There are commercial emulsion breakers available. Alum is commonly used and depending on the ultimate disposition there are skimmers designed specifcally to remove oil. Suggestyou contact some chemical vendors, run some jar test and then full scale. Dave Sullivan
try lowering the pH of the water. emulsions are typically related to saponification by lowering the pH you neutralize the alkalinity and reduce the surface tension.
In the treatment of wastewater from vegetable oil manufacturing, we de-emulsify the emulsified oil in the wastewater by lowering the pH to 3 then separate oil through a flotation type clarifier(DAF). The pH of clarified water is then neutralized before sending to the biological treatment. Hope this helps.
