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US RE31,087 EGranted
Method for separating oil from water
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorWilliam E. Sohl
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for separating water-immiscible oils and oil-like substances from mixtures including said oils in an aqueous medium which comprises contacting the mixture with an oleophilic fibrous web comprising large numbers of interconnected, interstitial spaces for reception and retention of the oil to the exclusion of water.
Claims27
A method for isolating water-immiscible oils from a mixture of said oils in an aqueous medium, said method comprising:
- a. contacting the mixture with a fibrous web which comprises a plurality of entangled oleophilic fibers, said fibers being hydrophobic in the presence of oil and having a diameter size in the range between about 0.1 micron to about 100 microns;
- said fibrous web having a bulk density, expressed as a percentage of fiber density, in the range between about 2 percent and about 35 percent;
- b. allowing the oil to wet the fibrous web to the exclusion of the aqueous medium;
- and
- c. removing the fibrous web from said mixture.
2 more elements
A method for isolating water-immiscible oils from a mixture of said oils in an aqueous medium, said method comprising:
- a. contacting the mixture with a fibrous web which comprises a plurality of entangled oleophilic fibers prepared by extruding liquid fiber-forming material through an opening into a gaseous stream where the extruded material is disrupted and drawn into fibers and then collected as a mass of said entangled fibers, said fibers being hydrophobic in the presence of oil and having a diameter size in the range between about 0.1 micron to about 100 microns;
- said fibrous web having a bulk density, expressed as a percentage of fiber density, in the range between about 2 percent and about 35 percent;
- b. allowing the oil to wet the fibrous web to the exclusion of the aqueous medium;
- and
- c. removing the fibrous web from said mixture.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.