Process for magnetically stabilizing contactor columns containing immiscible fluids
AssigneeExxon Research & Engineering Co.
InventorsGeorge Ciprios, Ronald E. Rosensweig
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Abstract
This invention relates to a process for magnetically stabilizing the operation of contactor columns containing immiscible fluids passing in dispersed countercurrent flow. The process operates by including, in an appropriate fluid phase, a magnetizable component in an amount which does not substantially change the nature of the liquid in that phase and, further, imposing upon at least a portion of the column containing dispersed phases, a magnetic field sufficient to result in substantially diminished radial mixing of the phase containing the magnetizable substance and diminished coalescence of the dispersed phase. The phase containing the magnetizable component passes through the stabilized zone in substantial plug flow.
Claims14
A method for stabilizing a contacting zone wherein a first and a second fluid, which are substantially immiscible, are contacted in said zone, comprising the steps of:
- adding a sufficient amount of a magnetizable material to one of said first or second fluids;
- dispersing one of said fluids into the other;
- maintaining a magnetic field about at least a portion of the contacting zone, said magnetic field having sufficient strength to prevent substantial axial or radial mixing of the first or second fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.