Liquid purification or separation – With movable support – Float
Patent
1992-02-24
1994-05-31
Upton, Christopher
Liquid purification or separation
With movable support
Float
210923, E02B 1304
Patent
active
053166728
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to devices for skimming oil from the surface of water.
More specifically, this invention relates to a dual drum skimmer having a very high oil pick-up rate and adapted for operation in extremely shallow and in trash-laden water.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
Spills of hydrocarbons into bodies of water are a common occurrence during the Production of crude oil and the transport of crude oil and of refined hydrocarbon products. Ordinarily, efforts are made to limit the spread of the spilled hydrocarbons by encircling the spill area with booms and to then recover as much of the hydrocarbon liquids as is possible using a variety of skimming devices such as weir skimmers, disc skimmers, and mop skimmers.
A weir skimmer typically comprises a barrier wall of adjustable height which allows oil floating on water to flow over the wall and into a collection trough while excluding water. Recovered oil is then continuously pumped from the collection trough to a storage or transport means. Weir skimmers operate well in calm water with large or contained spills which produce a relatively thick oil layer.
Disc skimmers ordinarily include a plurality of discs spaced apart coaxially along a rotating shaft which is supported by floats to position the lower portion of the discs in the water. Oil contacts and adheres to the rotating discs and is removed by blades or wipers which direct the collected oil into a sump or other collection means.
A mop skimmer, or rope skimmer, is arranged to contact the oil film with an absorbent or filamentous member to which the oil clings. The oil-heavy member is then passed between rollers which squeeze out and collect the oil.
Those various skimming devices are ordinarily employed on spills occurring in open water. Spills on land, where liquid hydrocarbons often end up in small streams, drainage ditches, and the like present very different problems. Water bodies which are contaminated by land spills typically are shallow and usually are trash covered. The skimmers of traditional design have limited use at best in such circumstances and are seldom employed. Rather, use is made of absorbents to soak up oily liquids and of vacuum trucks to pick up oils from the water surface by suction means. Use of absorbents results in the production of large volumes of oily wastes which require disposal while vacuum collection methods usually results in the collection of large amounts of water with the oil.
Drum skimmers have also been used for the removal of oil and other hydrocarbons from water surfaces. A drum skimmer consists of one or more large rollers, or drums, which rotate partly submerged in water. Oil attaches to the drum surface as the drum rotates through the oil-water interface. The attached oil is then removed by squeezing or scrapping the oil from the drum surface. One early example of such a device is shown in the Schamberger patent, U.S. Pat. No. 1,860,819. The Schamberger device utilizes two closely spaced rollers turning in opposite directions. In operation, the rollers are adjusted to dip beneath the surface of a water channel containing floating oil and are rotated in such a direction as to pull the oil film under the roller. The oil film transfers to the roller surface and is carried around the roller to the back side thereof where it is scraped off by a stationary blade and directed into a trough for recovery.
Later, Van Stavern et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,277, disclosed a tandum drum arrangement in which one drum was partly submerged in water while the second, and smaller, drum was placed above the water surface and at a close, critical spacing from the first drum. Oil picked up by rotation of the first drum was then transferred in part to the second drum. Doctor blades were located on the back side of each drum to scrape oil from the drum surfaces and into collection troughs. That arrangement, using one drum or roller to pick up oil from the water surface and the other roller to transfer a portion of the oil from the surface o
REFERENCES:
patent: 4957636 (1990-09-01), Wilson et al.
Trippe Jerry C.
Wilson Donald L.
Elastec, Inc.
Upton Christopher
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