US1814298A - Method of and apparatus for demulsifying petroleum - Google Patents

Description

July 14, 1931. c. P. DENNHARDT 3 2 METHQD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DEMULSIFYING PETROLEUM Filed Sept. 6, 1927 gwue'ntoz Chester 1? Benn/ram! Patented July 14, 1931 PATENT- OFFICE oHEs'rEE r. DENNHARD'I, oE YLOS ANGELEs, CALIFORNIA METHOD" 015 AND APPARATUS FOR DEMULSIFVYING PETROLEUM Application filed September 6', 1927. Serial No 217,749.

This invention relates to methods'of demulsifying petroleum and it also relates to apparatus by which such methods are performed.

5 An object of the invention is to effect the demulsifying without the necessity of holding the emulsion in a quiescent state for a considerable period of time.

Another object is to efiect the demulsifying '10 continuously so that the emulsion can be expeditiously treated while it is flowing from the source, as, for example, a producing well.

Another object is to efiect a squeezing action upon the emulsion so as to break up the 5 components of the emulsion in order to facilitate separation of the water from the oil.

Another object is to make provision,where desirable, for efi'iciently treating the emul-' sion with chemicals.

Further objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an apparatus constructed in accordance with the provisions of the invention and capable of 'performing'the new method.

Figurel is an elevation of the apparatus, the upper part of an oil well, together" with a portion of the pump operating mechanism, also being illustrated.

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 1, the plane of section beingparallel to the plane of the drawing.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line indicated by 33, Figure 2.

Referring first, more particularly, to Figure' 1 of the drawings, there is provideda squeezer or pressing device, indicated in general by the character 4. This pressing de vice receives the emulsion through a pipe 5 fromany suitable source; The emulsion source, in this instance, is an oil well which isindicated at 6. The well 6 may be a flowing one or it maybe pumped in the usual man- 545 ner, the polish rod 7 of the pump being shown and said polish rod being operated by a walking beam 8 in a manner well understood in the art relating to the pumping of oil wells. A portion of the derrick 9 is also illustrated.

The oil, after treatment in the pressing device 4, together with the water that was intimately associated with the oil when it entered the pressing device 4, discharges through a pipe 10 to any desired point for refining. In the present instance, the pipe lO connects with a tank 11 in which the oil maybe stored until it is drawn out for undergoing the refining operations. vThe tank 11 may, if desired, be utilized as a settling tank in which the treated oil may be allowed to stand for a short period of time, one or two hours, for example, so that the waterwill separate from the oil.

A motor 12 is provided for driving,

through its shaft 13, certain mechanism of the pressing device 4 that will be described in detail hereinafter. The shaft 13 is provided with a pulley 14: which drives a belt 15 that turns a pulley 16 on the shaft of a pump 17. The outlet of'the pump is connected b'y a pipe '18 to the lower portion of the pressing device 4 and liquid chemicals are supplied to the pump 17 through a pipe 19 from a suitable source of supply, said source, in this instance, being a tank 20. The pipe 19 is provided'with a valve 21.

Now referring more particularly to F igures 2 and 3 of the drawings, the pressing device is constructed'as follows: A chamber 22 of any suitable size and shape is provided and, if desired, it may be simply a tank. In the present instance, the chamber 22 is cylindrical and the pipe 5 communicates therewith near the upper end of the chamber. In this instance, the pipe 5 is branched,:one branch entering one side of the chamber and the other branch entering the opposite side. By conducting the emulsion into the chamber at opposite sides, swirling of the emulsion in said chamber is prevented, the oppositely directed currents preventing such swirling.

The chamber 22 has lower and upper heads 23, 24. Within the chamber 22 is a cylindrical passage 25, the wall thereof, in this instance, depending from the head 24:. The wall of the passage 25 is spaced from the wall of the chamber 22 so as to permit the emulsion to flow downwardly between said walls. The lower portion of the passage 25, in this instance, is contracted downwardly and terminates in a mouth 26 that is spaced 'somewhatfrom the lower end of the chamber 22.

The pipe 10 communicates through the head at with the upper end of the passage 25. Rotatably mounted within the passage 25 is suitable pressing mechanism which, in this instance, comprises complementary propellers 27, 28. The propellers 27 28 are fixed to a shaft 29 which rotates in bearings 30 carried by radial arms 31 that connect with the wall of the passage The shaft 29 is provided with a miter gear 32 which meshes with a miter gear 33 fixed to the shaft 18. The shaft 13 passes through a stuffing box 34 in the side wall of the chamber 22- so as to prevent leakage around said shaft. The shaft 13 also passes through the wall of the passage 25. The motor 12 operates in a direction to turn the propeller 27 in a direction to tend to drive the liquid upwardly and to turn the propeller 28 to tend to drive said liquid downwardly. Thus, the propellers 27, 28 produce pressure upon the liquid as it passes between said propellers. In this instance, the bladesof the propellers 27, 28 are turned at an angle that requires the shaft 29 to be driven in the direction of the arrow thereon in Figure 2, in order to get the above mentioned results.

Positioned adjacent to the mou'th26 and pointing theretoward is a nozzle 35 which is attached to the inner end of the pipe 18. Preferably thenozzle 35 is positioned in axial alinement with the mouth 26.

In order to clean out the chamber 22, there is provided a pipe 36 communicating with the lower portion of said chamber and said pipe is provided with a valve 37. l

The invention operates as follows: The petroleum emulsion flows from the well 6 through the pipe 5 under the pressure of the well or under any other suitable pressure into the upper portion of the chamber 22. The emulsion flows downwardly around the passage 25 and there is thus established a hollow column of the emulsion. The emul sion fills the lower portion of the chamber 22 and then passes into the mouth 26 and around the gears 32, 83. These gears, operating, function not only to turn the propellers 27, 28, but to stir and mix the emulsion with whatever chemicals may previously have been supplied thereto. It is to be understood that it may not always be desirable or necessary to employ chemicals, but if so, the chemicals may be conveniently supplied and intimately mixed with the emulsion by opening the valve 21, thus causing the chemicals to be sprayed into the emulsion as said emulsion passes into the mouth 26. Whether or not chemicals are employed, the emulsion, as it accumulates in the chamber 22 will flow upwardly into the space between the propellers 27, 28 and here the emulsion will be squeezed or pressed, since the propeller 27 drives the emulsion upwardly and the propeller 28 retards the upward flow and. tends to drive the emulsion downwardly. The term squeezed or other allied expressions employed herein defines the function of being compressed, and not a mere pressing tending to change shape without diminution in volume. Contact of the propeller blades with the emulsion will, to some extent, break up the emulsion and the pressure exerted upon the emulsion will further aid in breaking up the emulsion so that the oil and water will freely separate when an opportunity is afforded. As the flow of the emulsion into the climber 22 proceeds, the oil and water, that formerly constituted the emulsion, are forced past the propeller 28 into the space above said propeller and thence into the pipe 1 0 and discharged from the pipe 10 into the tank .11. The water that has been freed from the oil drops to the lower portion of the tank .11 and is "drawn off through the water drain pipe 38 which enters the lower portion of the tank. The clean oil is removed from the tank '11 througha pipe 39 that enters the upper portion of sai-dtank.

An example of the efficient cleaning of emulsified petroleum is as follows: Dinty 'oil 9 of a gravity of 217 .Baum was run through the apparatus in which were employed the chemicals hereinafter mentioned :in the proportions set forth. 0n test, this oil showed 54% emulsion. The clean oil that resulted 0 showed a gravity of 378 Bzaum and There was 1.5% free water.

The apparatus and method :may be -oper ated continuously, sincetheoil and'water discharging from the apparatus may :be filled 1-1 successively into any number oftan ks corresponding to the tank It will be readily und'e'rstood from th'efol e going that the propellers squeeze the emulsified petroleum, not only, but that they also 1 function to beat, whip and violently agitate said petroleum. The beatingand whipping, as well as the squeezing operation, tend to break up the globules ofthe emul'sion and to cause coalescence'of'the water globules. One of the propellers drives th'eemulsified petroleum in one direction-andfthe other propeller retards the flow in said direction and *thus produces back pressure =on the petroleum.

Any :suitable chemicals maybe employed to produce a counter colloid action. If the emulsions are of the water-in-oil type, and 7 they are invariably of such type, they may be resolved by using, for example, the following substances:

Per cent Sodium oleate 83. 00 Sodium resinate 5. 50 Sodium silicate 5.00

10 Phenol 4. 00 Parafiin 1. 50 Water 1. 00

The chemicals employed will, of course, depend upon the type of emulsion to be dealt with and, as has been explained above, the liquid chemicals will be sprayed into the stream of emulsified petroleum.

In a recent comparative test of my method with an old method of demulsifying petroleum, 1500 barrels of emulsified petroleum from the same source were treated. By the old method 84 hours were required and a temperature of about 180 was employed. Agitation was effected with gas. By my method the demulsification and separation required but 36 hours without artificial heating of the oil, and less chemicals were employed than necessary in the old method.

I claim: 1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a means forming a passage, a nozzle positioned to throw a spray into said passage, a means to supply a liquid chemical under pressure to the nozzle, and a means within the passage to squeeze a liquid flowing through the passage.

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising a chamber, a means to supply a stream of emulsified petroleum to the chamber, a means forming a passage in the chamber opening at one end thereinto, a nozzle positioned adjacent to the mouth of the passage and pointing theretoward, a means to supply a liquid chemical under pressure to the nozzle, and a means within the passage to squeeze the petroleum while it is passing therethrough.

3. An apparatus of the character described comprising a'chamber, a means forming a passage extending from one end of the chamber toward the other end and terminating at its inner end in a mouth opening into said chamber, a pipe communicating with the passage through the first mentioned end of the chamber, a second pipe communicating with the chamber near the first mentioned end thereof, and a means within the passage to squeeze petroleum as it passes therethrough. fin Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 12 day of August, 1927.

CHESTER P. DENNHARDT.

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