1Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering Alexandria University, Alexandria, 21544, Egypt.
2The Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultation Co., PETROJET, Hykestep, Cairo, P.O.B.: 2048, Egypt.
*Corresponding Author: E-mail: szkassab@yahoo.com
The present experimental study is dealing with the effect of varying the operating parameters on the performance of belt skimmer. The belt linear speed, belt inclination angle, and oil film thickness are the operating parameters considered in the present study. The results are presented for the oil recovery rate as well as the oil recovery efficiency. Comparisons between the present experimental results and theoretical results and empirical correlation obtained by other investigators are also presented.
Within the operating range of the considered parameters, the obtained experimental results show that the oil recovery rate increases with the increase of the oil film thickness and the decrease of belt inclination angle. The effect of varying the belt linear speed on the oil recovery rate depends on the range of this speed. Meanwhile, the oil recovery efficiency increases by increasing the belt inclination angle and/or oil film thickness and/or decreasing belt linear speed.
The comparisons between the present experimental results and the theoretical and empirical results show that the three sets of results have the same trend. In addition, there is good agreement, on average, between the experimental and the empirical results. While for lower inclination angles the theoretical results are lower than the experimental results. This trend reversed for higher values of belt inclination angles.
