Lucid™ Separator
The industrial world is searching for improved means to treat the oil/water dispersions often found in refinery, oil & gas, chemical, power generation, pulp & paper, primary metals, and mining industries. Highly contaminated oil/water dispersions can involve process feeds, by-products, or valuable liquid commodity products, requiring them to be “upgraded” before they can be sold. These fluids, if left untreated, can negatively impact production, create unnecessary wastes, lead to longer-term performance consequences, disappoint customers, and erode your company’s profits.
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The Solution
Pall Corporation has introduced new fluid separation technology designed to treat oil/water dispersions. The ground-breaking Lucid™ separator has the ability to effectively remove gross levels of contaminant water or aqueous fluid in droplet form from liquid phase hydrocarbons and/or conversely, remove contaminant hydrocarbons from water or aqueous solutions.
This new separation technology offers a simple “easy to install” solution in a compact geometry that is self-cleaning, requires no auxiliary utilities, electrostatics, controls, or chemical additives to function. The hardware has no moving parts, is compatible with a broad range of fluids, and is resistant to even the most erosive solids. The totally enclosed separation eliminates the chance of foul odors or hazards to operators.
A proprietary internal “separator” geometry promotes low-velocity coalescing or enlargement, with discharge path for continuous separation of discontinuous phase droplets in the fluid. Fine-sized suspended solids are disengaged from the flow and discharged along with the discontinuous phase liquid material.
Description
- Separates liquids from liquids and solids from liquids
- Treats difficult aqueous and hydrocarbon-based fluids with up to 10% dispersed liquid phase
- Processes fluids with up to 1% solids
- Can be sized for particle removal sizes ranging from 20 to 100 microns
- Non-fouling - no replacement cartridges required
- Typically operates in efficiency ranges between a decanter and a coalescer
- Contains no moving parts
- Requires no electricity
- Enables a reduction in chemical additives in some cases
- Features all-metal or all-plastic construction – ideal for aggressive chemical compatibility and high-temperature service
Benefits
- Improved Fluid Quality and Value: Reliable separation of hydrocarbon – water mixtures will allow for recovery of valuable products and prevention of fouling and corrosion of downstream process equipment.
- Low-Cost Liquid and Solids Removal: The Lucid separator uses permanent separation internal parts that avoid costly replacements of disposable cartridges. This allows for a long life and reliable separation efficiency at a low overall cost of contaminant removal.
- High-Performance Design Results in Smaller Assembly Size: The Lucid separator’s proprietary internal parts and compact design promotes improved separation in a small economic assembly size.
- Lower Disposal and Maintenance Costs: The Lucid separator does not require any change out of disposable cartridges and contains no moving parts or need for electricity. As a result the operating costs and maintenance costs are greatly reduced compared to other separation technologies.
- No Fugitive Emissions: The enclosed design prevents any vapor leaks, reducing environmental non compliance and improving safety.
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Main Applications:
- Underflow brine from crude oil desalters
- Crude oil desalting
- Produced water
- Gas condensate de-watering
- FCC feed desalting
- Slops processing
- Hydrodesulfurization feeds
- Sour water feed to strippers
- Combined waste water streams prior to biological treatment
Other Applications:
- Aqueous washing solutions for pipelines, maritime tankers, rail tank cars, tank trucks, and storage facilities such as tank farms
- Blow down water from cooling towers
- Mining solvent extraction separations
- Quench water recycling in ethylene plants
- Pyrolysis gasoline treatment in ethylene plants
- Spent caustic waste treatment
- Decoker cutting water
- Bilge water and gray water systems aboard ships
- Cooling water used in the steel industry, e.g., in steel mills, rolling mills, and wire drawing operations
- Aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution/organic working solution separations
- Cooling and cleaning solutions used in metal parts processing and machining operations
- Alkanol amine and other gas treating solvents
- Caustic and acidic solutions – removal from hydrocarbon streams such as naphtha or gasoline and diesel in refinery operations
- Catalyst fines sieving from hydrocarbon/catalyst slurries or process fluids
- De-gasing of hydrocarbons with liquid or particulate removal
- Aqueous/hydrocarbon fluid de-contamination from pipeline "pigging" operations
- Boiler water de-scaling
The Lucid separator can also be used along with other technologies to create enhanced treatment systems:
- The Lucid separator used with de-emulsifier chemicals injected upstream in treating water - oil emulsions
- The Lucid separator used with chemical additives designed to move solids from the water phase to the oil phase and also the converse of moving solids from the oil phase to the water phase
- The Lucid separator used with micro filtration, nano filtration, ultra filtration and/ or reverse osmosis downstream
- The Lucid separator used with liquid / liquid coalescers, particulate filters and or adsorbent beds downstream
- The Lucid separator used as part of a filtration system along with cross flow or back wash to treat the concentrate streams
Piloting Capabilities
On-site test rigs are available to help you evaluate and size the Lucid separator to best meet your process needs:
Lucid separator - 35 bbl/day (5.5m3/day) model
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Product Specifications
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Lucid separator - 1,030 bbl/day (163.5m3/day) model
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Product Specifications
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Proven Results
The Lucid separator has withstood extensive internal and field testing. The results of those tests indicated that the Lucid separator:
- Will remove chlorides from crude oil down to < 0.001% - similar to two stage electrostatic precipitators
- Will remove oil from the underflow brine coming off the crude oil desalter down to a few 100 ppm of oil and grease
- Can process up to 10% liquid discontinuous phase
- Can process 1% solids without fouling
- Can survive repeated mud busts from the de-salter underflow brine without clogging

Samples of oil/water emulsion before and after treatment with a Lucid separator
Pall Corporation
A Powerful Resource for Control Protection and Teamwork
Pall Corporation brings over 60 years of filtration and separations experience to your plant’s processes. With the industry’s widest range of advanced products, Pall can design a system specifically for your plant, based on a thorough evaluation of your needs.
You’ll receive technical consultation and support from our Scientific and Laboratory Services Department (SLS), an extensive global network of scientists and engineers.
Pall continues to develop new products and methods to advance the state of the art of phase separation. No other company offers such a strong core competency in coalescing technology to help you reduce operating and maintenance costs through improved product control, plant protection and teamwork.
For more information, contact your local Pall distributor. Additional information on Pall products and services can be found on the web at http://www.pall.com/.
Part Numbers/Ordering Information
LUC
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(e.g., AAALUCBBCCS8-WO-FFF)
| Code |
Model |
|---|---|
| [AAA] | Description |
Code |
Shell Diameter |
|---|---|
| [BB] | Diamater in inches |
| Code |
Nozzle Diameter |
|---|---|
| [CC] | Diameter in inches |
| Code |
Material of Vessel |
|---|---|
| Blank | Carbon Steel |
| S8 | 304 Stainless Steel |
| S3 | 304L Stainless Steel |
| L8 | 316 Stainless Steel |
| L3 | 316L Stainless Steel |
| Code |
Separation Type |
|---|---|
| WO | Water from oil |
| OW | Oil from water |
Code |
Design Pressure |
|---|---|
| [FFF] | Pressure in psi |
Please contact your local Pall representative for inquiries.






