Power plants – Fluid motor means driven by waste heat or by exhaust energy... – Having fluid motor motive fluid treating – controlling or...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-30
2002-10-22
Nguyen, Hoang (Department: 3748)
Power plants
Fluid motor means driven by waste heat or by exhaust energy...
Having fluid motor motive fluid treating, controlling or...
C060S619000, C123S523000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06467271
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to systems and methods for controlling emission of VOC's (volatile organic chemicals). More specifically, the present invention pertains to improved systems and methods for controlling VOC emissions by combustion of such emissions in internal combustion engines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Volatile organic chemicals (hereinafter referred to as “VOC's”) are present in storage tanks, refineries and petrochemical processing units. The recovery or destruction of VOC's has become increasingly important in recent years. Governmental regulations place strict standards on release of VOC's into the environment.
A number of systems and methods for controlling such VOC emissions have been developed. One method is the destruction of VOC's by burning in internal combustion engines, reducing the volatile organic chemicals to non-hazardous ones such as carbon dioxide and water. Engines have an advantage over incinerators because of their compactness, portability and flexibility of operation. However, most such systems of the prior art have been designed to burn only trace amounts of organic vapors from land reclamation projects. The emphasis on such systems has been placed on automatic operation rather than high capacity.
In recent years, the internal combustion engine has begun to find favor in controlling VOC emissions from refineries, chemical plants and pipeline terminals in helping to meet federal and local air pollution standards. Such applications typically require control of massive amounts of VOC vapors in short time periods. For this reason, conventional internal combustion engine systems, with limited capacities, have not been popular.
The VOC combustion capacity of an internal combustion engine is largely determined by two factors: 1) the physical vapor handling capacity of the engine, regardless of the VOC vapor composition and 2) the engine's maximum ability to burn, i.e. the BTU per hour rating. In refinery, chemical plants and pipeline terminals, the vapors are often very concentrated and have a relatively high BTU content. This decreases the volume handling capacity of the engine.
Furthermore, burning all the VOC's, in addition to reducing the capacity of such a system, results in burning VOC's which might otherwise be useful. If some of the VOC's could be recovered as liquid product, these products could be a source of revenue and would increase the volume capacity of the system by not requiring the burning of the liquid products in the engine.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention provides improved systems and methods of controlling VOC emissions by combustion of the VOC's in an internal combustion engine. In the method of the present invention, some of the VOC's are condensed into useable liquid products by passing the VOC's through a chiller. Refrigeration for the chiller is provided by a refrigeration unit driven by the internal combustion engine. In a preferred method of the present invention, the remaining VOC's pass through a blower which discharges the remaining VOC's, at a higher pressure, into the internal combustion engine as the primary fuel thereof. Furthermore, the blower is also driven by the engine. Thus, the remaining VOC's are burned in the engine and converted to carbon dioxide, water and other less noxious compounds.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a knockout drum is provided downstream of the chiller for collecting the condensed liquid products for eventual removal and use thereof. In addition, a source of air may be provided to the blower suction for mixing with the remaining VOC's and discharge therewith at a high pressure into the engine. If desired, a source of supplemental fuel may be provided downstream of the blower for supplementing the primary VOC fuel as needed.
Thus, the present invention provides an improved system and method for controlling emissions of VOC's by combustion in internal combustion engines. The blower extracts the VOC vapor stream and injects or supercharges it into the engine. This substantially increases the vapor handling capacity of the engine compared to naturally aspirated engines. The loading of the engine by driving the refrigeration unit and the blower increases its combustion capacity.
Furthermore, chilling and condensing some of the VOC's into useable liquid products results in potential revenue. The condensation also reduces vapor concentration, lowering the BTU content of the remaining VOC's and thereby increasing the volume handling capacity of the internal combustion engine.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4237689 (1980-12-01), Sampietro
patent: 5050603 (1991-09-01), Stokes et al.
patent: 5181796 (1993-01-01), De Young
patent: 5450728 (1995-09-01), Vora et al.
patent: 5540057 (1996-07-01), Cheng
Berryhill Bill B.
Nguyen Hoang
Weeco International Corporation
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