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AssigneeUnion Oil Company of California
InventorsGregory A. Gritters, John L. Featherstone, Jessie P. Reverente
Estimating the term…
A process for treating hot, pressurized geothermal brine in a liquid-vapor phase separator comprises contacting the brine in the separator with between about 0.2 and about 1.5 parts per million of a defoaming agent so as to substantially reduce the amount of foaming in the separator caused, in part, by steam bubbling through the brine. The preferred defoaming agents are polyglycols having molecular weights between about 1000 and about 2500, those agents having molecular weights below about 1000 being too volatile and those above about 2500 being too difficult to solubilize in the brine. If the separator comprises a draft tube-type flash crystallizer in which silica-rich geothermal brine is contacted with a seed material onto which silica from the brine deposits, the process additionally includes establishing and maintaining a brine level in the crystallizer causing circulation of the brine at a rate substantially reducing the rate of silicious scaling of inner walls of the crystallizer which would result in the absence of brine circulation, the established and maintained brine level being such that in the absence of the defoaming agent, excessive amounts of brine in the form of foam would be carried over into steam discharged from the crystallizer. In preexisting separators in which a design steam production rate cannot be attained because of brine foaming, the addition of a defoaming agent by the present process may enable steam production at a rate greater than the design rate.
A process for treating hot, pressurized silica-rich geothermal brine in a brine liquid-vapor phase separating vessel having a draft tube therein with a steam outlet port thereabove, the process comprising:
A process for treating hot, pressurized, silica-rich geothermal brine in a brine liquid-vapor phase separating vessel in which the brine is contacted with a seed material onto which silica is deposited from the brine so as to reduce silica scaling on inner walls of the vessel and in downstream brine handling equipment, the brine liquid-vapor separating vessel having an internal draft tube into which brine is introduced, and having a steam outlet port located at an elevation above the top of the draft tube, said process comprising providing a liquid level of up to 2 feet above the top of said draft tube, by, contacting said geothermal brine with an amount of defoaming agent causing the amount of foam formed in the vessel by the brine to be substantially reduced over that amount of foam which would otherwise be formed by the brine in the vessel in the absence of the defoaming agent to enable the establishment and maintenance of a brine level in said brine liquid-vapor phase separating vessel substantially above the draft tube top in order to cause improved natural brine circulation in the vessel and a substantial reduction in the rate of scale formation on inner walls of the vessel which would otherwise occur in the absence of improved brine circulation in the vessel.
A process for treating silica-rich geothermal brine in a brine liquid-vapor phase separation vessel in which geothermal brine, having a temperature of at least about 300.degree. F. and a pressure of at least about 50 psig, is contacted with a silicious seed material onto which silica is deposited from the brine so as to reduce silicious scaling on inner walls of the vessel and in downstream brine-handling equipment, the vessel having an internal draft tube into which liquid-vapor phase brine is introduced and having a steam outlet port located at an elevation above the top of the draft tube, and a deflector disposed therebetween, said process comprising providing a liquid level of up to 2 feet above the top of said draft tube, by, contacting said silica-rich geothermal brine with a polyglycol defoaming agent having a molecular weight of between about 1000 and 2500 and in an amount of between about 0.2 and about 1.5 parts per million of defoaming agent to brine so as to substantially reduce the amount of foam which would otherwise be formed in the vessel by the brine in the absence of defoaming agent to enable the establishment and maintenance of a brine level in the vessel substantially above the top of the draft tube for causing improved brine circulation in the vessel at a velocity which substantially reduces the rate of scale formation on inner walls of the vessel which would otherwise exist in the absence of improved brine circulation in the vessel.
A process for increasing the brine circulation rate within a geothermal brine flash crystallizer having a draft tube therein with a steam outlet port thereabove, said process comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.