Treatment of waste petroleum
OwnerIan Stanley Ripley, Antony Hugh Needhaminventors
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Abstract
A treatment of waste petroleum (60,70) is disclosed by decoupling association of the petroleum component to contaminants by solvent treatment (92,94) of the petroleum component, followed by ultrasonic treatment (59,71), separating the contaminants by extraction with a non-solvent (44,46) for the petroleum and solvent and then separating the petroleum. The washed petroleum is then distilled to remove solvent followed by hydroseparation and centrifugation to isolate the petroleum (67). The solids can be subjected to a hot fluid treatment in a toroidal dynamic bed (50) to free up the petroleum residues in the solid particles.
Claims23
A process for reclaiming petroleum from waste petroleum which comprises the steps of isolating a water petroleum composition that has a solids content of from about 1 weight percent to about 98 weight percent, a petroleum content of from about 1 weight percent to about 98 weight percent, and a water content of from about 1 weight percent to about 98 weight percent, in which the petroleum is mixed with solids and water contaminants, decoupling association of the petroleum with the contaminants by solvent treatment and subjecting the solvent containing mixture with petroleum to an ultrasonic treatment at a rate in cycles per second sufficient to note an increase in the separation of the solids component from the petroleum component without substantial emulsification with the water that is present, wherein the combination of solvent and ultrasonic treatments activates the solvation of the petroleum such that more is extracted from solids on a per volume basis than with the solvent treatment alone, thereby to form a mixture comprising a solvent solution containing petroleum, and solids and water contaminants, separating the contaminants by washing with a non-solvent for the petroleum component and the solvent, and then separating the petroleum from the solvent.
A process for reclaiming petroleum from waste petroleum which comprises the steps of isolating a water petroleum composition that has a solids content of about 1 weight percent to about 98, a petroleum content of from about 1 weight percent to about 98 weight percent, and a water content of from about 1 weight percent to about 98 weight percent, in which the petroleum is mixed with solids and water contaminants, controlling the composition of the waste petroleum to homogenize enough of the waste petroleum composition to exceed the throughput of cycle of the process so that in any cycle of the process, there is an average composition being treated, decoupling association of the petroleum with the contaminants by solvent treatment and subjecting the solvent containing mixture with petroleum to an ultrasonic treatment at a rate in cycles per second sufficient to note an increase in the separation of the solids component from the petroleum component without substantial emulsification with the water that is present, wherein the combination of the solvent and ultrasonic treatments activates the solvation of the petroleum such that more is extracted from solids on a per volume basis than with the solvent treatment alone, thereby to form a mixture comprising a solvent solution containing petroleum, and solids and water contaminants, separating the contaminants by washing with a non-solvent for the petroleum component and the solvent, and then separating the petroleum form the solvent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.