Separation system using coalescing techniques

Claim 1

An apparatus for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said apparatus comprising: (a) a laminar flow separator comprising a series of vertical stacks of fluid interrupting surfaces arranged in longitudinally spaced apart relation from one another forming gaps therebetween for accommodating changes in a discontinuous mixture as the mixture passes through the separator; (b) inlet means positioned at one end of said series of stacks and outlet means positioned at the other end thereof, said inlet and outlet means defining a fluid flow path for directing a discontinuous mixture successively through each of the stacks of said series in a direction transverse to said fluid interrupting surfaces and transverse to said gaps between said vertical stacks and for progressively separating the components of the mixture from one another; (c) each of said vertical stacks comprising a plurality of slats arranged generally parallel to one another in spaced apart relation and defining said fluid interrupting surfaces, each slat having its longitudinal dimension arranged generally perpendicular to the fluid flow path and with said stack oriented perpendicular to the fluid flow path; and (d) wherein the spacings between adjacent slats of said stacks are progressively smaller in said series along said fluid flow path between said inlet means and said outlet means.

Claim 2

An apparatus for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said apparatus comprising: (a) a laminar flow separator comprising a series of vertical stacks of fluid interrupting surfaces arranged in longitudinally spaced apart relation from one another forming gaps therebetween for accommodating changes in a discontinuous mixture as the mixture passes through the separator; (b) inlet means positioned at one end of said series of stacks and outlet means positioned at the other end thereof, said inlet and outlet means defining a fluid flow path for directing a discontinuous mixture successively through each of the stacks of said series in a direction transverse to said fluid interrupting surfaces and transverse to said gaps between said vertical stacks and for progressively separating the components of the mixture from one another; (c) each of said vertical stacks comprising a plurality of slats arranged generally parallel to one another in spaced apart relation and defining said fluid interrupting surfaces, each slat having its longitudinal dimension arranged generally perpendicular to the fluid flow path and with said stack oriented perpendicular to the fluid flow path; and (d) wherein the spacings between adjacent slats of said stacks are progressively smaller in said series along said fluid flow path between said inlet means and said outlet means.

Claim 10

An apparatus for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said apparatus comprising: (a) means for analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) means for introducing the analyzed discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator, said separator comprising a plurality of discrete sets of fluid interrupting surfaces arranged in series one after the other; (c) means for correlating the relative spacings and positions of said fluid interrupting surfaces with respect to one another within said separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; and (d) means for removing separated components from said laminar flow separator.

Claim 11

An apparatus for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said apparatus comprising: (a) means for analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) means for introducing the analyzed discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator, said separator comprising a plurality of discrete sets of fluid interrupting surfaces arranged in series one after the other; (c) means for correlating the relative spacings and positions of said fluid interrupting surfaces with respect to one another within said separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; and (d) means for removing separated components from said laminar flow separator.

Claim 13

An apparatus for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid, said apparatus comprising: means for analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; a laminar flow separator comprising: a separator housing, inlet means in communication with said housing for introducing mixtures to be separated into said housing, outlet means in communication with said housing for removing separator components from the housing, said inlet means, said outlet means and said housing defining a fluid flow path within said housing, and a plurality of discrete sets of generally parallel laminar flow vanes positioned within said housing and arranged in series one after the other transverse to said fluid flow path for encouraging laminar flow as a discontinuous mixture flows through said housing; means for adjusting the spacing between individual vanes within each said discrete set in the housing according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; and means for removing separated components from said laminar flow separator.

Claim 14

An apparatus for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid, said apparatus comprising: means for analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; a laminar flow separator comprising: a separator housing, inlet means in communication with said housing for introducing mixtures to be separated into said housing, outlet means in communication with said housing for removing separator components from the housing, said inlet means, said outlet means and said housing defining a fluid flow path within said housing, and a plurality of discrete sets of generally parallel laminar flow vanes positioned within said housing and arranged in series one after the other transverse to said fluid flow path for encouraging laminar flow as a discontinuous mixture flows through said housing; means for adjusting the spacing between individual vanes within each said discrete set in the housing according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; and means for removing separated components from said laminar flow separator.

Claim 25

A method for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid by directing the discontinuous mixture along a fluid flow path between an inlet and an oulet and successively through a series of vertical stacks of fluid interrupting surfaces which are arranged in longitudinally spaced apart relation from one another with gaps therebetween, said method comprising: (a) directing the discontinuous mixture through a first stack of fluid interrupting surfaces so configured as to effect coalescence and separation of a first fraction of the discontinuous phase; (b) removing the coalesced first fraction of the discontinuous phase from the first gap as the mixture exits the first stack; (c) directing the remaining portion of the discontinuous mixture through the next successive stack of fluid interrupting surfaces having a different horizontal spacing therebetween than the horizontal spacing between the surfaces in the preceding stack so as to effect coalescence and separation of a next fraction of the discontinuous phase having a composition different from the fraction coalesced at the preceding stack; (d) removing the coalesced next fraction of the discontinuous phase from a next gap having a width different from the width of the preceding gap as the mixture exits the stack; (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) until the discontinuous mixture reaches the outlet; and (f) removing the remaining mixture from the outlet.

Claim 26

A method for separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid by directing the discontinuous mixture along a fluid flow path between an inlet and an oulet and successively through a series of vertical stacks of fluid interrupting surfaces which are arranged in longitudinally spaced apart relation from one another with gaps therebetween, said method comprising: (a) directing the discontinuous mixture through a first stack of fluid interrupting surfaces so configured as to effect coalescence and separation of a first fraction of the discontinuous phase; (b) removing the coalesced first fraction of the discontinuous phase from the first gap as the mixture exits the first stack; (c) directing the remaining portion of the discontinuous mixture through the next successive stack of fluid interrupting surfaces having a different horizontal spacing therebetween than the horizontal spacing between the surfaces in the preceding stack so as to effect coalescence and separation of a next fraction of the discontinuous phase having a composition different from the fraction coalesced at the preceding stack; (d) removing the coalesced next fraction of the discontinuous phase from a next gap having a width different from the width of the preceding gap as the mixture exits the stack; (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) until the discontinuous mixture reaches the outlet; and (f) removing the remaining mixture from the outlet.

Claim 29

A method of separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said method comprising: (a) analyzing and determining the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) introducing the analyzed discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator having a plurality of discrete sets of fluid interrupting surfaces arranged in series one after the other; (c) correlating the configuration of the fluid interrupting surfaces within the separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; (d) separating the components from one another in the laminar flow separator; and (e) removing the separated components from the laminar flow separator.

Claim 30

A method of separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said method comprising: (a) analyzing and determining the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) introducing the analyzed discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator having a plurality of discrete sets of fluid interrupting surfaces arranged in series one after the other; (c) correlating the configuration of the fluid interrupting surfaces within the separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; (d) separating the components from one another in the laminar flow separator; and (e) removing the separated components from the laminar flow separator.

Claim 42

A method of separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said method comprising: (a) analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) introducing the discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator having a plurality of discrete sets of generally parallel vanes arranged in series one after the other; (c) correlating the configuration of the vanes in the first discrete set of the separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; (d) progressively correlating the configuration of the second and each succeeding discrete set of vanes according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and according to the separation achieved at the preceding set of plates; (e) separating the components from one another in the laminar flow separator; and (f) removing the separated components from the laminar flow separator.

Claim 43

A method of separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid; said method comprising: (a) analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) introducing the discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator having a plurality of discrete sets of generally parallel vanes arranged in series one after the other; (c) correlating the configuration of the vanes in the first discrete set of the separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; (d) progressively correlating the configuration of the second and each succeeding discrete set of vanes according to the analyzed characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and according to the separation achieved at the preceding set of plates; (e) separating the components from one another in the laminar flow separator; and (f) removing the separated components from the laminar flow separator.

Claim 45

A method of separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid, said method comprising: (a) analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) introducing the discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator having a plurality of discrete sets of generally parallel vanes arranged in series one after the other and directing the discontinuous mixture along a predetermined flow path within the separator; (c) selecting predetermined gaps between discrete sets of the vanes and selecting predetermined spacing between individual vanes within the discrete sets and placing the generally parallel vanes at selected angles with respect to the flow path within the separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the mixture; (d) monitoring the characteristics of the mixture intermediate of selected discrete sets of vanes; (e) selecting predetermined gaps between discrete sets of vanes and selecting predetermined spacing between individual vanes within the discrete sets and placing the vanes at selected angles within the separator all according to the intermediately monitored characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; (f) separating the components from one another in the laminar flow separator; and (g) removing the separated components from the laminar flow separator.

Claim 46

A method of separating the components of a mixture of a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase in which the continuous phase comprises a liquid, said method comprising: (a) analyzing the physical, chemical and statistical characteristics of the discontinuous mixture and its components; (b) introducing the discontinuous mixture into a laminar flow separator having a plurality of discrete sets of generally parallel vanes arranged in series one after the other and directing the discontinuous mixture along a predetermined flow path within the separator; (c) selecting predetermined gaps between discrete sets of the vanes and selecting predetermined spacing between individual vanes within the discrete sets and placing the generally parallel vanes at selected angles with respect to the flow path within the separator according to the analyzed characteristics of the mixture; (d) monitoring the characteristics of the mixture intermediate of selected discrete sets of vanes; (e) selecting predetermined gaps between discrete sets of vanes and selecting predetermined spacing between individual vanes within the discrete sets and placing the vanes at selected angles within the separator all according to the intermediately monitored characteristics of the discontinuous mixture; (f) separating the components from one another in the laminar flow separator; and (g) removing the separated components from the laminar flow separator.