DE29802184U1 - Apparatus for removing oils and fats - Google Patents

Description

Apparatus for removing oils and fats Description

The invention relates to a device for removing oil and fat, or oil and fat-containing substances from a foreign liquid, in particular water, connected to a device for collecting the absorbed oil and fat.

Such devices are known in various designs and are mainly used to clean waters contaminated with oil and grease (inland waters, seas).

In the majority of known systems, the oil puddles are sucked out using pumps using the different specific weights (oil floats on the surface of the water) - suction principle -.

Before the oil/fat can be sucked off the water surface, the oil puddle is contained using oil barriers on the water surface. There are various oil barriers already on the market, which differ from one another in their geometric shape.

Furthermore, ships are already in use that a:) can be opened in the direction of travel and suck the oil from the water surface (ship name "Mellum"), or have a so-called tube skimmer on board. This is a pipe that rotates around the longitudinal axis, from which the oil is removed using scrapers (ship name "SOG", stationed on Lake Constance).

These ships described above have disadvantages:

- they can only be used at greater water depths

- they cannot be used in small bodies of water

- they cannot be used in the shore area.

Practice has shown that conventional systems have a low capacity, absorb a very high proportion of water and therefore do not work effectively.

They are therefore only suitable for use on bodies of water with relatively little pollution by local environmental protection agencies (fire brigades, etc.).

These systems are not suitable for cleaning larger bodies of water, such as the Persian Gulf, as they take too much time due to their small capacity.

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Another way to remove oil/grease from water surfaces is to use "sorbers", porous materials such as granules, peat, etc. Although these sorbers absorb oil very well, they must be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner after use, which is very costly.

There have been considerations and attempts to use chemicals to bind the oil/fat. Here too, environmentally friendly disposal is not guaranteed.

The object of this invention is to create a powerful, effective and, in its construction, simple device which is able to remove oil or oil-containing substances from a liquid, in particular water, without chemical additives.

This task is solved by creating a device that has the following criteria:

At least one rotating round disc made of steel or plastic, which can be at least partially immersed in the oil-contaminated liquid and whose surface is treated in such a way that it is particularly adhesion-friendly to oil/grease and oil/grease-containing substances.

T-shaped profile attached to the outer circumference of the round disc, to prevent oil/grease and oil/grease-containing substances adhering to the round disc from being thrown away by centrifugal force.

At least one scraper element resting on the surface of the round disc for scraping off the oil/fat and oil/fat-containing substances from the disc surface and forwarding the scraped-off substances to a collecting chute.

Thus, the device according to the invention has at least one disc which is at least partially immersed in the oil/grease-contaminated substance.

The surface of the disc is treated in such a way that it is particularly adhesion-friendly to oil/grease and oil/grease-containing substances.

This makes it particularly easy for oils/fats and oil/fatty substances to build up on the surface of the disc, while the actual liquid (mainly water) is easily repelled.

In order to be able to remove the oils/greases and oil/fatty substances adhering to the disc and to drain them into a collection container, at least one scraper with a collecting channel is provided for each disc.

The scraper is pressed against the rotating disc and scrapes off the adhering oil/grease and the oil/grease-containing substances.

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This invention works much more efficiently and has a larger storage capacity than known systems.

The oil/fat obtained does not need to be chemically treated afterwards, it just needs to be collected in a settling tank, where, due to the different specific weights, the oil/fat separates from the water.

By changing the disc diameter, oil/grease and oil/fat-containing substances can also be absorbed from deeper layers in the contaminated medium.

A significant advantage of this invention is the simple construction, the resulting low manufacturing costs, as well as the low operating costs.

Due to its design, this oil/grease collection device is easy to transport as a mobile unit, or it can also be installed stationary.

The surface of the round discs can be coated with suitable materials that are particularly adhesion-friendly, or the surface can be polished.

These are measures to allow oil/grease and oil/fat-containing substances to adhere to the surface of the disc, whereby the actual liquid is essentially repelled.

In this invention, a disk or several disks mounted on a shaft can rotate at right angles or at a certain angle to the water surface, with the disk partially immersed in the contaminated medium.

By using several disks mounted in parallel, the capacity of the oil absorption device can be varied. Furthermore, the performance can be varied by using a speed-adjustable drive and adapting the diameter of the disks to the installation criteria.

In a further advantageous embodiment of this invention, the scraper elements are firmly built into the construction of the oil collecting device, so that the rotating disks run past the scrapers. Nevertheless, the scraper can be moved relative to the disk itself.

The scraper elements are mounted in such a way that they are above the surface of the contaminated medium, while the rotating/rotating discs are immersed in the contaminated medium.

This design allows for a simple construction of the scraper channels so that the scraped oil/grease can be easily drained into a collecting container.

The drainage channels are arranged at an angle towards the collection container.

The length of the scraper device is smaller than the radius of the rotating disk.

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A single-acting scraper is used on the first and last disc, while a scraper acting on both sides is used between the different discs.

The rotating discs should be installed lengthwise to the flow direction of the medium so that the contaminated medium can flow past between the discs, just as any solids can flow past the discs.

As the contaminated medium flows through the discs, the oil/grease can build up on the discs

After the stripping process, the disc is largely free of oil/grease.

Immediately before an imaginary line absorbs the oil/grease on the surface of the contaminated medium, this adhering oil/grease is passed through the medium and only removed after emerging from the medium using the scraper.

Tests have shown that the adhering oil/fat contains less water.

This oil/grease collecting device according to the invention can be used in flowing waters lengthwise to the direction of flow, or at different angles, transverse to the direction of flow, but can also be pushed into the oil/grease puddles and oil/grease-containing substances in still waters.

In order to make this invention effective when used in water, the oil collection device is designed to float in the form of a catamaran. This floating oil collection device can be equipped with its own drive or can be moved into the oil slicks by means of external vehicles. It can also be installed permanently, for example in sewage treatment plants. _? .; .

In the case of oil-contaminated water that is also contaminated with floating solids such as wood etc., tests have shown that the oil absorption device can work effectively across the flow of the water. In this case, the first disc, the disc facing the flow of the water, is made with a small diameter and the subsequent discs are chosen to be slightly larger in diameter, so that the individual discs, like a Christmas tree, become larger in diameter towards the back, i.e. in the flow of the water.

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A preferred embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawing.
This shows:

Fig. 1.) Schematic representation of the disks of the oil absorption device mounted parallel on a shaft. (Discs with the same diameter)

Fig.2.) Side view of the discs mounted in a frame.

Fig.3.) Front view of the oil recovery device with side mounted floats.

Fig.4.) Schematic representation of the disks with different diameters mounted parallel on a shaft.

The oil collection device for removing oily and fatty substances from rivers, ponds, lakes and seas is described below. However, such a device can also be used to clean other oily and fatty liquids, for example in sewage treatment plants, collecting tanks, etc.

Fig. 1.) shows schematically such a device in its entirety.

In Fig. 3.) the device can be seen as a floating device, which has a rectangular or round floating body in cross-section. A platform is mounted on the floating body from which the device can be operated, as well as a feed pump for pumping the collected oil/grease from the collection container to a separate storage container. The floating bodies are mounted at an adjustable height to achieve the required trimming of the floating device. The floating bodies can also be filled with ballast water to trim the device. The floating bodies are divided into different chambers to ensure that the entire device can still float if the floating bodies develop a leak. The floating bodies can also be equipped with so-called adjustable buoyancy flaps on the sides to achieve a stable position in the water.

Fig. 2.) shows the structure of the device in side view. One or more disks are arranged at the same distance from each other, parallel to a shaft. The shaft with mounted discs is rotatably mounted in a support frame.

The surfaces of the discs are treated in such a way that they are particularly adhesive to oil and grease. To achieve adhesion, the discs are coated or polished accordingly.

The shaft with mounted discs can be mounted in waterproof ball bearings or plain bearings made of different materials.

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Oil scrapers are provided which are single-acting on the first and last discs and scrape both discs simultaneously between the parallel-mounted discs.

The drainage channels are mounted at an angle towards the circumference of the disc (outer edge of the disc) to ensure that the stripped oil/grease drains away.

The oil/grease scraped off from the individual scraper channels runs into a collection container mounted transversely to the working direction. This collection container is mounted between the floats on the rear part of the floating device, viewed in the working direction, and also serves as a barrier to raise the layer of oil/grease floating on the water. This measure optimizes the effectiveness of the device.

Alternatively, the floating device can be equipped with its own drive, which means the device can also be operated remotely.

In the case of a floating oil recovery device that is used on a body of water, two towing vehicles (motorboats) are used to collect oil spills, which approach the oil spills in a V-shape using oil booms that also serve as towing ropes.

The combined oil barriers/pulling ropes contain the oil puddle and guide the oil/grease to the oil collection device, in which the oil layer is accumulated due to the built-in barrier.

While the device is pulled through the contaminated medium, the medium flows past the rotating disks. Since the disks are particularly adhesive to oil/grease on their surface, substances containing oil/grease are now deposited on the disk surface. Due to the rotating movement of the disks, oil/grease is continuously deposited on the surface of the contaminated medium on the disks. The oil/grease adhering to the disks is almost free of water.

The oil/grease adhering to the discs is , once it has passed through the dirty .

After the medium has been submerged, it is removed from the disc surface above the water line by means _of scrapers mounted on the collecting channel (Fig.l. Part A.). The collected oil/grease is led into the collecting container via the channels, which are box-shaped or round. The disc surfaces cleaned by the scrapers are now able to absorb oil/grease again.

This process repeats itself continuously.

Claims (20)

Protection claims 1.) Device for removing oil/fat and oil/fat-containing substances from a liquid, in particular water, with a device according to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, characterized by at least one rotating round disc, at least partially immersed in the contaminated liquid, the surface of which is treated in such a way that it is particularly adhesion-friendly to oil/fat and oil/fat-containing substances, and at least one scraper element resting on the surface of the disc (Fig. 1, part A) for scraping off the oil/grease and oil/fat-containing substances adhering to the disc and for directing the oil/grease into the collection container. 2.) Device according to claim 1.) . characterized in that the surface of the disc (Fig. 1. Part B ) coated with a material that is particularly good at adhering to oil/fat and oil/fatty substances. 3.) Device according to claim 1.) characterized in that the surface of the disc is highly polished. 4.) Device according to claim 1.) characterized in that a T-shaped profile (Fig. 1 part -C-) is attached to the outer circumference of the disc in order to prevent the oil/grease from being thrown away by centrifugal force. 5.) Device according to claim 1.) to 4.) characterized in that several disks are arranged parallel to one another on a common shaft at a certain distance from one another. 6.) Device according to claim 1.) to 5.) characterized by the fact that the shaft with the mounted disk(s) is set in rotation by a drive means. 7.) Device according to claim 1.) to 6.) characterized in that the stripping elements are arranged essentially stationary relative to the axis of rotation of the discs (Fig. 1, part B). 8.) Device according to claim 1.) to 7.), characterized in that the scraper element(s) (Fig.l Part A) are arranged in such a way that the disc(s) are partially immersed in the contaminated liquid and the scraper elements are located outside the liquid. ..2 -2- 9.) Device according to claim 1.) to 8.), characterized in that the stripping elements have the shape of grooves. 10.) Device according to claim 1.) to 9.), characterized in that the stripping elements are located above the water surface and have a drainage slope towards the collecting container. 11.) Device according to claim 1.) to 10.), characterized in that the stripping elements are shorter than the respective radius of the disk. 12.) Device according to claim 1.) to 11.), characterized by the fact that the disc/discs are perpendicular or at a certain angle to the water surface. 13.) Device according to claim 1.) to 12), characterized in that the disk/discs are partially immersed in the contaminated medium while rotating. 14.) Device according to claim 1.) to 13.), characterized in that the entire device is mounted on a floating body (Fig. 3.). 15.) Device according to claim 1.) to 14.), characterized in that the entire device is mounted in a fixed position. 16.) Device according to claim 1.) to 15), characterized in that the floating device moves on the water by means of external vehicles or its own propulsion. 17.) Device according to claim 1.) to 16.), characterized in that the disks mounted on a common shaft have the same diameter. 18.) Device according to claim 1.) to 17.), characterized in that the disks mounted on a common shaft have different diameters (Fig.4). 19.) Device according to claim 1.) to 18), characterized in that the stripping elements including drainage channels, as well as the disk/disks are designed to be heatable. .3 -3- 20.) Device according to claim 1.) to 19.), characterized in that the oil/fat adhering to the disc/discs, after it has adhered to the disc/discs, is passed through the medium and is only stripped off after re-emerging from the medium.