Process and apparatus for producing and using cold ammonia
First Claim
1. A method for carrying out the substantially adiabatic expansion of a pressurized stream of ambient-temperature liquid ammonia to produce a stream of cold liquid ammonia at a reduced pressure and a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at a reduced pressure, which comprises (1) introducing at a velocity of at least about 5000 feet per minute an inlet stream of partially decompressed liquid ammonia tangentially into an expansion chamber, the expansion chamber comprising a substantially vertically elongated barrier means located (a) substantially in the center of the horizontal planes of the expansion chamber and (b) in the path of the expansion cone of the inlet stream, which barrier means assists in imparting a spinning motion to the inlet stream and allows some liquid ammonia to flow down the barrier means and thereby improves the separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia, (2) imparting a high velocity spinning motion to the liquid ammonia entering the chamber such that rapid flow is produced around the interior of the chamber to thereby provide rapid separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia in the chamber, and wherein the expansion chamber is provided with an outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia therefrom which outlet is located above the paths of liquid flow to minimize the amount of liquid droplets being carried through the gaseous ammonia outlet and another outlet useful for the removal of cold liquid ammonia therefrom, the outlets being provided at opposite ends of the expansion chamber, (3) directing the flow of the cold reduced pressure liquid ammonia within the expansion chamber to the outlet useful for the withdrawal of cold reduced pressure liquid ammonia from the expansion chamber to effect separation between cold liquid ammonia and cold gaseous ammonia within the expansion chamber, and (4) withdrawing through the outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at reduced pressure and a stream of cold liquid ammonia at reduced pressure via the other outlet.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Cold ammonia, preferably cold liquid anhydrous ammonia preferably at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure, is applied (1) to the soil as a fertilizer or (2) to feed grains, forages and anaerobically fermentable plant material to supply thereto and provide therein non-protein nitrogen (NPN). The cold ammonia is obtained by (1) introducing a stream of ambient temperature, pressurized liquid ammonia at a velocity of at least about 5000 feet per minute into an expansion chamber, the expansion chamber comprising a substantially vertically elongated barrier means located substantially in the center of the horizontal planes of the expansion chamber and, in the path of the expansion cone of the inlet stream, which barrier means assists in imparting a spinning motion to the inlet stream and allows some liquid ammonia to flow down the barrier means and thereby improves the separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia, (2) imparting a high velocity spinning motion to the liquid ammonia entering the chamber such that rapid flow is produced around the interior of the chamber to thereby provide rapid separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia formed in the chamber.
26 Citations
42 Claims
- 1. A method for carrying out the substantially adiabatic expansion of a pressurized stream of ambient-temperature liquid ammonia to produce a stream of cold liquid ammonia at a reduced pressure and a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at a reduced pressure, which comprises (1) introducing at a velocity of at least about 5000 feet per minute an inlet stream of partially decompressed liquid ammonia tangentially into an expansion chamber, the expansion chamber comprising a substantially vertically elongated barrier means located (a) substantially in the center of the horizontal planes of the expansion chamber and (b) in the path of the expansion cone of the inlet stream, which barrier means assists in imparting a spinning motion to the inlet stream and allows some liquid ammonia to flow down the barrier means and thereby improves the separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia, (2) imparting a high velocity spinning motion to the liquid ammonia entering the chamber such that rapid flow is produced around the interior of the chamber to thereby provide rapid separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia in the chamber, and wherein the expansion chamber is provided with an outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia therefrom which outlet is located above the paths of liquid flow to minimize the amount of liquid droplets being carried through the gaseous ammonia outlet and another outlet useful for the removal of cold liquid ammonia therefrom, the outlets being provided at opposite ends of the expansion chamber, (3) directing the flow of the cold reduced pressure liquid ammonia within the expansion chamber to the outlet useful for the withdrawal of cold reduced pressure liquid ammonia from the expansion chamber to effect separation between cold liquid ammonia and cold gaseous ammonia within the expansion chamber, and (4) withdrawing through the outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at reduced pressure and a stream of cold liquid ammonia at reduced pressure via the other outlet.
- 17. A method for carrying out the substantially adiabatic expansion of a pressurized stream of ambient-temperature liquid ammonia to produce a stream of cold liquid ammonia at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure and a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure, which comprises (1) introducing a stream of ambient-temperature pressurized liquid ammonia into an inlet conduit of sufficient size to allow partial decompression of the ammonia stream to an ammonia stream velocity of at least about 5000 feet per minute and which is sufficiently expanded that upon entry into an expansion chamber that the substantially unidirectional flow of the ammonia stream is maintained, (2) introducing the ammonia stream from the inlet conduit into an expansion chamber comprising a substantially vertically elongated barrier means located substantially in the center of horizontal planes of the expansion chamber, and the barrier means extending at least the vertical dimension of the path of the expansion cone of the inlet stream at the line of intersection of the axis of the barrier means and the expansion cone, which barrier means is in the form of a hollow cylinder having a bottom impervious to entry of liquid ammonia into the cylinder and having a vertical dimension at least about two-thirds of the vertical dimension of the inside of the expansion chamber and which barrier means assists in imparting a spinning motion to the inlet ammonia stream and allows some liquid ammonia to flow down the outside of the cylinder and improves the separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia, (3) imparting a high velocity spinning motion to the liquid ammonia entering the chamber such that rapid flow is produced around the interior of the chamber to thereby provide rapid separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia in the chamber, and wherein the expansion chamber is provided with an outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia therefrom which outlet is located above the paths of liquid flow to thereby significantly reduce the amount of liquid ammonia droplets that are carried through the gaseous ammonia outlet and another outlet useful for the removal of cold liquid ammonia therefrom, said outlets being provided at opposite ends of the expansion chamber, (4) directing the flow of the cold substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure liquid ammonia within the expansion chamber to the outlet useful for the withdrawal of cold ambient or atmospheric pressure liquid ammonia from the expansion chamber to effect separation between cold liquid ammonia and cold gaseous ammonia within the expansion chamber, and (5) withdrawing through the outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure and a stream of cold liquid ammonia at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure via the other outlet.
- 24. An apparatus for carrying out the substantially adiabatic expansion of a pressurized stream of ambient-temperature liquid ammonia to produce a stream of cold liquid ammonia at a reduced pressure and a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at a reduced pressure, which comprises (1) means for introducing at a velocity of at least about 5000 feet per minute an inlet stream of partially decompressed liquid ammonia tangentially into an expansion chamber, (2) the expansion chamber comprising a substantially vertically elongated barrier means located (a) substantially in the center of the horizontal planes of the expansion chamber and (b) in the path of the expansion cone of the inlet stream, which barrier means assists in imparting a spinning motion to the inlet stream and allows some liquid ammonia to flow down the barrier means and thereby improves the separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia, (3) means for imparting a high velocity spinning motion to the liquid ammonia entering the expansion chamber such that rapid flow is produced around the interior of the expansion chamber to thereby provide rapid separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia in the expansion chamber, and wherein the expansion chamber is provided with (4) an outlet for removing the gaseous ammonia therefrom which outlet is located above the paths of liquid flow to minimize the amount of liquid droplets being carried through the gaseous ammonia outlet, (5) another outlet useful for the removal of cold liquid ammonia from the expansion chamber, the outlets being provided at opposite ends of the expansion chamber, (6) means for directing the flow of the cold reduced pressure liquid ammonia within said expansion chamber to the outlet useful for the withdrawal of cold reduced pressure liquid ammonia from the expansion chamber to effect separation between cold liquid ammonia and cold gaseous ammonia within the expansion chamber, (7) means for withdrawing through the outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at reduced pressure, and (8) means for withdrawing a stream of cold liquid ammonia at reduced pressure via the other outlet.
- 38. An apparatus for carrying out the substantially adiabatic expansion of a pressurized stream of ambient-temperature liquid ammonia to produce a stream of cold liquid ammonia at aub-stantially ambient or atmospheric pressure and a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure, which comprises (1) means for introducing a stream of ambient-temperature pressurized liquid ammonia into an inlet conduit at an ammonia stream velocity of at least about 5000 feet per minute, (2) the inlet conduit of sufficient size to allow partial decompression of the ammonia stream in order that the ammonia stream is sufficiently expanded that upon entry into an expansion chamber that the substantially unidirectional flow of the ammonia stream is maintained, (3) the expansion chamber comprising a substantially vertically elongated barrier means, (4) the barrier means being located substantially in the center of horizontal planes of the expansion chamber, and the barrier means extending at least the vertical dimension of the path of the expansion cone of the inlet stream at the line of intersection of the axis of the barrier means and the expansion cone, which barrier means is in the form of a hollow cylinder having a bottom inpervious to entry of liquid ammonia into the cylinder and having a vertical dimension at least about two-thirds of the vertical dimension of the inside of the expansion chamber and which barrier means assists in imparting a spinning motion to the inlet ammonia stream and allows some liquid ammonia to flow down the outside of the cylinder and improves the separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia, (5) means for imparting a high velocity spinning motion to the liquid ammonia entering the chamber such that rapid flow is produced around the interior of the chamber to thereby provide rapid separation of the liquid and gaseous ammonia in the chamber, and wherein the expansion chamber is provided with (6) an outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia therefrom which outlet is located above the paths of liquid flow to thereby significantly reduce the amount of liquid ammonia droplets that are carried through the gaseous ammonia outlet, and (7) another outlet useful for the removal of cold liquid ammonia therefrom, said outlets being provided at opposite ends of said expansion chamber, (8) means for directing the flow of the cold substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure liquid ammonia from the expansion chamber to effect separation between cold liquid ammonia and cold gaseous ammonia within the expansion chamber, (9) means for withdrawing through the outlet useful for the removal of gaseous ammonia a stream of cold gaseous ammonia at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure, and (10) means for withdrawing a stream of cold liquid ammonia at substantially ambient or atmospheric pressure via the other outlet.
Specification