Liquid purification or separation – With movable support – Float
Patent
1980-01-26
1982-06-22
Castel, Benoit
Liquid purification or separation
With movable support
Float
210923, E02B 1504
Patent
active
043361374
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an apparatus for displacing oil or other oleaginous substances, particularly where such oil is found admixed with a particulate material or is found at the surface of water or aqueous solutions. An example of the last-mentioned circumstance is the scavenging of large oil patches, which are commonly known as oil slicks, from the surface of the sea.
The invention also relates to the scavenging of other materials, particularly from waterways.
The invention further relates more generally to the removal or extraction of oil from a pool or reservoir of same.
BACKGROUND ART
Much attention has been given in recent times to the reduction of pollution from oil spillage at sea. Various methods have been proposed to deal with the serious pollution problems that arise when large quantities of oil are lost from tankers or other vessels. The oil tends to float in large slicks at or adjacent the suface of the sea.
One method of removing these oil slicks is by chemical dispersion, using chemicals to break up the oil. Such techniques are well known. They are expensive to perform and are often unsatisfactory with heavy, viscid oil which tends to become even more viscid under the weathering action at sea.
Other methods are primarily mechanical, for example, collecting the oil with the aid of booms which is not practical for very large slicks or passing an endless rope of olephilic material through the slick, the oil gathered thereby being removed for disposal. Such methods so far proposed have not proved as satisfactory as we hoped and in particular it is heavy viscid oils that are most difficult to handle satisfactorily.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In a first aspect the invention provides an apparatus for removing oil from a patch of oil at or adjacent the surface of a watery medium comprising moving means around a prescribed path a portion of which is immersed in the surface zone of the watery medium to accrete oil to said means and removing the oil from said means at another portion of said path characterised in that the means comprises a set of teeth having oleophilic surfaces.
In a second aspect the invention provides an apparatus for extracting oil from a pool or reservoir of oil characterised in that an endless chain of teeth having oleophilic surfaces is moved about a prescribed path extending generally vertically and the lower portion of which extends into the pool or reservoir, and the oil accreted to the teeth is removed from the chain at a higher level.
In a third aspect the invention provides apparatus for removing oil from a patch of oil at or adjacent the surface of a watery medium comprising a vessel; a structure carried by the vessel, and a set of teeth having oleophilic surfaces carried by the structure for movement about a prescribed path a portion of which is immersed in said watery medium for accretion of oil to said teeth; and means located at another portion of said path to remove oil accreted to said teeth therefrom.
In a fourth aspect the invention provides apparatus for removing oil from a patch of oil at or adjacent the surface of a watery medium, an endless conveyor arrangement having a portion thereof immersed in the watery medium and having an oleophilic surface; and rotatable means having an oleophilic surface mounted adjacent said conveyor arrangement at a location where it emerges from the watery medium, and the oleophilic surface of at least one of the endless conveyor and the rotatable means being constituted by a set of projecting teeth.
In a fifth aspect the invention provides scavenging apparatus comprising an endless conveyor arrangement carrying teeth projecting outwardly of the conveyor, the conveyor path moving between upper and lower levels, and a toothed, rotatable means supported adjacent an end portion of the conveyor at the lower level where the conveyor arrangement rises upwardly, the teeth of said rotatable means being interleaved with those of the conveyor arrangement to coact therewith on material gathered up by the lower end p
REFERENCES:
patent: 3338414 (1967-08-01), Lefke et al.
patent: 3358838 (1967-12-01), Koser et al.
patent: 3617555 (1971-11-01), Ginsburgh
patent: 3623609 (1971-11-01), Ainley
patent: 3656624 (1972-04-01), Walton
patent: 3732161 (1973-05-01), Grutsch et al.
patent: 3968041 (1976-07-01), De Voss
patent: 4032449 (1977-06-01), De Visser
patent: 4172036 (1979-10-01), Morris
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