Gas flotation tank
AssigneeExterran Water Solutions ULC
InventorsTodd William Kirk, Daniel Clifford Whitney, Douglas Walker Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas flotation tank is provided that includes a series of adjacent chambers which impart a rotational current therein. Each chamber is separated from a skim oil trough by a skimming weir. Each chamber comprises an alternating fluid communication device between adjacent chambers allowing fluid communication between adjacent chambers in the form of a communication port in the dividing wall between adjacent chambers and a chamber outlet in conjunction with a perforated plate and the outlet is positioned in fluid communication with the final chamber. An optional coalescing media may be positioned in or proximate the communication port to absorb or coalesce contaminants as they pass therethrough.
Claims18
A flotation tank for removing a contaminant from fluid input into the flotation tank, the flotation tank comprising;
- a floor defining a bottom of the tank and a depending wall defining the sides of the tank;
- a series of adjacent chambers within the tank separated from each other by dividing walls, each chamber comprising a sloped weir for inducing a rotational current within the chamber;
- a skim oil trough spanning each chamber and separated from each chamber by a skimming weir, the skimming weir opposite the sloped weir;
- an inlet in fluid communication with a chamber of the series of adjacent chambers for inputting a fluid comprising a contaminant, the inlet situated proximate the sloped weir of the series of adjacent chambers for inducing a rotational current to fluid input into the chamber;
- each chamber in fluid communication with the adjacent chambers via an interconnecting passage positioned substantially towards the bottom of the dividing wall of each chamber and substantially opposite the skim oil trough, the interconnecting passage allowing passage of fluid from a chamber to a backside of the sloped weir of the adjacent chamber;
- a connector port in the dividing wall between two adjacent chambers for providing fluid communication between the two adjacent chambers;
- a fluid passage in the sloped weir of at least one of the chambers of the series of adjacent chambers allowing for fluid transfer between adjacent chambers through the sloped weir of the at least one chamber;
- and an outlet in fluid communication with one of the chambers of the series of adjacent chambers outputting produced water;
- a coalescing media positioned in or proximate one or more of the interconnecting passages for absorbing or coalescing contaminants as they pass through the interconnecting passage;
- wherein the connector port and the fluid passage are situated in alternating adjacent chambers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.