Exxon Research and Engineering Company

Photochem Industries, Inc.

Other

Anthony E Cerkanowicz

Robert J Chimenti

Douglas G Ryan

James L Hodges

Donald J Mintz

Brian P Flannery

Irving D Crane, Jr

In order to separate wax from lubricating oil, it is necessary both to introduce free excess charge which is net positive or net negative into the wax-laden oil, preferably by charge injection, and to reduce the solubility for the wax (for example by cooling the lubricating oil) sufficiently so that dissolved wax forms a dispersion of wax particles and crystals in the oil. The resulting electrophoretic effect results in wax particle agglomeration and particle size growth in the oil itself and/or on collector surfaces in contact with the charged oil. The charge injection and the wax solubility reduction such as by cooling can occur simultaneously, or one before the other in either order. Cooling can conveniently be effected wholly or in part by mixing with the oil an auto-refrigerant liquid which vaporizes to reduce the oil temperature. Ideally the auto-refrigerant liquid additionally has oil solvent properties, propane being an example of a suitable such liquid additive. The cooling can also be at least partially effected by heat exchange with a cooling fluid, for example, using a cooling jacket surrounding a separation vessel in which the wax agglomeration and growth occurs or a heat exchanger in the wax-laden oil feed to the separation vessel.

Separating wax from hydrocarbon mixture boiling in the lubricating oil

Separation of dispersed liquid contaminant, for example removal of water droplets from oil, is achieved by introducing free charge into the mixture by means of charge injector (1) and discharging the charged mixture through a gas or vapor gap into a separation vessel (2) where the charged mixture comes into contact with a bed of beads (6) (FIG. 1) or other collector surfaces. The introduced charge causes both an electric field to be induced in the separation vessel (2) and the dispersed contaminant to acquire charge, and this results in migration of the charged contaminant. The beads are porous so that they soak up contaminant which can then encourage growth of islands of contaminant on the surface of the beads to a sufficient size that they can be removed from the mixture by gravity separation or other separation techniques. In another embodiment, (FIG. 2) instead of beads, the collector surfaces are provided by a cartridge (23) comprising a porous membrane assembly, the membrane assembly being rolled into a cylindrical configuration with spacer elements (25) between adjacent turns.

Separation of dispersed liquid phase from continuous fluid phase

In order to separate wax particles and/or water droplets from lubricating oil, free excess electric charge which is net positive or net negative is introduced into the wax/water-laden oil, preferably by charge injection. Wax particle/water droplet agglomeration and particle/droplet size growth within the oil mixture due to the electrophoretic effect arising from the electric charge introduction is allowed to occur. In this way, wax particles or water droplets normally considered to be of insufficient size to be separated effectively by filtration can be removed by filtration if the lube oil is electrically pretreated as described. The filtration, conveniently, can be effected by passing the oil mixture containing the grown wax particles/water droplets through a bed of collector beads of low electrical conductivity or through a settler or, in the case of the wax, through a filter screen.

Method and apparatus for separating wax/water from hydrocarbon oil

To promote nucleation of a solute in a solution (e.g. wax dissolved in lubricating oil), free excess charge which is net unipolar is introduced into the solution, for example by charge injection, and the solubility for the solute is reduced (for example by cooling), at least until nucleation of the solution takes place. Nucleation is the physical mechanism which leads to precipitation of the solute and so this method can be applied for the electrical pretreatment of the solution to produce a precipitate, following which the precipitate can be removed from the solvent by conventional separation techniques or be present to provide desired physical or chemical characteristics. An alternative method is to reduce the solubility of the solute in the solution almost to the point of nucleation, and only then to introduce the free excess charge so as to precipitate the onset of nucleation.

Method of promoting nucleation of solute in a solution

A charge injection device is disclosed which issues free charge injected fluid from an orifice (4) into a region of lower pressure downstream. To avoid significant impairment of charge injection level or efficiency by an electrode pair (5, 8) in the region of the orifice (4) due to the reduced downstream pressure, the pressure in the region of orifice (4) is raised, close to the pressure in the charge injection chamber (2), by feeding gas, such as sulfur hexafluoride, to a chamber (18) having an outlet orifice (27) issuing into the lower pressure downstream region.

Charge injection device

In a fluidized bed of solid particles having one or more heat exchange tubes immersed therein, the rate of heat transfer between the fluidized particles and a fluid flowing through the immersed heat exchange tubes is controlled by rotating an arcuate shield apparatus about each tube to selectively expose various portions of the tube to the fluidized particles.

Apparatus and method for controlling heat transfer between a fluidized

Method and apparatus for controlling the initiation and completion of self-sustaining combustion in fuel/oxidizer mixtures through the use of ultraviolet radiation absorbed throughout the mixture.

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Livingston, NJ, United States of America

Anthony E Cerkanowicz