Separation equipment

Claim 1

A cartridge for removing contaminants from a liquid, which cartridge comprises (a) a casing having a central port and a circumferential port, (b) a perforated rigid hollow tube, the interior of which is in communication with the central port, (c) a perforated cylinder, the exterior of which is in communication with said circumferential port, (d) a roll of liquid permeable material disposed within the perforated cylinder such that any flow of liquid between the ports passes radially through the roll characterized in that (i) the roll is formed from a resilient sheet having a layer of fibers attached thereto, (ii) the sheet is attached at its outer end to the perforated cylinder and at its inner end to the perforated tube (iii) means are provided to rotate the perforated tube, which means are operable to vary the tension of the resilient sheet during use, to compress the fibres into a network of fine channels, and to open up the network into a series of relatively wide channels.

Claim 5

A method for treating a mixture of a first immiscible liquid finely dispersed in a second immiscible liquid so as to coalesce the first immiscible liquid comprises passing the mixture radially through a cartridge containing a roll of fibrous coalescing material said cartridge comprising (a) a casing having a central port and a circumferential port, (b) a perforated rotatable rigid hollow tube, the interior of which is in communication with said central port, (c) a perforated cylinder, the exterior of which is in communication with said circumferential port, characterized in that (i) the fibrous material comprises a mass of fibers held in compression by a coiled liquid permeable resilient sheet supporting said fibers, said sheet being attached at its outer end to the perforated cylinder and at its inner end to the perforated tube to releasably maintain said sheet under tension and compress the fibers into a network of fine channels and (ii) after a quantity of the mixture has been passed through the fibrous coalescing material, the rotatable member is rotated so as to reduce the tension on the sheet and the compression of the fibers to open up the network into a series of relatively wide channels and the fibers are then washed by passing a washing liquid through the roll of fibrous material.

Claim 6

A method for treating a mixture of a first immiscible liquid finely dispersed in a second immiscible liquid so as to coalesce the first immiscible liquid comprises passing the mixture radially through a cartridge containing a roll of fibrous coalescing material said cartridge comprising (a) a casing having a central port and a circumferential port, (b) a perforated rotatable rigid hollow tube, the interior of which is in communication with said central port, (c) a perforated cylinder, the exterior of which is in communication with said circumferential port, characterized in that (i) the fibrous material comprises a mass of fibers held in compression by a coiled liquid permeable resilient sheet supporting said fibers, said sheet being attached at its outer end to the perforated cylinder and at its inner end to the perforated tube to releasably maintain said sheet under tension and compress the fibers into a network of fine channels and (ii) after a quantity of the mixture has been passed through the fibrous coalescing material, the rotatable member is rotated so as to reduce the tension on the sheet and the compression of the fibers to open up the network into a series of relatively wide channels and the fibers are then washed by passing a washing liquid through the roll of fibrous material.