The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 24, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1995
Roe-Hoan Yoon, Blacksburg, VA (US);
Gerald H Luttrell, Blacksburg, VA (US);
Virginia Tech Intellectual Property Inc., Blacksburg, VA (US);
Abstract
Fine particles are dewatered in an energy efficient process in which a non-polar liquid or a mixture of different hydrophobic liquids are used to displace the water from the particle surface. Thermodynamically, this process is spontaneous. The only energy required for this process is to recover the hydrophobic liquid(s) for recycling purposes. The hydrophobic liquids are recovered in gaseous form either by lowering the pressure or by heating, and converted back to liquid form for re-use. The most economical reagents that can be used for this purpose include propane, butane, pentane, and ethane. Carbon dioxide may also be used for the dewatering process described in the present invention. The process of dewatering by displacement is capable of achieving the same or better level of moisture reduction as thermal drying but at substantially lower energy costs.