Method and apparatus for separation of fluids by means of induced gas flotation and advances in said technology

摘要

In reviewing the oil industry for the past 30 years there has been a need for a low maintenance, low cost, space saving Induced Gas Flotation Cell. With this said, a method has been invented to do this by making several changes in the present design philosophy of induced Gas flotation. First by providing a cylindrical vessel we have made a stronger unit with better structural integrity, and minimizing the opportunity for accelerated corrosion, secondly by changing the vital operations of the unit, specifically the recirculation rate of the system, lowering the overall discharge flow and increasing the discharge pressure we have been able to increase retention time and increase bubble dispersion, part and parcel with this change is the addition of multiple Eductors in each cell providing greater gasification per cell. The combination of these changes provides a greater overall efficiency thus the overboard water quality is improved using a smaller vessel to accomplish the objective. As important, is the placement of the Eductor in the vessel creating a rolling effect to move separated oil to a spillover point for collection. Thus the collection point is improved by eliminating costly mechanical wipers and using multiple adjustable spillover weirs in each cell to recover the collected oil contaminant. during the process and will help preclude upset and or surge conditions from affecting the water quality at the effluent. The overall design and combined affect of these important features makes this an improvement over all conventional technology used today. The above features are a marked advancement, when taken in combination, to current induced gas flotation technology.