisiana based company prominent in the oil rig construction industry who used the invention for the recovery of oil spilled from rigs as well as other applications.
In its simplest form, the separator consisted of a separation and discharge chambers with an entry port situated at the oil/water interface. Laminar flow was quickly established. Double cross-linked discharge ports allowed for the tilting motion up to 30 degree off normal plane with a roll frequency of 3 seconds while maintaining separation efficiency at over 80 percent.
ref: websters-online-dictionary.org
ref: US patent 5149434

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