US1824780A - Separation of oil - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 29, 1931. A. B. JONES SEPARATION OF OIL Filed Feb. 24, 1928 HHH 'SMM/1mg QM mm.

Patented Sept. 29, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTHUR B. JONES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATES, INC.,

F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK SEPARATION OF OIL Application led February 24, 1928. Serial No. 256,553.

This invention relates to improvements in the separation of oil. p

An object of this invention is to effect quickly and economically separation of the variousfractions of crude petroleum or mixtures of two or more oils or waxes of diEerent specific gravities or melting or boiling pointsl without injuring or cracking the oils.

According to this invention, the liquid, having as one fraction the desired oil, is brought into contact in highly dispersed form in a treating chamber with a gaseous medium previously heated to a temperature sufficiently high to vaporize the desired oil and thus separate it from the remaining liquid. The distillate thus obtained, together with the gaseous medium, is then passed through a scrubber which may be a fractionating column in which fractions heavier than that desired in the ultimate product which may have been carried over therewith are separated therefrom. From the scrubber, the desired oilin vapor form and .mixed with the gaseous medium is passed through a cooling chamber in which the oilis condensed and the gaseous medium cooled. Preferably, the condensation and cooling is accomplished by spraying cold water or other liquid having lower boiling point than the desired product 80 in highly dispersed form into the chamber.

From the cooling chamber, the gaseous medium passes through a second scrubber which removes any oil that may have been carried over by the gaseous medium from the water tower. By means of a fan or other blower, .a portion of the gaseous medium is returned to the treating chamber to be again contacted with fresh liquid. Just before the returning gaseous medium enters the chamber, itis reheated and fresh hot gases are addedthereto. That portion of the gaseous medium not returned to the treating chamber is vented from the system through a suitable scrubber or'water cooled condenser.

liquid of which it is a constituent is very quickly accomplished, as vaporization takes place immediately after ythe liquid is sprayed into the treating chamber. The desired oil l is then obtained merely by passing the dis- The separation of the desired oil from the l tillate and gaseous medium through the fractionator and into the cooling tower where water is sprayed into the distillate and gaseous medium and in the bottom of which the desired oil accumulates. The water used to condense the desired fraction is itself vaporized to steam and is carried off by the pump. The water tower, since it sprays the water in highly dispersed form thus bringing about thorough dispersion of the water through the distillate, effects condensation of the fraction effectively and very economically andv obviates the use of cumbersome and expensive heat exchangers or condensers. As a large portion of the gaseous medium is reheated and returned to the treating tower, the expenditure of heat is relatively slight, thus rendering the operation very economical. Since the distillation products obtained in the treating tower do not come in contact with highly heated surfaces, cracking or destructive distillation of the oil is avoided. However, if desired, a sufficiently high temperature for cracking or destructive distillation of the oil may be produced in the treating tower.

Other objects, novel features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from ,the following specification and accompanying drawings, wherein the single iigure diagrammatically illustrates one form of apparatus for carrying out the process.

In the drawings, 10 designates the treating or distillation chamber which is provided with a discharge pipe 11 controlled by a valve 12. A conduit 13 connects the bottom of the chamber 10 with the bottom of a scrubber or fractionating column 14 which is provided with a drain pipe 15 controlled by a valve 16. The scrubber 14 may be a bubble tower or may be a single chamber packed with Raschig rings or steel wool sections for effecting separation of heavy oil from more volatile oil. A conduit 17 leads from the top of the scrubber 14 to the top of a coolin chamber or water tower 18 which is provi ed with a drain pipe 19 controlled by a valve 20. In the top wall of the water tower 18 is provided 'a sprayer or atomizer 21 which may advantageously be constructed and operated in accordance with the disclosure in the patent to C. L. Riley, No. 1,624,847, of April 2, 1927, or an ordinary jet atomizer using pressure or steam may be used, but I prefer the mechanical atomizer first mentioned. A pipe 22 controlled by the valve 23 is provided for supplying water to the sprayer 21.

A conduit 24 fconnects the bottcm of the water tower 18 with t-he bottom of a second scrubber 25 which may comprise a single chamberprovided with Raschig rings or steel wool sections for separating liquid entrained in the gaseous medium. A drain ipe 26 controlled by a valve 27 is provide at the bottom of the scrubber 25. From the to of the scrubber 25, a conduit 28 controlled b) a valve 28a leads to the inlet of afan orot er blower 29, the outlet of which is connected to a conduit 30 which leads into the upper portion of the treating chamber or oil tower 10.l

A heater, preferably a surface combustion burner 31, isconnected with the'conduit 30 and is supplied by the pipe 32 with fuel mixed with air. vent 33 leads'from the conduit 28 through a scrubber 34 equipped with a drain pipe 35 controlled by a valve 36. After the' apparatus has been in operation for some time, the circulating gas will consist chiefly or entirely of products of combustion and st'eam vapor.

WIn the 'top wall of the oil tower 10 is provided a jet sprayer or atomizer 37 similar to that disclosed in the aforementioned Riley patent to which crude oil or other liquid from which a fraction is to'be separated is supplied by the pipe 38 controlled by valve 39.

' The operation of the apparatus "above described is as follows. The fan or blower 29 is started and the gaseous medium in the system is caused to circulate. By means of the heater 31, the circulating stream of gaseous medium is heated by additionl of hot gases of combustion until the temperature desired in f highly dispersed condition and is thus4 theatomizing chamber` is obtained and oxygen is reduced below explosion limits. The valve 39 1s then opened and the liquid to be treated 1s int-roduced-into the chamber 10 in brought into Contact with the gaseous medium. At the same time, the cooling water is turned on in the clfamber 18. The contact of the liquid with the. hot gaseous medium lcauses distillation of the lower boiling constituents of the liquid.`

The undistilled constituents are drained from the, tower through the pipe 11 while the evaporized constituents, together with the gaseous medium, pass by way of the conduit 13. through the scrubber 14 in which fractionation of the vaporized constituents is accompllshed and the undesired fractions liquefied and separated from the desired fraction. The condensate thus formed is drained from the scrubber through the pipe 15. The desired fraction vapor phase, together with the gaseous medium, passes from the scrubber 14 through the conduit 17 into the cooling chamber 18. In this chamber, water or other liquid having lower boiling point than the desired product is sprayed into contact with the gaseous medium and the vaporized fraction, thus effecting condensation of the desired fraction, the cooling of the gaseous medium and vaporizationvof the water into trained liquid is separated from the gaseous medium and removed from the scrubber through the pipe 26. From the scrubber, the gaseous medium and steam pass through the conduit 28, the major portion thereof going uto the fan 29 and the remainder being vented through the pipe 33 and scrubber 34. The discharge from the fan 29 is returned to the tower 10 by the conduit 30, is reheated on its way by the surface combustion burner 31,;

and has added to it the products of combustion of said burner. The portion of the circulatin stream continuously vented through the plpe 33 compensates for the gases of combustion and the water vaporadded thereto.

As a concrete example of the operation of the process, assume that topped mid-oom. tinent oil is to be separated into bottoms and paralin distillate. The apparatus is operated as described above and the temperature;v

so controlled that 'the gases leaving the oil chamber are maintained above the-l boiling point of the paraiin distillate and below the boiling point of the bottoms. .The gaseous` medium is therefore introduced into the@- chamber 10 at approximatel 800 F. and the oil is sprayed into the cham er at the roper rate to produce a drop to about 7 00? The temperature of the incoming gaseous medium may be more. than 800 F. but in that case more oil would have to be atomized in order not to distill over any of the bottoms with the paraiin distillate. The rate of flow of the oil is easily regulated by the valve 39 and the temperature ofthe incoming gaseous medium is controlled by the quantity of gas supplied to the burner 31. After atomization, the paratlin distillate in vapor phase and the gaseous medium pass through the scrubber 14 vto remove any bottoms that may be entrained ber 18 and in the scrubber 25. The amount of circulation and thereby the capacity of the plant is cont-rolled by regulation of the valve 28a. The gaseous stream will then pass at 400 F. into the fan and thence through the heater to the treating tower 10.

According to the invention described, the oil is treated extremely quickly and so cracking thereof is prevented. T-he apparatus is inexpensive, as it does'not require heat eX- changes with large surfaces. The invention is widely applicable for the eiicient fractionation ofl oils of different boiling points and specific gravities and the restoration of the apparatus and the material treated above given merely indicates one of the numerous applications of the invention. This method of fractionation has the advantages of economy of fuel, ease of control, continuous operation, low cost of operation, and high quality of product. If it is desired to crack the distillate obtained in the treating chamber, such cracking may be accomplished byhigh temperature.

The heater 31, although disclosed as a surface combustion burner, may be any type of heater which will effect complete combustion of the fuel within a closed chamber and can thus be associated with the conduit 30 without effecting reduction of the pressure developed therein by the fan 29 and without pollution of the circulating gases or a heat exchanger may be used. The scrubbers may be of any type which will fractionate effectively and may be used in any number to obtain satisfactory results. The condensate collecting in these scrubbers may be used either to assist in the fractionation operation or maybe returned to the main atomizing tower for further treatment.

It is apparent, of course, that various modiiications may be made in the apparatus disclosed without in an way departing `from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The process pf obtaining a hydrocarbon fraction from a hydrocarbon liquid of which said fraction is a constituent which comprises producing a circulating stream of combustion gases free from tar and solid matter, directing said stream downwardly through a distillation zone maintained at a tem erature above the maximum boiling point o the desired product, centrifugally atomizing said hydrocarbon liquid and spraying the same into the upper portion of said zone, withdrawing the unvaporized constituents of said hydrocarbon liquid from said distillation zone, directing said stream downwardly through a condensing zone and spraying into the upper part of said zone cooling liquid of lower boiling point than the desired roduct thereby condensing the desired pro uct and vaporizing'the cooling liquid, withdrawing the liqueed desired product from said condensing zone, venting gas from said stream and adding to said stream fresh combustion gases free from tar and solid matter to maintain the required temperature in said distillation zone.

2. The process of obtaining a hydrocarbon fraction from a hydrocarbon liquid of which said fraction is a constituent which comprises producing a circulating stream of combustion gases free from tar and solid matter, directing-said stream. downwardly through a distillation zone maintained at a temperature above the maximum boiling point of the desired product, centrifugally atomizing said hydrocarbon liquid and spraying the same into the upper portion of said zone, withdrawing the unvaporized constituents of said hydrocarbon liquid from said distillation zone, directing said stream through a scrubbing zone to remove from the stream hydrocarbon having boiling points above the maxim-um boiling point of the desired product, directing said stream downwardly through a condensing zone and spraying into the upper part of said zone cooling liquid of lower boiling point than the desired product, thereby condensing the desired-product and vaporizing the cooling liquid, withdrawing the liquefied desired product from said condensing zone, venting gas from said stream .and adding to said stream fresh combustion gases free from tar and solid matter to maintain the required temperature in said distillation zone.

- In testimony whereof, I. have signed my name to this specification.

i ARTHUR B. JONES.

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