Method and apparatus for separation of toxic contaminants by nebulization

• US 5,171,455 A
• Filed: 07/10/1992
• Issued: 12/15/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Environmental Dynamics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Environmental Dynamics Incorporated
• Inventors: Pavlovich, John J., Wang, Lawrence K., Weber, Roland E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dawson, Robert A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DRODGE, JOSEPH W
• Application Number:
  US07/911,329
• Time in Patent Office: 158 Days
• Field of Search: 210/85, 210/86, 210/90, 210/104, 210/176, 210/177, 210/180, 210/182, 210/188, 210/294, 210/513, 210/741, 210/742, 210/744, 210/774, 210/804, 210/806, 210/908, 203/1, 203/2, 203/22, 203/24, 203/26, 203/90, 203/DIG. 4, 203/DIG. 8, 202/152, 202/176, 202/181, 202/182, 202/202, 202/236, 159/4.01, 159/24.3, 159/48.1, 165/179, 62/238.6
• US Class Current: 210/744
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 1/0082 Regulation; Control
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 1/14 with heated gases or vapours or liquids in contact with the liquid
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 1/16 by spraying B01D1/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 1/30 Accessories for evaporators ; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: C10M 175/0025 by thermal processes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 203/04 Heat pump
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 203/08 Waste heat

Abstract

Small quantities of one or more liquids having a low boiling point dispersed with a large quantity of one or more immiscible liquids having a higher boiling point are separated in a rapid and efficient manner. A non-reactive gas (nitrogen, helium, air, or combinations thereof) is heated by recycled energy and make-up energy to a temperature above the boiling point of at least one liquid but below that of at least one other liquid. The heated gas is combined with the unheated or preheated liquid-liquid mixture to be separated, and the liquid-gas blend is mixed, heated and distributed by an improved heat exchanger having thermal conductive gas tubing, metal wools and fins) and nebulizer, forming a mist inside a vessel containing a pool liquid of at least one liquid having a boiling point higher than that of at least one other liquid, which pool liquid has been heated with at least a heat pump means to a temperature above the boiling point of at least one liquid but below the pool liquid'"'"'s own boiling point. The liquid having high-boiling point in the mist settles by gravity and merges with the pool liquid. The vapor of liquid having low-boiling-point in the mist is collected, condensed and recovered with a condensation means. The resulting fractions of each component are then collected separately.

Claims

1. A method for separation of a relatively small volume of a relatively low boiling-point liquid from a liquid-liquid mixture containing a relatively large quantity of one or more immiscible liquids having a relatively higher boiling point comprising the following steps:

(a) delivering bulk quantities of said liquid-liquid mixture to a first collection barrel, for storing and preheating said liquid-liquid mixture,

(b) monitoring the liquid level inside said first collection barrel with electrodes,

(c) controlling operation of a liquid pump, a gas pump compressor, and gas solenoid valve with a relay,

(d) pumping said liquid-liquid mixture from said first collection barrel to a liquid-liquid separator apparatus by said liquid pump when said first collection barrel is full,

(e) compressing a gas using said compressor and passing the compressed gas, via the solenoid valve, to said liquid-liquid separator apparatus which consists of an insulated chamber, means for containing a pool liquid inside said chamber, a heater with a thermal exchanger by which said pool liquid, in turn, the compressed gas are heated, a bottom plate, thermometer probes or gauges, a pressure probe or gauge, a liquid inlet, a gas inlet, a heat-conductive gas tubing, a branch heat-conductive gas tubing, a nebulizer, a pool liquid effluent conduit, and a vapor duct discharge conduit,

(f) further heating said gas with said pool liquid by transferring heat through said heat-conductive gas tubing, having thermal conductive metal wool inside and thermal conductive fins outside,

(g) gas bubbling said pool liquid through said branch heatconductive gas tubing for enhancing heat transfer,

(h) nebulizing said heated gas and said liquid-liquid mixture with said nebulizer and forming a mist,

(i) gravitationally settling at least a portion of droplets of the high-boiling-point liquid component from said mist and merging the settled liquid droplets with said pool liquid,

(j) evaporating droplets of the at least one lowboiling-point liquid component from said mist as a vapor,

(k) exiting said vapor from said vapor duct discharge conduit for selective discharge into said first collection barrel for preheating the incoming liquid-liquid mixture, into a condensation means for condensing said vapor to a condensed liquid, or both, for reuse.

(l) exiting excess high-boiling-point pool liquid from said liquid effluent conduit to a second collection barrel,

(m) periodically draining the collected high-boiling-point liquid from said second collection barrel for proper final disposal, and

(n) periodically draining the collected low-boiling-point liquid from the collection compartments of said condensation means and said first collection barrel.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising repeating steps (a) through (m) for liquid remaining in said pool liquid if said liquid comprises more than one component.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said gas is nonreactive and comprises air, nitrogen, helium, or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the liquid components in said liquid-liquid mixture is water.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the liquid components in said liquid-liquid mixture is an organic liquid.

6. A liquid-liquid separation apparatus system capable of separating a liquid-liquid mixture of at least two liquid components having different boiling points, comprising the following:

(a) an inlet port means for allowing said liquid-liquid mixture to enter the liquid-liquid separation apparatus system,

(b) a first collection barrel means connected to said inlet port means to receive, store, and preheat said liquid-liquid mixture entered from said inlet port means,

(c) means comprising two electrodes which are of different lengths inside said first collection barrel for monitoring the liquid level in said first collection barrel,

(d) preheating and condensing means comprising a vapor gas tubing, thermal conductive metal wools, thermal conductive fins, a collection compartment, a drain, a vapor inlet, and a vapor outlet inside said first collection barrel and an observation tube outside said first collection barrel, for preliminarily condensing vapor and preheating said liquid-liquid mixture,

(e) a second collection barrel with a liquid inlet, a bottom liquid drain, and a liquid overflow drain,

(f) a separator apparatus which is thermally insulated, filled with a pool liquid, and mounted on top of said second collection barrel for liquid-liquid separation,

(g) a liquid pump mounted on top of said first collection barrel and arranged for pumping said liquid-liquid mixture from said first collection barrel to said separator apparatus,

(h) a gas pump assembly means including valves and gas conduits for compressing a heated, non-reactive gas to be transported into said separator apparatus,

(i) a relay connected to said electrodes, said liquid pump, said gas pump assembly, and at least one solenoid valve for controlling pumping and valve operations in accordance with signals from said electrodes inside said first collection barrel,

(j) means for transporting said liquid-liquid mixture from said first collection barrel to said separator apparatus,

(k) means for transporting said heated, non-reactive gas to said separator apparatus,

(l) a chamber means inside said separator apparatus to hold a nebulizer means for liquid-liquid separation, and hold said pool liquid which contains at least a first component of said liquid-liquid mixture having a boiling point lower than at least a second component of said liquid-liquid mixture,

(m) heating means inside said separator apparatus for heating said liquid-liquid mixture to a temperature above the boiling point of said at least first lower boiling point component,

(n) thermal conductive means inside said separator apparatus for heating said non-reactive gas to a temperature above the boiling point of said at least first lower boiling point component;

said thermal conductive means further comprising thermal conductive metal wools, gas tubing, and fins,

(o) means inside said separator apparatus for gas bubbling said pool liquid to enhance heat transfer,

(p) means inside said separator apparatus for combining the heated gas with said heated liquid-liquid mixture, thereby to form a mist;

comprising at least said nebulizer means,

(q) said nebulizer means comprising gas input means, liquid input means, an interior hollow chamber located adjacent to said gas input means and liquid input means, and an output bore;

wherein the relationship between cross-sectional areas of said gas input means, said interior hollow chamber and said output bore are such that a liquid-gas blend is injected through said output bore as said mist,

(r) means inside said separator apparatus for vaporization and collection of at least the first component from said mist,

(s) means inside said separator apparatus for gravity sedimentation of said at least second component including means for merging at least a portion of said at least second component with said pool liquid,

(t) vapor withdrawing means for withdrawing at least the first vaporized component from said separator apparatus,

(u) liquid withdrawing means for withdrawing an excess of at least second component from said separator apparatus,

(v) means for measuring and controlling the temperature of said pool liquid inside said separator apparatus,

(w) means for measuring and controlling the temperature and pressure of said chamber inside said separator apparatus,

(x) means for transporting the excess of said at least second component to said second collection barrel,

(y) means for draining said excess pool liquid from said second collection barrel, and

(z) a condensation means connected to said vapor withdrawing means of said separator apparatus for collecting and condensing said vaporized component from said separator apparatus;

said condensation means further comprising a vapor inlet pipe, an insulated side wall, an insulated top cover, an insulated bottom, a collection compartment for collecting a condensed liquid, a liquid drain, for periodically draining said condensed liquid having low-boiling-point, valves, and a thermal exchanger means for simultaneously cooling said condensation means and heating the pool liquid inside said separator apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said non-reactive gas is air, nitrogen, helium, or combinations thereof.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein one of the liquid components in said liquid-liquid mixture is water.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein one of the liquid components in said liquid-liquid mixture is an organic liquid.

10. The nebulizer of claim 6 wherein the cross-sectional area of the gas input means is approximately one-third to one-half the cross-sectional area of the interior chamber and approximately one-half the cross-sectional area of the output bore.

11. The nebulizer of claim 6 wherein the hollow chamber extends a sufficient axial distance from the gas and liquid input means to facilitate nebulization.

12. The nebulizer of claim 6 wherein the cross-sectional area of said output bore is sufficient to retard clogging.

13. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said preheating and condensing means can selectively be idled, bypassed, or disconnected.

14. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said condensation means can selectively be idled, bypassed or disconnected.

15. A separator apparatus capable of separating of a liquid-liquid mixture of at least two liquid components having different boiling points, comprising the following:

(a) an inlet port means for allowing said liquid-liquid mixture to enter said separator apparatus,

(b) a gas inlet port means for allowing a non-reactive gas to enter said separator apparatus,

(c) a liquid pump means for pumping said liquid-liquid mixture to said separator apparatus,

(d) a gas pump assembly means for compressing the non-reactive gas prior to its entering through said gas inlet port means,

(e) insulation means surrounding said separator apparatus,

(f) a chamber means inside said separator apparatus for housing a nebulizer means for liquid-liquid separation, and for containing a pool liquid which contains at least a first component of said liquid-liquid mixture having a boiling point lower than at least a second component of said liquid-liquid mixture,

(g) heating means inside said separator apparatus for heating said chamber means to a temperature above the boiling point of said at least first lower boiling point liquid component,

(h) thermal conductive means inside said separator apparatus for heating said non-reactive gas to a temperature above the boiling point of said at least first lower boiling point liquid component;

said thermal conductive means further comprising thermal conductive metal wools, gas tubing, and fins,

(i) means inside said separator apparatus for gas bubbling said pool liquid to enhance heat transfer,

(j) means inside said separator apparatus for combining the heated gas with said liquid-liquid mixture, thereby to form a mist, comprising at least said nebulizer means,

(k) said nebulizer means further comprising gas input means, liquid input means, an interior hollow chamber located adjacent said gas input means and liquid input means, and an output bore;

wherein the relationship between cross-sectional areas of said gas input means, said interior hollow chamber and said output bore are such that a liquid-gas blend is ejected through said output bore as said mist,

(l) means inside said separator apparatus for vaporization and collection of at least the first component from said mist,

(m) means inside said separator apparatus for gravity sedimentation of said at least second component,

(n) means for merging at least a portion of said at least second component with said pool liquid inside said separator apparatus,

(o) vapor withdrawing means for withdrawing the separated at least first, vaporized component from said separator apparatus,

(p) liquid withdrawing means for withdrawing an excess of the at least second component from said separator apparatus,

(g) means for measuring and controlling the temperature of said pool liquid inside said separator apparatus,

(r) means for measuring and controlling the temperature and pressure of said chamber inside said separator apparatus, and

(s) a thermal exchanger means for simultaneously heating said heating means inside said separator apparatus and delivering cooling energy outside said separator apparatus.

16. the apparatus of claim 15, wherein said non-reactive gas is air, nitrogen, helium, or combinations thereof.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein one of the liquid components in said liquid-liquid mixture is an organic liquid.

18. The nebulizer of claim 15 wherein the cross-sectional area of the gas input means is approximately one-third to one-half the cross-sectional area of the interior chamber and approximately one-half the cross-sectional area of the output bore.

19. The nebulizer of claim 15 wherein the hollow chamber extends a sufficient axial distance from the gas and liquid input means to facilitate nebulization.

20. The nebulizer of claim 15 wherein the cross-sectional area of said output bore is sufficient to retard clogging.