Mixed hydrophilic/hydrophobic fiber media for liquid-liquid coalescence
First Claim
1. A process for removing an immiscible lipophilic or a hydrophilic liquid respectively from a continuous hydrophilic or a lipophilic liquid phase, comprising the steps of:
- 1) forming a filter comprising a specific weight ratio of hydrophobic fibers to hydrophilic fibers;
2) determining an initial slope of a weight gain take-up versus time plot of the immiscible liquid by said filter;
3) determining an initial slope of weight gain take-up versus time plot of said continuous liquid by said filter;
4) calculating an L/H ratio from said initial slope of the plot of said immiscible liquid and of said initial slope of the plot of said continuous liquid and obtaining a wettability value for each;
5) forming a plurality of filters comprising different weight ratios of said hydrophobic fibers to said hydrophilic fibers from a range of from about 90% by weight of said hydrophobic fibers to about 10% by weight, or any portion thereof, of hydrophobic fibers with the remaining weight percent being said hydrophilic fibers;
repeating steps
2),
3), and
4) with respect to each weight ratio of said lipophobic fibers to said hydrophilic fibers in step
5);
plotting a wettability range from said L/H wettability values obtained from said plurality of said different weight ratios of said hydrophobic fibers to said hydrophilic fibers; and
utilizing a filter having a wetness value within a weight range of from about 20% to about 80% of hydrophobic fibers to hydrophilic fibers to coalesce said immiscible liquid phase within said continuous liquid phase.
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Abstract
An immiscible lipophilic or hydrophilic liquid phase separated respectively from a continuous hydrophilic phase or a lipophilic phase liquid. Fibers having hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties are mixed, layered, etc., and formed into a filter. The separation mechanism involves capture of small droplets of the immiscible phase, coalescence of the small droplets into larger droplets as the immiscible liquid flows through the fiber filter, and release of the large immiscible droplets from the filter. With respect to separation of a hydrophilic immiscible fluid such as water in a lipophilic continuous fluid such as oil, the hydrophobic fibers will cause small water droplets to migrate towards the hydrophilic fibers whereby large droplets are formed on hydrophilic surface. The large droplets stay on hydrophilic fiber surface for extended periods of time and continue to coalescence until they are so large that they can no longer be maintained by the hydrophilic fibers and are released and drained off of the filter. In designing such filter, wettability of the filter media is an important parameter. The filter media can be designed by mixing hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibers in various proportions to achieve an optimum wettability range for separation of the immiscible liquid from the continuous phase liquid. The wettability of filter media can be characterized by a modified Washburn Equation.
58 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A process for removing an immiscible lipophilic or a hydrophilic liquid respectively from a continuous hydrophilic or a lipophilic liquid phase, comprising the steps of:
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1) forming a filter comprising a specific weight ratio of hydrophobic fibers to hydrophilic fibers; 2) determining an initial slope of a weight gain take-up versus time plot of the immiscible liquid by said filter; 3) determining an initial slope of weight gain take-up versus time plot of said continuous liquid by said filter; 4) calculating an L/H ratio from said initial slope of the plot of said immiscible liquid and of said initial slope of the plot of said continuous liquid and obtaining a wettability value for each; 5) forming a plurality of filters comprising different weight ratios of said hydrophobic fibers to said hydrophilic fibers from a range of from about 90% by weight of said hydrophobic fibers to about 10% by weight, or any portion thereof, of hydrophobic fibers with the remaining weight percent being said hydrophilic fibers; repeating steps
2),
3), and
4) with respect to each weight ratio of said lipophobic fibers to said hydrophilic fibers in step
5);plotting a wettability range from said L/H wettability values obtained from said plurality of said different weight ratios of said hydrophobic fibers to said hydrophilic fibers; and utilizing a filter having a wetness value within a weight range of from about 20% to about 80% of hydrophobic fibers to hydrophilic fibers to coalesce said immiscible liquid phase within said continuous liquid phase. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17, 19)
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7. A process for removing an immiscible lipophilic or a hydrophilic liquid respectively from a continuous hydrophilic or a lipophilic liquid phase, comprising the steps of:
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forming a filter containing hydrophobic fibers and hydrophilic fibers; flowing said immiscible lipophilic liquid or hydrophilic liquid respectively in said continuous liquid phase hydrophilic liquid or lipophilic liquid through said filter and capturing said immiscible liquid; coalescing said captured immiscible liquid; and removing said coalesced immiscible liquid from said filter. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A filter for removing an immiscible lipophilic liquid or a hydrophilic liquid respectively from a continuous hydrophilic liquid phase or a continuous lipophilic liquid phase, comprising:
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a plurality of hydrophobic fibers and a plurality of hydrophilic fibers, said hydrophilic fibers having a wetting value and said hydrophobic fibers having a different wetting value within a liquid system comprising the immiscible lipophilic liquid or the immiscible hydrophilic liquid and respectively the continuous hydrophilic liquid phase or the continuous lipophilic continuous liquid phase; the weight ratio amount of said hydrophobic fibers to said hydrophilic fibers being within a range of from about 80% to about 20% by weight with the remaining weight percent being said hydrophilic fibers and said fiber weight ratio amount being an effective amount to coalesce an immiscible liquid within a continuous liquid phase; and the filter being capable of removing an immiscible liquid from a continuous liquid phase. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification