Method of filtering oil from oil-and-water emulsions
AssigneeWhatman Reeve Angel Limited
InventorBrian A. Head
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of separating an oil-and-water phase from an oil-and-water emulsion, which method comprises passing the emulsion first through a wall of a prefilter composed first of fibres having an energy of adhesion of from 2 to 50 ergs/cm.sup.2 to form larger oil droplets, and, thereafter, passing the larger oil droplets and the emulsion through adjacent layers of glass fibres, to separate the oil phase from the oil-and-water emulsion, and then collecting and removing the oil phase, while permitting the passage of an essentially oil-free water phase of the emulsion from the prefilter.
Claims11
A method of separating an oil phase from an oil and water emulsion stabilized by the presence of a detergent, which method comprises:
- (a) passing the stabilized oil and water emulsion through the wall of a prefilter structure, the prefilter structure having a predetermined thickness and made from a fibrous material, upon which fibrous material said oil phase to be separated exhibits an energy of adhesion of from about 2 to 50 ergs/cm.sup.2, said fibrous material selected from the group consisting of polypropylene fibres, nylon fibres or glass fibres coated with nylon or polypropylene, said fibrous material comprising fibres having a dimension and a packing density such that, upon passage of the oil and water emulsion through said prefilter wall, oil droplets having diameter of greater than about 1 .mu.m are captured, coalesced and larger oil droplets formed and released;
- (b) passing said oil and water emulsion and the larger oil droplets released from the prefilter through an adjacent peripheral wall of a filter tube under pressure, wherein the larger oil droplets released from the prefilter are coalesced and the oil phase separated under pressure, as the oil emulsion and the larger oil droplets are passed through the filter tube wall, in order to provide for the separation of the oil phase from the oil and water emulsion, with the oil phase coalescing after passage of the oil and water emulsion through said filter tube wall, the filter tube having a filter tube wall and an internal bore, which filter tube comprises a plurality of nonwoven, randomly disposed, glass fibres having interstices therebetween, and said fibres bonded together at the fibre crossover points by a fibre-binding agent, the fibres having a diameter of about 0.01 to 10 microns;
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- (c) collecting and removing the coalesced oil removed from the oil and water emulsion and permitting the passage of the essentially oil-free water phase from the oil and water emulsion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.