Patent ID: 7118670

Claim:
An oil and water separator comprising a horizontal cylindrical vessel closed on both ends with an inlet conduit adjacent one end for receiving a constant flowing mixture of oil and water and an oil outlet conduit in an upper region of the other end for discharging water free oil from said vessel and a water outlet conduit in a lower region of the other end for discharging oil free water from said vessel, and within said vessel intersecting said constant flowing mixture, a permeable baffle constructed in such a way as to apply a principle of capillary attraction to cause non-continuous phase fluids to be separated from continuous phase fluids and, on a downstream side of said permeable baffle, an upper permeable barrier disposed transverse to and in a horizontal oil flow oath of the separator and a lower permeable barrier disposed below said upper permeable barrier and transverse to and in a horizontal water flow oath in the separator, wherein a permeability of said upper permeable barrier and a permeability of said lower permeable barrier may be discretely adjusted relative one another to accommodate a variation of flow characteristics of said oil and said water.