Mineral oils: processes and products – By treatment of solid mineral – e.g. – coal liquefaction – etc. – Specified agitation or circulation in gas contact zone
Patent
1996-06-28
1999-06-29
Griffin, Walter D.
Mineral oils: processes and products
By treatment of solid mineral, e.g., coal liquefaction, etc.
Specified agitation or circulation in gas contact zone
134 19, 134 251, 134 33, 134 37, C10G 100, B08B 500
Patent
active
059164344
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A process for the removal of petroleum contamination of particulates by volatilization or extraction of the contaminated particulates in a toroidal dynamic bed suspended in a stream of hot gas(es) optionally containing a solvent for the petroleum contaminant.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Waste petroleum constitutes one of the most pernicious environmental problems that man has imposed on this planet. One of the nastiest forms that it takes is petroleum contamination of solid particles. The solid particles derive from many compositions ranging from siliceous materials (e.g., sands, rocks, and the like), carbonaceous materials, clays and clay containing materials, floccular materials with high iron content typically originating from rust flakes, and the like. Recent oil spillages by tankers on European, Scottish and American coastlines dramatize the magnitude of the problem. Petroleum laden solids generated by other acts exist throughout the world, from Singapore to Bahrain to the United States of America. Whether from spillages on land or sea, waste petroleum or pitch land deposits, black oil residues generated in petroleum storage tanks, natural oil or asphalt deposits, in each instance, the removal of the petroleum contamination from the solids is expensive and heretofore generally ineffectual. The petroleum that deposits on the particulate materials will exhibit a higher viscosity owing to the higher surface area of the particulate and the volatilization from the petroleum deposited of some of the lower boiling components. This means that the petroleum so deposited will exhibit a higher viscosity and a greater degree of stickiness when heated so that thermal treatment of the particles causes them to fuse much like asphalt does in constructing a roadway.
A number of approaches have been tried or suggested for the removal of petroleum from solids. A favored approach involves filtering the contaminated solids to remove petroleum that easily separates followed by incineration of the solids to remove the residual petroleum that filtration does not separate. Filtration is relatively ineffective in separating the petroleum because, in any case, about a third of the petroleum will be retained in the voids between the packed particles. Other techniques for removing the petroleum retained by the solids include centering, decanting or hydra separating the waste petroleum and collecting the petroleum laden solids that represent an isolated product of the process. Then the solids may either be dumped in a landfill or incinerated. Dumping in landfills is prohibited in many areas of the world because of the adverse effects the residual petroleum has on insect and animal life, ground water and underground streams, and the like considerations. Incinerating waste petroleum is not cost effective or environmentally acceptable because of the necessity of dealing with NO.sub.x, SO.sub.x and heavy metal emissions. In particular, the petroleum content of the solids after such treatment, such as by filtration, centrifugation and decantation, can be higher than 4-10 percent of the weight of the solids. At those levels of impurities, the solids are environmentally unsafe for landfills. Consequently, laws exist in many countries prohibiting such landfills.
A number of the processes that are promoted for the treatment of waste petroleum employ a final briquetting technique for accumulating the solids containing a residual petroleum content, into a form suitable for applications. This technique suggests the use of the briquettes as a construction material. This merely slows the environmental problem, not eliminate it. Over time, nature will break down the briquettes and eventually the retained petroleum leaches into the earth.
One of the problems that an engineer faces in cleaning solids to remove petroleum residues has to do with the stickiness of the petroleum under conditions that allow its separation from the surface of the solid. For example, one may solvate the petroleum and wipe it off the
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Needham Antony Hugh
Ripley Ian Stanley
Great Eastern (Bermuda) Ltd.
Griffin Walter D.
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