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US 7,018,434 B2Granted
Removal of drag reducer additive from fuel by treatment with selected activated carbons and graphites
AssigneeSouthwest Research Institute
InventorJohn Andrew Waynick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The application relates to a method for selecting drag reducer additive (DRA) effectively removable by activated carbons and graphites to be used in fuel. The appliction also relates to effective activated carbons and graphites for removing DRA from fuel, and to a method of using effective activated carbons and graphites to remove DRA from fuel.
Claims137
A method of removing drag reducer additive from liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said method comprising:
- providing contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a concentration of drag reducer additive (DRA);
- contacting said contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a quantity of one or more graphite effective to substantially reduce said concentration of DRA, said contacting occurring under conditions effective to produce clean liquid hydrocarbon fuel wherein said graphite comprises an adsorption capacity for said DRA of about 0.01 wt. % or more at from about 8 to about 12 ppm DRA concentration and at about 1 g graphite/100 ml fuel, said DRA being selected from the group consisting of sheared DRA, partially sheared DRA, and unsheared DRA.
A method of removing drag reducer additive from liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said method comprising:
- providing contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a concentration of drag reducer additive (DRA) selected from the group consisting of sheared DRA, partially sheared DRA, and unsheared DRA;
- contacting said contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a quantity of one or more graphite effective to substantially reduce said concentration of DRA, said contacting occurring under conditions effective to produce a clean liquid hydrocarbon fuel wherein said graphite produces a % removal for said DRA of about 25% or more at from 8 to about 12 ppm DRA concentration and at about 1 g graphite/100 ml fuel.
A method of removing drag reducer additive from liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said method comprising:
- providing contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a concentration of drag reducer additive (DRA);
- contacting said contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a quantity of one or more activated carbon effective to having an adsorption capacity for DRA of about 0.014% or more at from about 8 to about 12 ppm DRA concentration and at about 1 g activated carbon/100 ml fuel, said DRA being selected from the group consisting of sheared DRA, partially sheared DRA, and unsheared DRA, said contacting occurring under conditions effective to produce a clean liquid hydrocarbon fuel.
A method for selecting a drag reducer additive for a liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising:
- providing one or more samples of liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a single candidate DRA;
- and,
- determining whether said single candidate DRA is removed from said liquid hydrocarbon fuel by a removal agent selected from the group consisting of a graphite and an activated carbon having an adsorption capacity for DRA of about 0.014% or more at from about 8 to about 12 ppm DRA concentration and at about 1 g removal agent/100 ml fuel;
- and,
- selecting as said DRA only candidates which are removed from said liquid hydrocarbon fuel by said removal agent.
2 more elements
A method of removing drag reducer additive from liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said method comprising:
- providing contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a concentration of drag reducer additive (DRA), said DRA comprising polyalphaolefin produced by solution polymerization;
- contacting said contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a quantity of removal agent under conditions effective to produce clean liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said removal agent being selected from the group consisting of one or more graphite and one or more activated carbon having an adsorption capacity for said DRA of about 0.014% or more at from about 8 to about 12 ppm DRA concentration and at about 1 g removal agent/100 ml fuel.
A method of removing drag reducer additive from a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said method comprising:
- providing a contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a concentration of a drag reducer additive (DRA) comprising polymerized linear alpha olefin (LAO) monomers having from about 2 to about 40 carbon atoms;
- contacting said contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a quantity of a removal agent under conditions effective to produce a clean liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said removable agent being selected from the group consisting of one or more graphite and one or more activated carbon having an adsorption capacity for said DRA of about 0.014% or more at from about 8 to about 12 ppm DRA concentration and at about 1 g removal agent/100 ml fuel.
A method of removing drag reducer additive from liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said method comprising:
- providing contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a concentration of drag reducer additive (DRA) comprising polymerized linear alpha olefin (LAO) monomers having from about 6 to about 12 carbon atoms, wherein said LAO monomers comprise two different LAO's which differ in number of carbon atoms by 6;
- contacting said contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a quantity of removal agent under conditions effective to produce clean liquid hydrocarbon fuel, said removal agent being selected from the group consisting of one or more graphite and one or more activated carbon having an adsorption capacity for said DRA of about 0.014% or more at from about 8 to about 12 ppm DRA concentration and at about 1 g removal agent/100 ml fuel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.