EP1380630A2 - Agent mouillant et de séparation pour hydrocarbures - Google Patents

Agent mouillant et de séparation pour hydrocarbures Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1380630A2
EP1380630A2 EP03015875A EP03015875A EP1380630A2 EP 1380630 A2 EP1380630 A2 EP 1380630A2 EP 03015875 A EP03015875 A EP 03015875A EP 03015875 A EP03015875 A EP 03015875A EP 1380630 A2 EP1380630 A2 EP 1380630A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
wetting agent
hydrocarbon
oil
agent according
plant extract
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP03015875A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1380630A3 (fr
Inventor
Anthony Daniels
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Herbal Apothecary Ltd
Original Assignee
Herbal Apothecary Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from GB0216068A external-priority patent/GB0216068D0/en
Application filed by Herbal Apothecary Ltd filed Critical Herbal Apothecary Ltd
Publication of EP1380630A2 publication Critical patent/EP1380630A2/fr
Publication of EP1380630A3 publication Critical patent/EP1380630A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G1/00—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal

Definitions

  • This invention relates to an oil wetting agent for the separation of oil from oil containing matter.
  • oil wetting agent for use in separating oil from drill cuttings
  • the present invention can be used to separate oil from a range of oil containing matter.
  • the oil wetting agent of the present invention can be used for the cleaning of animals, such as marine wildlife and birds following an oil spill, cleaning plant matter, rocks or indeed any other material in which oil may be unwanted.
  • reference to oil should be interpreted as including oil or other petrochemicals or hydrocarbons and/or the like.
  • a hydrocarbon or oil wetting agent hereinafter referred to in the description in a non specific manner as an oil wetting agent, suitable for separating oil from oil containing matter, said oil wetting agent including a plant extract which is buffered to an acidic pH level by one or more buffer agents.
  • oil wetting agent When the oil wetting agent is added to a treatment solution of oil containing matter in an aqueous solution, a micro-emulsion is formed between the aqueous solution, oil wetting agent and the oil, thereby breaking the electro static attractions between the oil and the matter and facilitating subsequent separation of the matter from the oil and aqueous emulsion.
  • the oil also dissolves in the lipophillic parts of the solution and the ionic concentration of the solution promotes the attraction of the oil to the solution rather than attachment to the matter to which it was originally attached.
  • the oil containing matter is an oil containing solid such as rock, drill cuttings or the like.
  • the advantage of using a plant extract is that it produces efficient separation of the oil from the solid matter whilst being biodegradable, thereby preventing or at least limiting harm to the environment.
  • the plant extract used is Glycyrrhiza glabra, also known as liquorice, which can be provided in a liquid or powdered form.
  • the plant extract is provided in a hydro alcoholic solution.
  • the solution typically includes liquorice extract and contains glycyrrhizin acid.
  • the buffer agents buffer the oil wetting agent to a pH level of 5.5.
  • the buffer agents include biodegradable material such as any or any combination of fruit acids and/or sodium salts suspended in a saline solution.
  • the buffer agents contain the ions of salts as well as sugars (both simple and complex), proteins, amino acids, saponins, fatty acids, lipids, starches, plant acids and carbohydrates.
  • the alcohol is removed from the wetting agent and preservation is by potassium sorbate at 0.2%.
  • oil encompasses any type of oil, crude oil, refined oil, hydrocarbon or petrochemical.
  • the emulsion mixture is separated from the solid matter using a form of density separation.
  • a separation technique such as I-SEP (Caltec) can be used.
  • the oil containing matter comprises mainly drill cuttings.
  • the matter can be any mineral (i.e. crushed or broken rock, soil or dirt contaminated with oil), animal (i.e., marine animals, birds, land animals or people), plant matter contaminated with oil and/or the like.
  • a wetting agent provided for application to oil containing material to allow the separation of at least some of said oil from the material, wherein said wetting agent includes a plant extract.
  • the wetting agent includes propylene glycol, citric acid, liquorice extract, potassium sorbate and water.
  • the wetting agent includes the plant extract in the form of liquorice extract in the percentage of between 1 and 20% of the composition. prior to addition to water. In a further embodiment, the composition is between 10% and 20%.
  • the composition of the wetting agent includes sodium chloride, disodium hydrogen phosphate, citric acid, liquorice extract, potassium sorbate (also referred to as Nipaguard) and water.
  • the liquorice extract is substituted by a further plant extract or alternatively, further plant extract is used in conjunction with the liquorice extract.
  • a method of separating oil from an oil containing matter including the steps of mixing the oil containing matter with an aqueous solution and a hydrocarbon wetting agent, said oil wetting agent including a plant extract which is buffered to an acidic pH level by one or more buffer agents, stirring the mixture for a pre-determined period of time until said oil, oil wetting agent and aqueous solution form a micro-emulsion, with oil having being released from the said solid matter.
  • the present invention has the advantage that the process utilising the oil wetting agent can be performed in relatively inclement conditions such as, for example, using off shore facilities, thereby overcoming the need for transporting the material such as shipping drill cuttings back to shore for processing.
  • the process of the present invention is safer and more ecologically acceptable than conventional processes.
  • the wetting agent is found to be particularly effective with oil.
  • Figure 1 illustrates apparatus in one embodiment for use in the process of separating the oil from the oil containing matter.
  • a hydrocarbon wetting agent is provided which is formed from the plant extract Glycyrrhiza glabra, otherwise known as liquorice.
  • the wetting agent has been shown to easily remove oil from oil containing solid matter when added to an aqueous solution, such as water, thereby having many potential uses.
  • oil wetting agent of the present invention is for de-oiling drill cuttings using off shore facilities. Once the wetting agent of the present invention has wetted or been added to water, it has been shown to easily remove the oil from the drill cuttings as the resulting emulsion formed between the oil, water and oil wetting agent can subsequently be separated from the slurry of drill cuttings using separation techniques. The oil in the emulsion is preferentially separated with the aqueous solution rather than with the slurry.
  • I-SEP compact separation technique (Caltec). This separation technique relies on the constituents of the mixture being separated having different densities.
  • FIG. 1 An example of typical separation apparatus 2 used in the method of the present invention is shown in figure 1.
  • the apparatus 2 comprises a collecting tank 4 for the containment of the oil containing material which are transferred via an augur 6 to a pump 8. From the pump 8 the material passes , with the addition of the wetting agent 10 in accordance with the invention and perhaps some returned partially separated material 12, to three separator phases, a first phase liquid/solids separator 14, an oil and water liquid phase 16 and an I-sep type oil water separator 18. On entry into the I-sep separator 18, the mixture is subjected to high 'g' forces which separate the light phases from the dense phases in the mixture (i.e., the water from the oil mixture). From the separator 18 water and some oil 12 passes largely to a membrane filter 20 which allows final removal of oil so that the water less than typically 0.1% of oil 22 is discharged. The separated oil 24 can be passed for disposal or recycling as required.
  • the solids 26 which are removed after the first phase separation can be discharged to sea as they typically only contain less than 0.1% of oil.
  • test were performed on two samples 1, 2.
  • Sample 1 comprised a portion of oiled drill cuttings tested prior to treatment and
  • Sample 2 comprised 30kg oiled drill cuttings with 100kg water, and 10kg of the wetting agent in accordance with the invention added and the separation treatment performed.
  • Sample 1 comprises the cuttings before treatment
  • Sample 2 comprises 100KG water, 10 kg wetting agent 30 kg cuttings
  • the composition of the wetting agent can be: Product Qty/kg in GM Sodium Chloride 67.5 Disodium Hydrogen Phosphate 48.75 Citric Acid 30 Liquorice Ext 30 Potassium Sorbate 20 Water 1000
  • a a wetting agent is prepared so that 5mm of the wetting agent diluted in 1,000mm of water can be used to wet 1kgm of cuttings, i.e. the oil containing material.
  • the following composition can be used:- Product Spec Qty/kg in GM Sodium Chloride 99.98 1.8 90 Disodium Hydrogen Phosphate 99.98 1.3 65 Citric Acid 99.98 0.8 80 Liquorice extract 10.01 0.8 80 Potassium Sorbate (Nipaguard) 99.98 1.5 20 Water - - 1,000
  • the invention therefore provides a product and method of particular advantage in reducing and allowing removal of oil or hydrocarbon content from matter, typically solid matter. This reduces the pollution which may occur conventionally and allows the safe disposal of the oil.
  • the method also lends itself to being performed in situ rather than requiring transport of the material prior to treatment.

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Oil, Petroleum & Natural Gas (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Extraction Or Liquid Replacement (AREA)
  • Detergent Compositions (AREA)
EP03015875A 2002-07-11 2003-07-11 Agent mouillant et de séparation pour hydrocarbures Withdrawn EP1380630A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0216068 2002-07-11
GB0216068A GB0216068D0 (en) 2002-07-11 2002-07-11 Hydrocarbon wetting and separation agent
GB0309871 2003-04-30
GB0309871 2003-04-30

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1380630A2 true EP1380630A2 (fr) 2004-01-14
EP1380630A3 EP1380630A3 (fr) 2004-01-28

Family

ID=29738101

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP03015875A Withdrawn EP1380630A3 (fr) 2002-07-11 2003-07-11 Agent mouillant et de séparation pour hydrocarbures

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1380630A3 (fr)

Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4579858A (en) * 1983-01-21 1986-04-01 Aktiebolaget Leo Smoking substitutes for nasal administration-I
EP0535834A1 (fr) * 1991-09-30 1993-04-07 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Procédé de reconstitution de tabac
EP0610502A1 (fr) * 1991-09-17 1994-08-17 Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Emulsion contenant une hormone parathyroidienne pour administration par voie nasale
WO1997006812A1 (fr) * 1995-08-15 1997-02-27 Sci-Quip Austasia Pty. Ltd. Composition pharmaceutique a base d'herbes
US5897767A (en) * 1996-12-20 1999-04-27 Patel; Girish Composition and process for the treatment and recovery of oil sludge
WO2002028195A2 (fr) * 2000-10-02 2002-04-11 Stefandl Roland F Boissons et produits alimentaires nouveaux, conçus pour la congelation
US6414027B1 (en) * 1997-07-09 2002-07-02 Androsolutions, Inc. Methods and compositions for treating male erectile dysfunction

Patent Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4579858A (en) * 1983-01-21 1986-04-01 Aktiebolaget Leo Smoking substitutes for nasal administration-I
EP0610502A1 (fr) * 1991-09-17 1994-08-17 Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Emulsion contenant une hormone parathyroidienne pour administration par voie nasale
EP0535834A1 (fr) * 1991-09-30 1993-04-07 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Procédé de reconstitution de tabac
WO1997006812A1 (fr) * 1995-08-15 1997-02-27 Sci-Quip Austasia Pty. Ltd. Composition pharmaceutique a base d'herbes
US5897767A (en) * 1996-12-20 1999-04-27 Patel; Girish Composition and process for the treatment and recovery of oil sludge
US6414027B1 (en) * 1997-07-09 2002-07-02 Androsolutions, Inc. Methods and compositions for treating male erectile dysfunction
WO2002028195A2 (fr) * 2000-10-02 2002-04-11 Stefandl Roland F Boissons et produits alimentaires nouveaux, conçus pour la congelation

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1380630A3 (fr) 2004-01-28

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