Liquid separating method

Claim 1

A method of separating liquid components in a liquid mixture including a dense liquid component and a less dense liquid component, comprising: entraining gas in the mixture, after said entraining admitting the mixture through at least one tangential inlet to a cyclone separator of the kind having a tapered elongate axially extending separating chamber including first, second, and third portions of progressively decreasing diameters, wherein said second portion is at least ten times as long as its maximum diameter, said inlet being located at the larger diameter end of the separating chamber, an axial overflow outlet at the larger diameter end and an underflow outlet at the smaller diameter end, wherein a sufficient amount of said gas is dissolved in the mixture under conditions of relatively high pressure in said mixture prior to admitting said mixture to said inlet, and the mixture is subjected to a decrease in pressure thereof to cause the formation of gas bubbles in the mixture by emergence of said gas bubbles from solution to facilitate the separation of said liquid components, separating the liquid mixture within the separating chamber into a more dense liquid component and a less dense liquid component, exiting the more dense liquid component from the separating chamber via the underflow outlet and the less dense component from the separating chamber via the overflow outlet.

Claim 2

A method of separating liquid components in a liquid mixture including a dense liquid component and a less dense liquid component, comprising: entraining gas in the mixture, after said entraining admitting the mixture through at least one tangential inlet to a cyclone separator of the kind having a tapered elongate axially extending separating chamber including first, second, and third portions of progressively decreasing diameters, wherein said second portion is at least ten times as long as its maximum diameter, said inlet being located at the larger diameter end of the separating chamber, an axial overflow outlet at the larger diameter end and an underflow outlet at the smaller diameter end, wherein a sufficient amount of said gas is dissolved in the mixture under conditions of relatively high pressure in said mixture prior to admitting said mixture to said inlet, and the mixture is subjected to a decrease in pressure thereof to cause the formation of gas bubbles in the mixture by emergence of said gas bubbles from solution to facilitate the separation of said liquid components, separating the liquid mixture within the separating chamber into a more dense liquid component and a less dense liquid component, exiting the more dense liquid component from the separating chamber via the underflow outlet and the less dense component from the separating chamber via the overflow outlet.