Black liquor oxidation apparatus

Claim 1

An apparatus for intimately contacting a flowing quantity of spent cellulose pulping liquor with a quantity of oxidizing gas, said apparatus comprising: A. a vessel of substantially uniform sectional area from a bottom end to a top end along the height of a contact zone; B. partition means extending from the bottom end of said vessel for a portion of the height thereof and dividing the area of said section into at least two volumes, said two volumes communicating only above the top of said partition; C. liquor inlet means proximate of the bottom end of said contact zone within a first of said volumes; D. liquor outlet means proximate of the bottom end of said contact zone within a second of said volumes; and, E. manifold conduit means disposed proximately of the bottom end of said contact zone for distributing said oxidizing gas in direct contact with said liquor over substantially all the area of said section, said manifold conduit means comprising a main header conduit having a flow length extending between a juncture point with an oxidizing gas supply conduit and a flow plug, a plurality of subheader conduits joining said main header serially along said flow length and penetrating both of said volumes, a plurality of gas discharge orifice means respective to each of said subheaders, joined thereto and positioned over the sectional area of both volumes to distribute substantially uniformly the discharge of oxidizing gas over said sectional areas, the mathematical ratio of areas between the total of all subheader flow sections and the main header flow section being approximately 0.95 or less when the ratio of said flow length to the effective flow diameter of said main header is approximately 70 or less.

Claim 2

An apparatus for intimately contacting a flowing quantity of spent cellulose pulping liquor with a quantity of oxidizing gas, said apparatus comprising: A. a vessel of substantially uniform sectional area from a bottom end to a top end along the height of a contact zone; B. partition means extending from the bottom end of said vessel for a portion of the height thereof and dividing the area of said section into at least two volumes, said two volumes communicating only above the top of said partition; C. liquor inlet means proximate of the bottom end of said contact zone within a first of said volumes; D. liquor outlet means proximate of the bottom end of said contact zone within a second of said volumes; and, E. manifold conduit means disposed proximately of the bottom end of said contact zone for distributing said oxidizing gas in direct contact with said liquor over substantially all the area of said section, said manifold conduit means comprising a main header conduit having a flow length extending between a juncture point with an oxidizing gas supply conduit and a flow plug, a plurality of subheader conduits joining said main header serially along said flow length and penetrating both of said volumes, a plurality of gas discharge orifice means respective to each of said subheaders, joined thereto and positioned over the sectional area of both volumes to distribute substantially uniformly the discharge of oxidizing gas over said sectional areas, the mathematical ratio of areas between the total of all subheader flow sections and the main header flow section being approximately 0.95 or less when the ratio of said flow length to the effective flow diameter of said main header is approximately 70 or less.