Material handling system for fluids
AssigneeThe Babcock & Wilcox Company
InventorsJames F DeSellem, Karl M Heil, Steven L Osborne, John A Kulig, Larry A Hiner
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Abstract
Material handling systems for fluids are disclosed herein. The fluid may be a liquid, solution, slurry, or emulsion. The systems receive as inputs the fluid, steam, and water. These feed into a surge tank where additives can be introduced. The steam and water are used to control some physical properties and enable the distribution of the fluid as desired. In particular embodiments, the system is useful for handling materials to be sent to a dual-phase fuel feeder for combustion in a fluidized-bed boiler, the energy being used to generate electricity or in various production processes.
Claims20
A fluid material handling system, comprising:
- a fluid inlet line;
- a steam inlet line;
- a surge tank having a fluid inlet port fluidly connected to the fluid inlet line, a steam inlet port fluidly connected to the steam inlet line, an additive port, a recycle port, and a fluid outlet port;
- a heater fluidly connected to the fluid outlet port of the surge tank;
- and
- a pipe downstream of the heater which splits into (a) a feed line leading to at least one feeder outlet line and (b) a return line having a pressure regulating valve and leading to both (i) the recycle port of the surge tank and (ii) storage for the fluid.
A method for preparing a fluid for distribution to a process, comprising:
- sending the fluid through a fluid inlet line of a material handing system that comprises:
- the fluid inlet line;
- a steam inlet line;
- a surge tank having a fluid inlet port fluidly connected to the fluid inlet line, a steam inlet port fluidly connected to the steam inlet line, an additive port, a recycle port, and a fluid outlet port;
- a heater fluidly connected to the fluid outlet port of the surge tank;
- and
- a pipe downstream of the heater which splits into (a) a feed line leading to at least one feeder outlet line and (b) a return line having a pressure regulating valve and leading to both (i) the recycle port of the surge tank and (ii) storage for the fluid;
- heating the fluid in the surge tank with steam from the steam inlet line;
- and
- sending the heated fluid through the fluid outlet port to the feed line and to the at least one feeder outlet line.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.