Electrostatic coalescence
Electrostatic coalescence is the use of a high-voltage electric field to make small water droplets dispersed in oil collide and merge into larger droplets. Larger droplets settle much faster under gravity, so water separates from crude in a smaller vessel.
Electrostatic coalescence explained
The field polarises each conducting water droplet, and neighbouring droplets attract one another. In alternating fields droplets also stretch and oscillate, which weakens the film around them. Settling speed rises with the square of droplet diameter, which is why modest growth in droplet size has a large effect on separation.
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