Chicago Bridge & Iron Company

Donald R Cutler

Alan R Blankshain

A collecting and treating tank which holds liquid and in which a vertically movable cover floats on the liquid or on a gas layer above the liquid, comprising a tank having a vertical cylindrical circular wall, a bottom at and joined to the wall, and a circular cover which fits loosely inside the circular wall so that it is vertically displaceable with change in liquid and/or gas volume beneath the cover; and a plurality of cover guides, spaced radially around the cover edge, which are adapted to maintain the cover periphery spaced from the tank wall; said cover guides being faced with a solid polymeric layer which is slippery and has a low coefficient of friction so that the cover is readily displaceable vertically solely with change in volume of liquid, gas or both beneath the cover.

Floating cover tank with guides for vertical displacement of the cover

Apparatus comprising a freeze exchanger in which an aqueous mixture is indirectly cooled by a cooling fluid to produce an aqueous mixture containing ice; a centrifuge; a conduit for feeding an ice slurry from the freeze exchanger to the centrifuge; a heater; a conduit for feeding ice from the centrifuge to the heater to melt the ice; a water treatment apparatus; a conduit for feeding the water from the heater to the water treatment apparatus to condition the water for contact with a reverse osmosis membrane; a reverse osmosis apparatus; and a conduit for feeding the conditioned water to the reverse osmosis apparatus in which the water is purified by reverse osmosis. A method comprising feeding an aqueous mixture into indirect heat exchange with a cooling fluid to produce ice particles in the aqueous mixture and thus to form an ice slurry; centrifuging the ice slurry to separate the ice and form an aqueous effluent; melting the separated ice and treating the resulting water to remove components which damage a reverse osmosis membrane; and subjecting the treated water to reverse osmosis using a reverse osmosis membrane to produce potable water and an impure water stream.

Apparatus and process for desalination combining freeze concentration,

A falling film freeze exchanger, heat exchanger or crystallizer having a plurality of spaced apart vertical tubes secured in, and penetrating, an upper circular tube sheet and a lower circular tube sheet; each tube having a top end and a bottom end; a circular cylindrical shell around the tube sheets and connected thereto; the shell having a heat exchange fluid inlet and a heat exchange fluid outlet for circulating heat exchange fluid around the tubes between the tube sheets; a header surrounding and joined to the upper part of the shell and extending above the top tube sheet and above the top end of the tubes; means to deliver a liquid process feed stream into the header; and wiper means, adapted to rotate about a vertical axis, in contact with the top ends of the tubes.

Shell and tube heat exchanger with tube top end wiper to free solids

Falling film heat exchanger includes circular areas for evenly distributing feed liquid and/or heat exchange liquid to the tube interior and/or exterior surfaces. The circular areas may be defined by a liquid porous material, slots in an O-ring or vertical slots in the holes through and to which the tubes are joined.

Falling film heat exchanger

This disclosure relates to a heat pump including a plurality of interconnected elements, each of said elements comprising a piston body having an evaporator section at one end thereof and a condenser section at the other end thereof, each condenser section being connected to a vapor condenser. Each element has its evaporator section connected by a vapor bridge to the condenser of an adjacent element. Each piston body contains a working fluid having a liquid phase and a vapor phase, the liquid phase forming a liquid piston which oscillates during operation and the pistons of the elements oscillating with a phase displacement. The evaporator sections are located in relatively warm areas and the condensers are located in another cooler area. Portions of the liquid in the evaporator sections vaporize and the vapor is heated, and the heated vapor is condensed in the condensers thereby transferring heat from the warm areas to the cooler areas.

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Bolingbrook, IL, United States of America

Donald R Cutler