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:
Nov. 26, 2013
Filed:
May. 14, 2010
Clay R. Sutton, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Ken N. Sury, Calgary, CA;
Darwin Edward Kiel, New Westminster, CA;
John Khai-quang Diep, Burnaby, CA;
Clay R. Sutton, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Ken N. Sury, Calgary, CA;
Darwin Edward Kiel, New Westminster, CA;
John Khai-Quang Diep, Burnaby, CA;
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A method of delivering feed, for example a paraffinic solvent treated bitumen froth, to a separation vessel, for example a froth separation unit (FSU). The feed is delivered from one or more side inlets that may be substantially normal to, and flush with, the wall of the vessel. In contrast to certain conventional feed systems used in gravity separators which use a distributor plate to widely distribute the feed with a vessel, the feed is delivered such that it flows down the inside wall of the vessel. This feed delivery is characterized by a Richardson number of greater than 1.0. Such feed delivery is particularly useful where the feed has particles with a bi-modal size distribution to be separated from an overflow stream. The gentle flow serves to mitigate the upward flux of the smaller particles, for example mineral solids, by being trapped below the larger particles, for example precipitated asphaltene aggregates.