Process for removing oil from liquefied petroleum gas
AssigneePhillips Petroleum Company
InventorJohn W. O'Connor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention concerns a process and apparatus for removing oil from liquefied petroleum gases. In a preferred embodiment, the activated carbon bed is pretreated with odorant thereby enabling oil to be removed from odorized liquefied petroleum gases with negligible removal of odorant.
Claims5
A process for removing oil from an oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas comprising the steps of
- (a) removing water and air from an activated carbon wherein said removing step is comprised of:
- (i) contacting at least a portion of the activated carbon with anhydrous methanol;
- (ii) displacing a majority of the air from the activated carbon with a gaseous liquefied petroleum gas;
- (iii) pressurizing the gaseous liquefied petroleum gas in the activated carbon to a pressure such that the liquefied petroleum gas exists stably in a liquid state;
- and
- (iv) displacing a majority of the water and methanol with liquefied petroleum gas;
- and
- (b) contacting said oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas with activated carbon wherein air and water have been removed according to step (a).
A process for removing oil from an oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas comprising the steps of
- (a) removing water and air from an activated carbon wherein said removing step is comprised of
- (i) contacting at least a portion of the activated carbon with anhydrous methanol;
- (ii) displacing a majority of the air from the activated carbon with a gaseous liquefied petroleum gas;
- (iii) pressurizing the gaseous liquefied petroleum gas in the activated carbon to a pressure such that the liquefied petroleum gas exists stably in a liquid state;
- and
- (iv) displacing a majority of the water and methanol with liquefied petroleum gas;
- (b) flowing the oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas into a container containing a fixed bed of activated carbon wherein air and water have been removed according to step (a);
- (c) dispersing the oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas uniformly across the cross-section of the container immediately upstream of the fixed bed;
- (d) flowing the oil-beating liquefied petroleum gas into the fixed bed thereby producing a treated liquefied petroleum gas;
- and
- (e) filtering the treated liquefied petroleum gas to remove water or solid particulates from the treated liquefied petroleum gas.
A process for removing oil from an odorized oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas comprising the steps of
- (a) removing water and air from an odorized activated carbon wherein said removing step is comprised of
- (i) contacting at least a portion of the odorized activated carbon with anhydrous methanol;
- (ii) displacing a majority of the air from the odorized activated carbon with a gaseous liquefied petroleum gas;
- (iii) pressurizing the gaseous liquefied petroleum gas in the odorized activated carbon to a pressure such that the liquefied petroleum gas exists stably in a liquid state;
- and
- (iv) displacing a majority of the water and methanol with odorized liquefied petroleum gas;
- and
- (b) contacting said odorized oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas with activated carbon wherein air and water have been removed according to step (a).
A process for removing oil from an odorized oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas wherein said odorant is ethyl mercaptan comprising the steps of
- (a) removing water and air from an odorized activated carbon wherein said odorant is ethyl mercaptan and wherein said removing step is comprised of
- (i) contacting at least a portion of the activated carbon with anhydrous methanol;
- (ii) displacing a majority of the air from the activated carbon with a gaseous liquefied petroleum gas;
- (iii) pressurizing the gaseous liquefied petroleum gas in the activated carbon to a pressure such that the liquefied petroleum gas exists stably in a liquid state;
- and
- (iv) displacing a majority of the water and methanol with liquefied petroleum gas;
- (b) flowing the odorized oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas into a container containing a fixed bed of activated carbon wherein air and water have been removed according to step (a) and wherein said bed is of cylindrical geometry;
- (c) dispersing the odorized oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas uniformly across the cross-section of the container immediately upstream of the fixed bed;
- and
- (d) flowing the oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas into the fixed bed thereby producing a treated liquefied petroleum gas.
In a process for the removal of oil from an oil-bearing liquefied petroleum gas by activated carbon, the improvement comprises the following start-up procedure wherein water and air are removed from the activated charcoal comprising
- (a) contacting at least a portion of the activated carbon with anhydrous methanol;
- (b) displacing a majority of the air from the activated carbon with a gaseous liquefied petroleum gas;
- (c) pressurizing the gaseous liquefied petroleum gas in the activated carbon to a pressure such that the liquefied petroleum gas exists stably in a liquid state;
- and
- (d) displacing a majority of the water and methanol with liquefied petroleum gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.