What Does
Separator (Oil And/or Water) Mean?
A separator is a vessel used to house or process liquid chemical compound mixtures. They are used to facilitate density-based dissolution of the two components of the mixture into individual units. Separators are very common in HVAC systems and in the petroleum and water treatment industries.
Corrosionpedia Explains Separator (Oil And/or Water)
Separators are used in general applications that require the removal of oil or water from any gaseous stream, such as in HVAC systems.
Petroleum separators are used to recover individual concentrations of gaseous and liquid products. For example, at some stage of the oil refinement process, natural gas and kerosene may exist as a mixture. This is detrimental because kerosene and natural gas are used for entirely different purposes by end users. Therefore, they must be separated before they are sold. Such a mixture is passed through a separator, allowing the natural gas to float to the top of the separator vessel and the kerosene to sink to the bottom. The two components can then be independently recovered and processed.
Oil separators also act as discharge mufflers to quiet compressor pulsation and vibration noises.