A Few Design Pitfalls Of API Oil-Water Separators For Electrical Utilities

API Oil-Water Separators (OWS) have been widely used not only in petroleum industry but also in electrical utilities. This is probably because of the gravity design principle that can potentially simplify design processes, minimize power use and lower maintenance cost. In real design world however, it’s not an easy task to achieve these benefits without going through design pitfalls. The paper will examine various OWS design scenarios; identify problems with parallel-plates, improper channel configurations, as well as faulty inlet/outlet details. It is hoped that our design experiences will be helpful for colleagues in the same field.