APPLICATIONS OF

9/12/2019 ELECTROSTATICS

Brandon Hall 6-2A

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 Purification of Oil
Electrostatic treaters are used in the oil industry for the separation of water from crude

oil before it is processed and used to make other substances and materials. Water separation

is facilitated through electric charges breaking emulsions in the crude oil. An electric grid is

placed in the coalescing section of the treater, which produces an AC electric field for the

separation of water in oil emulsions. The emulsion is heated then rises through the grid where

it enters the AC electric field. The water droplets are given an electric charge, which polarises

them. The AC causes the droplets to rapidly move around. The water droplets collide and

combine then settle to the bottom and are removed from the treater after separation.

Caribbean Companies which use this application of electrostatic:

 Petrojam Limited

 St. Croix Refinery

 Citgo Aruba Oil Refinery

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 Xerography
Xerography is an electrostatic process, which is used by scanners for dry copying of

images. The device that sees the process through has a selenium coated aluminium drum. The

drum is negatively charged under the positively charged thin layer of selenium. The drum is

then exposed to the image, the light part of the image cause the selenium to act as a conductor

leading to the positive charges in that are to be neutralized. The dark parts of the image leave

the positively charges areas the same. A dark powder known as toner is negatively charged

and attracted to the positively charged part of the drum. A positively charged paper is then

introduced to the drum where it will pull the toner from the drum where the image would

then be formed on the paper then it would go through heat treatment with rollers.

Companies that use this process:

Xeorx

CCL Business Technology (Jamaica)

 Inkjet Printing
An inkjet printer is a computer peripheral that recreates image and text by propelling

jets of ink onto paper with the use of electrostatics. Ink is passed through a nozzle, which

gives the ink droplets a charge. The droplets pass between electrically charged fixed plates.

The plates are oppositely charged which means that the droplet will be attracted and repelled

as it passes between the two plates. This is used to help place the droplets on the paper in a

precise location. There are a number of nozzles and plates at a controlled voltage, which are

used to reach anywhere on the paper. The computers instruction and the inkjet’s added

precision makes it possible for these digital images to be printed at a high quality
 Paint Spraying
The steel on cars are painted to prevent rusting. The use of electrostatic charge in this

process increases efficiency of the painting. The paint can gain a negative electric charge

while in the reservoir or as it passes through the spray paint gun, it will rub on the sides of the

nozzle and a negative charge. The vehicle would be grounded and positively charged leading

to the paint being attracted to the vehicle and sticking to it. The paint would spread out evenly

due to the droplets repelling each other as the leave the nozzle.