Conditioning of crude oil charge to centrifuge for asphalt improvement

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR REMOVING PARTICULATE SOLID TO SEMISOLID MATERIAL FROM A RELATIVELY COLD CRUDE OIL CONTAINING SAME WHEREIN A FIRST STREAM OF SAID CRUDE OIL IS PASSED THRU A CENTRIFUGING ZONE TO SEPARATE SAME INTO A SECOND STREAM OF OIL OF SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER CONCENTRATION OF SAID MATERIAL THAN SAID FIRST STREAM AND A THIRD STREAM OF OIL OF SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER CONCENTRATION OF SAID MATERIAL THAN SAID FIRST STREAM, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISES THE STEPS OF: (1) PASSING A FOURTH STREAM OF CENTRIFUGED CRUDE OIL SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF SOLID TO SEMI-SOLID MATERIAL AND LIGHTER THAN SAID FIRST STREAM INTO SAID FIRST STREAM UPSTREAM OF THE CENTRIFUGING ZONE AT A SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER TEMPERATURE THAN THE TEMPERATURE OF SAID FIRST STREAM BUT BELOW A TEMPERATURE WHICH CAUSES SAID MATERIAL TO GO INTO SOLUTION IN THE STREAM RESULTING FROM STEP 2; (2) RAPIDLY MIXING SAID FIRST AND FOURTH STREAMS TO RAISE THE TEMPERATURE OF THE OIL OF SAID FIRST STREAM TO LOWER THE VISCOSITY THEREOF WITHOUT DISSOLVING SAID PARTICULATE MATERIAL; AND (3) PASSING THE RESULTING LESS VISCOUS STREAM OF OIL FROM STEP 2 THRU THE CENTRIFUGING ZONE TO SEPARATE SAME INTO SAID SECOND AND THIRD STREAMS.