Evaluation of oil/water separators units in industrial effluents using radioactive tracers

In this work is presented a methodology to study and evaluate with radioactive tracers oil/water separators in industrial sewage treatment plants. These units are present, mainly in the petrochemical industry, make possible to remove residues of organic phase present in the effluent and allow to reusing the water in other operations. As radioactive tracers we use 82 Br for the aqueous phase and 123 I for organic phase and two radioactive detectors ( NaI 2x2) register the displacement of the tracers in the unit. With this methodology was possible to analyze the response of the unit in various experimental situations and identify problems in its operation which interfere in the final quality of the effluent treatment. (author)