Grant Prideco, Inc.

Agnar Hellenes

A separation apparatus for continuous thermal separation of a substance is fed into a treatment chamber. The substance includes two or more components where at least one of the components is evaporable at an evaporation temperature (T). The separation apparatus includes a vessel including a vessel wall with an inner surface enclosing the treatment chamber having a length I, a height H and a width W, a substance inlet for feeding the substance into the treatment chamber, a first outlet for releasing non--evaporated parts of the substance from the treatment chamber, a second outlet for releasing evaporated parts of the substance from the treatment chamber, and a rotary mechanism. The rotary mechanism includes a rotatable axle arranged within the treatment chamber having an orientation directed along the treatment chamber's length L and a mixing device fixed to, and extending perpendicular from, the rotatable axle. A radial outermost part of the mixing device includes a plurality of radially separated mixing protrusions, a rotary drive operatively connected to the rotatable axis, and a heating device arranged outside the treatment chamber. The heating device is configured to transfer thermal energy to a minimum peripheral volume (Vp) of the treatment chamber via the inner surface. The minimum peripheral volume (V) is defined as a volume between the inner surface and outer radial boundaries of the mixing device. The mixing device includes a plurality of rotary discs fixed with axial offsets to the rotatable axle. The heating device and the rotary drive are configured such that, when both the heating device and the rotary drive are operated at their respective operational input powers (P, P), a resulting operational temperature (T) is obtained within at least part of the minimum peripheral volume (V) which is equal or higher than the evaporation temperature (T).

Apparatus for continuous thermal separation of a multi-component substance

A method for thermal separation of a substance flowing into a treatment chamber by use of a separation apparatus includes a vessel and a heating device. The vessel has a vessel wall with an inner surface enclosing a treatment chamber of a length l, a height H and a width W. The vessel includes at least one substance inlet and at least one first outlet and at least one second outlet for non-evaporable and evaporable parts, respectively. The heating device is arranged outside the treatment chamber and a rotary mechanism includes a rotatable axle arranged within the treatment chamber directed along the treatment chamber's length h and a mixing device of radial diameter dand axial length Ifixed to the rotatable axle and extending perpendicular to the rotatable axle. The method includes: A. heating the inner surface (la) by use of the heating device to transfer thermal energy to a minimum peripheral volume (V) of the treatment chamber confined between the mixing device and the inner surface (la), B. rotating the rotary mechanism by use of a rotary drive operably fixed to the rotatable axle to a peripheral rotation velocity (v) measured at a radial outer boundary of the mixing device's which exceeds a minimum peripheral rotation velocity (v) of 5 meters per second, C. feeding the substance into the treatment chamber through the at least one substance inlet using a feeding device, wherein the substance includes two or more components, where at least one of the components is evaporable at an evaporation temperature (T), and D. adjusting at least one of an input power of the heating device, the flow of the substance fed into at least one of the at least one substance inlet, an input power of the rotary drive and an output flow of a non-evaporated part of the substance released from the at least one first outlet, such that a total thermal energy transferred into at least part of the minimum peripheral volume (V) results in an operational temperature (T) that exceeds the evaporation temperature (T) during operation, and wherein the amount of thermal energy transferred into the part of the minimum peripheral volume (V) by the heating device constitutes more than 60% of the total thermal energy transferred.

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Førde, Norway

Agnar Hellenes