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US 10,376,842 B2Granted
Non-dispersive oil recovery from oil industry liquid sources
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorsFrank Seibert, Stacy S. Truscott, Stephen William Briggs
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Abstract
The present invention includes a method and system for separating oil from water and particulate contaminants from a oil/water/solid mixture, comprising: a solid removal system for removing small, medium and large solids from a oil/water/solid mixture to form a oil and water stream and a membrane contactor system for separating the oil from the water in the oil and water stream.
Claims39
A system for separating oil from water and particulate contaminants in a mixture of the oil and the water and solids, comprising:
- one or more solid removal systems for removing particular solids from the mixture greater than a threshold size to form an oil-contaminated water stream containing residual solids only smaller than the threshold size;
- and
- a membrane contactor for separating the oil from the oil-contaminated water stream, wherein the membrane contactor has a shell side and a tube side, wherein the membrane contactor has a shell-side entry orifice for receiving the oil-contaminated water stream, wherein the membrane contactor generates a processed water stream having a reduced oil content and the residual solids, wherein the membrane contactor generates recovered oil on the tube side without needing gravity separation, wherein the membrane contactor comprises a hydrophobic membrane or membrane module, wherein the hydrophobic membrane or membrane module comprises a microporous hollow fiber membrane including hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers having a shell-side surface and a tube-side surface, wherein the oil coalesces onto the shell-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers in the presence of the residual solids and is collected at the tube-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers as the recovered oil, wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is free of the residual solids, wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is mixed with a counterflowing recovery fluid, and wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is separated from the water from the oil-contaminated water stream.
A method for removing oil from particulate and solid contaminants from a flowing mixture of the oil and water and solids, the method comprising:
- removing particular solids from the flowing mixture greater than a threshold size with one or more solid removal systems to form an oil-contaminated water stream containing residual solids passing into a membrane contactor having a shell side and a tube side, wherein the membrane contactor comprises a hydrophobic membrane or membrane module, and wherein the hydrophobic membrane or membrane module comprises a microporous hollow fiber membrane including hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers;
- flowing the oil-contaminated water stream into a shell-side entry orifice of the membrane contactor so that the oil-contaminated water stream contacts a shell-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers and droplets of oil present in the oil-contaminated water stream coalesce onto the shell-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers in the presence of the residual solids and, thereby generating a processed water stream having a reduced oil content and the residual solids;
- collecting recovered oil at a tube side surface, wherein the recovered oil corresponds to oil coalesced from the oil-contaminated water stream at the shell-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers, wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is free of the residual solids, wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is mixed with a counterflowing recovery fluid, and wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is removed from the water from the oil-contaminated water stream.
A method for separating oil from water and particulate contaminants from a mixture of the oil and the water and solids, comprising:
- removing particular solids greater than a threshold size from the mixture to form an oil-contaminated water stream having residual solids, wherein the removing includes using at least one of a hydrocyclone, a sand filter, a rock filter, a porous ceramic material, a centrifuge, a mesh, a particulate filter, a sieve, a strainer, or gravity;
- flowing the oil-contaminated water stream into a shell-side entry orifice of a hollow fiber membrane contactor having a shell side and a tube side, wherein the hollow fiber membrane contactor comprises a hydrophobic membrane or membrane module, wherein the hydrophobic membrane or membrane module comprises a microporous hollow fiber membrane including hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers;
- contacting a shell-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers with the oil-contaminated water stream so that droplets of oil present in the oil-contaminated water stream coalesce onto the shell-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers in the presence of the residual solids, thereby generating a processed water stream having a reduced oil content and the residual solids;
- and
- collecting recovered oil on the tube side, wherein the recovered oil corresponds to coalesced oil from the oil-contaminated water stream that passes from the shell-side surface to a tube-side surface of the hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers in the presence of the residual solids, wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is free of the residual solids, wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is mixed with a counterflowing recovery fluid, and wherein the recovered oil collected at the tube-side surface is separated from the water from the oil-contaminated water stream.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.