Removal of oil from polymer-produced water by using flotation process and statistical modelling

The objective of this study is to optimise the flotation process that separates crude oil and water from anionic polymer (GLP-100) via response surface methodology. Hence, a model was developed to describe the efficiency of oil removal under the influence of GLP-100 concentration, gas flowrate, and duration of flotation. Confirmatory experiments were performed to validate the model at a randomly selected point which was at 450 ppm of polymer concentration. At this point, the optimum values of the flotation parameters were recorded: 3 L/min of gas flowrate and 6 min of flotation time with 99% efficiency. The predicted values seemed to match the actual value with standard deviation 0.252%. The outcomes prove that this model can be used to optimise the flotation process in the presence of GLP-100 polymer.