US 5,814,234 A · Integrated soil and fluid decontamination system

Abstract

A method for decontaminating both soil and mixed waste water polluted by hydrocarbons in a single integrated process is disclosed. Contaminated mixed waste fluid is separated into water and hydrocarbons which are then used in the thermal decontamination of polluted soil through the volatilization of hydrocarbon contaminants. Flue gases containing the volatilized hydrocarbons from the thermal soil decontamination undergo oxidation. Thermal energy from the soil decontamination process and the thermal oxidization of the flue gases can be recovered and used to facilitate the separation of hydrocarbons and water. In this integrated system, every by-product of each step is either decontaminated or consumed in another operation of the system. Energy conservation within this system is also realized by the use of heat exchangers to transfer energy from where it is created by the process to where it is used elsewhere to enhance efficiency within the process. It is possible to run this apparatus and process so that the only outputs of this system are decontaminated soil and clean exhaust gases.

Claims26

Dependent claims

An integrated soil and fluid decontamination process including a coalescer, a thermal desorption unit having a contaminated soil input, and an oxidizer, said method comprising the steps of:

separating waste fluid comprising mixed water and oil into water, sludge and hydrocarbons;
further separating the water in the coalescer to remove remaining hydrocarbons from the water;
heating contaminated soil in the thermal desorption unit to volatilize the contaminant hydrocarbons in the soil thereby producing decontaminated soil;
adding water from the coalescer to the decontaminated soil to cool the decontaminated soil following said step of heating;
and
combusting in the oxidizer, volatilized hydrocarbons produced in said step of heating, to produce flue gases.

3 more elements

An integrated soil and fluid decontamination process including a coalescer, a thermal desorption unit having a contaminated soil input, and an oxidizer, said method comprising the steps of:

separating waste fluid comprising mixed water and oil into water, sludge and hydrocarbons;
further separating the water in the coalescer to remove remaining hydrocarbons from the water;
heating contaminated soil in the thermal desorption unit to volatilize the contaminant hydrocarbons in the soil thereby producing decontaminated soil, wherein said step of heating includes burning the hydrocarbons produced in said step of separating waste fluid, said step of burning producing an exhaust gas;
and
combusting in the oxidizer, volatilized hydrocarbons produced in said step of heating, to produce flue gases.

2 more elements

An integrated soil and fluid decontamination process including a coalescer, a thermal desorption unit having a contaminated soil input, and an oxidizer, said method comprising the steps of:

separating waste fluid comprising mixed water and oil into water, sludge and hydrocarbons;
further separating the water in the coalescer to remove remaining hydrocarbons from the water;
heating contaminated soil in the thermal desorption unit to volatilize the contaminant hydrocarbons in the soil thereby producing decontaminated soil;
adding water from the coalescer to the decontaminated soil to cool the decontaminated soil following said step of heating;
combusting in the oxidizer, volatilized hydrocarbons produced in said step of heating to produce flue gases;
extracting thermal energy using a heat exchanger during said step of combusting;
and
transferring the thermal energy using a preheat heat exchanger to preheat the waste fluid being used in said step of separating.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Integrated soil and fluid decontamination system

Life of this patent

Integrated soil and fluid decontamination system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims26