PL4938B1 - A method and apparatus for separating the phases of emulsions, especially oil phases, using an electric current. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a process for the separation of emulsions, especially petroleum emulsions by means of an electric current, or a suitable apparatus. It is already known that some emulsions, especially petroleum emulsions, retain some of the water they contain. Numerous attempts have been made to overcome the difficulties and to separate the water, either by the action of gravity or by other means. Many of these processes relied on an electric current. There is already an emulsion splitting method in which a single or multi-phase current was limited and straightened by a valve tube. This process is based on the use of a unidirectional high voltage current, which in fact ensures a rapid separation of emulsions due to rapidly successive high voltage pulses. The current intensity is regulated in order to make it independent of the resistance of the processed fluid. This method has considerable advantages, but in practice it faces considerable difficulties. Above all, the capacity of the valves of today is limited, in relation to the emulsion to be processed (for the voltage E), the value of energy necessary to separate the emulsion, i.e. energy = - = - ^ When separating the use of an alternating current with a sinusoidal or almost sinusoidal waveform, for which / is equal to J / 2, the energy consumption will be equal - i.e. the technical effect of the process increases, as the first power, the consumption and the energy is proportional to the square of the maximum applied voltage, so that the process remains economically unfavorable as long as the emulsion resistance is less than It is very great, but this circumstance is not the case at all in the treatment of aqueous emulsions. Hence, there are drawbacks to the use of known emulsion separation methods. In accordance with the present invention, the emulsion separation employs a voltage at a maximum voltage greater than at least twice, and most practically 5 to 10 times the effective voltage; that is, that the factor indicated above may equal about 5, the energy consumption is then equal to —— and for /, equal to 10, the energy consumption will be only —— instead of —— in the case of ordinary alternating current It is therefore evident that 8% or even 2% of the power normally used is sufficient. The electrolytic side-effect of the current, here removes the alternating current in only one direction in such a way that The positive part of the curve has a maximum voltage 5-10 times greater than the positive RMS voltage, and the negative half of the wave has a slightly variable voltage, but without peaks, so that the effective negative voltage equals the effective positive voltage. It is simple, however, that the method and apparatus described above and characterized in the claims may also be used for other processes and in conjunction with known apparatus. PL

Claims (1)

1. Claims, 1. Method of separating individual phases of emulsions, especially petroleum emulsions by means of electric current, characterized by the use of alternating current with a maximum voltage many times, namely at least twice as high as the effective voltage, 2. Method of separating the phases of emulsions according to Claim 1, characterized by the use of an alternating current, pulsating in one direction only, with the maximum voltage of the positive half-wave portion being a multiple of the effective positive voltage, and the negative half-wave voltage with smooth voltage without peaks of such a shape, that the effective negative voltage equals the effective positive voltage, 3. Apparatus for carrying out the method according to claims 1 and 2, characterized by the generation of one or more phases of alternating current of normal or average frequency, or directly by means of a generator by a stress curve, showing peaks, relatively asymmetrical, b also by means of a generator with a sinusoidal voltage curve, in which case the generator connects directly to a synchronously running interrupter which interrupts the current when the voltage is zero, while in both cases one or more may be connected to the generator emulsion separators, either directly or with the aid of transformers. 4. Method for phase separation of emulsions, especially petroleum emulsions according to claims 1 and 2, using the apparatus according to claim 1, 3, characterized by the fact that, by means of a synchronously operating interrupter, each of the emulsion separators remains connected only for the duration of one period, then there is such a number of ranges that the individual separator receives no energy, or that in each successive period, a different emulsion separator is attached, so that for each individual separator the maximum voltage is several times, or at least twice, the effective voltage. Naamlooze Vennootschap de Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij. Jan Heinrich Christoph de Brey. Deputy: M. Skrzypkowski, patent attorney. To the patent description No. 4938. jltyL j / ia. £. * tf. j * and iyr. jL. f- 4 J & r.z '*?' Print by L. Boguslawski, Warsaw. PL