Patent ID: 7364663

Claim:
A method for separating an oil-in-water emulsion formed from micelles from a liquid system having an oil-in-water emulsion contaminated with a contaminant oil and suspended particulate material, comprising the steps of: introducing the liquid system containing the oil-in-water emulsion contaminated with the contaminant oil attached to the outside of the micelles into one end of a coiled, tubular composite filter media; introducing the oil-in-water emulsion, contaminant oil attached to the micelles and suspended particles into the side wall of the filter media; retaining particulate material greater than a predetermined size within the filter media; temporarily adsorbing the contaminant oil from the micelles on the fibers of the filter media; entraining particulate material less than the predetermined size in the adsorbed contaminant oil; migrating the contaminant oil with the entrained particulate material and transforming them into droplets; passing the oil-in-water emulsion through the filter media; and trapping and containing the contaminant oil with entrained particle droplets while passing the filtered oil-in-water emulsion on.