Water treating in a vertical series coalescing flume

A method for separating oil from a mixture of oil and water, comprising the steps of:

• introducing such mixture into a series of vertically disposed compartments having bulkhead means disposed between each pair of said compartments, the bulkhead means defining an upper compartment and a lower compartment and blocking flow therebetween;
• flowing such mixture from the upper compartment to the lower compartment through a conduit having a flow bore and at a flow velocity sufficient to induce turbulence in such a mixture for such time as necessary to coalesce droplets of such oil;
• separating oil from such mixture within the lower compartment;
• flowing the separated oil from an upper region of the lower compartment with a riser means;
• receiving the separated oil from the riser means with a removal means;
• discharging all the separated oil from the series of compartments with the removal means;
• and
• discharging fluid from the lowermost compartment of the series.