BROWNIAN MOVEMENT
average behavior. throughout another substance). Although
Brownian motion, also called Brownian
movement, any of various physical
phenomena in which some quantity is
constantly undergoing small, random
fluctuations. It was named for the Scottish
botanist Robert Brown, the first to study
such fluctuations (1827).
If a number of particles subject to
Brownian motion are present in a given
medium and there is no preferred
direction for the random oscillations, then
over a period of time the particles will
tend to be spread evenly throughout the
medium. Thus, if A and B are two adjacent
regions and, at time t, A contains twice as
many particles as B, at that instant the
probability of a particle’s leaving A to enter
B is twice as great as the probability that a
particle will leave B to enter A. The
physical process in which a substance
tends to spread steadily from regions of
high concentration to regions of lower
concentration is called diffusion. Diffusion
can therefore be considered a macroscopic
manifestation of Brownian motion on the
microscopic level. Thus, it is possible to
study diffusion by simulating the motion of
a Brownian particle and computing its
COALESCENCE
Coalescence is a process in which two
phase domains of the same composition
come together and form a larger phase
domain. In other words, the process by
which two or more separate masses of
miscible substances seem to "pull" each
other together should they make the
slightest contact.
This is highly supported by the Brownian
motion in this case due to the
environment in which the particles of
water and gas (in a lower proportion
compared to the oil particles), bounce all
over the emulsion, making up small
packages called domains, the domains
formed need to be separated in order to
make “profit” of the materials obtained.
EMULSION
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more
liquids that are normally immiscible.
Emulsions are part of a more general class
of two-phase systems of matter called
colloids (a colloid is a mixture in which
one substance of microscopically dispersed
insoluble particles is suspended
the terms colloid and emulsion are
sometimes used interchangeably,
emulsion should be used when both
phases, dispersed and continuous, are
liquids. In an emulsion, one liquid (the
dispersed phase) is dispersed in the other
PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE
Medium-pressure separators usually
operate at pressures ranging from 230 to
250 up to 600 to 700 psi. This pressure
need to be regulated to prevent un-safe
situations for the personnel or the vessel
itself.
Heat as a form of energy that is
transferred from one body to another
results in a difference in temperature. This
reduces surface tension and viscosity of
the oil and thus assists in releasing gas that
is hydraulically retained in the oil. A
spreader plate that disperses the oil into
small streams or rivulets increases the
effectiveness of the heated-water bath.
Upward flow of the oil through the water
bath affords slight agitation, which is
helpful in coalescing and separating
entrained gas from the oil. This
temperature is stabled in the range of 50-
60ºC