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US 4,079,585 AGranted
Method and apparatus for removing volatile fluids
OwnerDonald Edmund Helleurinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for the removal and recovery of volatile or evaporable substances from materials containing them. In other embodiments, the invention is readily applicable for the simultaneous incineration and concentration of such materials, particularly spent water-diluted effluents from industries and municipalities as well as for the generation of electric power from various thermal fuels, particularly power gas produced from coal or oil. In further embodiments, the reclamation of oil, from oil sands and shales, is effected as well as the cyclic pulping of cellulosic materials with cyclic recovery of heat and chemicals.
Claims2
A method for the reclamation of oil and its energy values from material containing said oil, at subtantially any desired thermal efficiency, which comprises continuously
- (A) subjecting said material to a combustion step at a pressure substantially above atmospheric and with the aid of a combustion supporting gas thereby producing an ash containing an incombustible part of said material and hot radiant gases, which gases include water as a condensable vapor and relatively noncondensable combustion gases;
- (B) bringing said hot radiant gases into intimate and turbulent contact, for efficient and rapid direct-contact heat exchange, with a liquiform mixture of intermediate concentration which contains substances including water, oil, solubles, and various solid fines, and whose temperature is lower than the highest temperature the said liquiform mixture could have when in equilibrium with said hot radiant gases at said given pressure, such that maximum simultaneous use is made of the three main modes of heat exchange namely radiant, mass and conductive exchange, all within one given region by providing the required space, time and contact for (1) maximizing said exchange particularly said mass exchange, and simultaneously (ii) heating and evaporating said liquiform mixture, and (iii) cooling said hot gases and (iv) saturating said non-condensable gases with water vapor;
- (C) removing said heated liquiform mixture from said heat exchanger;
- (D) separating some oil and some of said solid fines from said heated liquiform mixture to form a residual liquiform solution of intermediate concentration and an oil fraction and a solid fines fraction;
- (E) flash evaporating said residual liquiform solution at a pressure lower than said given pressure to thereby (a) convert a part of the water present in said solution into steam and (b) further concentrate said solution and (c) cool said solution to a temperature lower than said equilibrium temperature;
- (F) removing and recycling said cooled solution from said flash evaporation to said direct-contact heat exchanger for further heating to said equilibrium temperature;
- (G) adding to said cooled solution, prior to recycling it to said heat exchanger, a volume of said liquiform mixture in dilute form;
- (H) removing a portion of said liquiform solution prior to said flash evaporation to keep the volumes in balance;
- (I) removing said ash from said combustion step and removing said cooled gases from said direct-contact heat exchanger to reclaim their energy values by passing them through a turbo-expander;
- (J) removing said oil fraction to effect said oil reclamation and removing said solid fines fraction to avoid a build-up of said fines;
- and
- (K) removing said steam under pressure from said flash evaporator and recovering its heat value as a process vapor to thereby establish said desired thermal efficiency.
9 more elements
A method of recovering in situ underground the energy values of materials containing oil at substantially any desired thermal efficiency, which comprises continuously
- (A) subjecting said material to a combustion step in situ underground at a pressure substantially above atmospheric and with the aid of a combustion supporting gas thereby producing an ash containing the incombustible part of said material and hot radiant gases which gases include water as a condensable vapor and relatively non-condensible combustion gases;
- (B) allowing said hot radiant gases under pressure to come into imtimate and turbulent contact with water such that said gases are cooled and become saturated with water vapor;
- (C) removing said saturated cooled gases under pressure to a direct-contact heat exchanger above ground and bringing them into intimate and turbulent contact with a stream of water such that said water vapor in said gases condenses and heats said stream of water to a temperature which is in equilibrium with said gases at said pressure;
- (D) removing said heated stream of water from said heat exchanger;
- (E) flash evaporating said heated water at a pressure lower than said given pressure to thereby (a) convert a part of said water into steam and (b) cool said water to a temperature lower than said equilibrium temperature;
- (F) removing and recycling said cooled water from said flash evaporator to said heat exchanger for further heating to said equilibrium temperature;
- (G) removing said cooled gases under pressure from said direct-contact heat exchanger to reclaim their energy values by passing them through a turbo-expander;
- (H) removing said steam under pressure from said flash evaporator and recovering its heat value as a process vapor thereby establishing said desired thermal efficiency.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.