Downcomer Gas Removal for Ballast Water
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for treating ballast water and injection water in petroleum production are inadequate in removing free oxygen efficiently and safely, leading to environmental concerns and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a vertically arranged downcomer that creates negative pressure to release gases, with optional nitrogen addition and a separating pipe system to enhance gas extraction, achieving efficient gas removal without harmful chemicals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional methods are used to remove free oxygen from water, then gas removal efficiency is insufficient, but environmental safety and cost-effectiveness deteriorate due to harmful chemicals and inefficiencies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces chemical treatment methods with a mechanical system consisting of a downcomer and separating pipe that uses fluid dynamics and pressure differential to remove gases from water. The mechanical energy of falling water creates negative pressure to extract dissolved gases without requiring any chemical additives, thus improving gas removal efficiency while eliminating environmental harm from harmful chemicals
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes hydraulic principles where water falling through the downcomer creates a negative pressure zone that draws gases out of the water. The separating pipe then uses pressure differential and flow dynamics to separate and remove the extracted gases from the degassed water, achieving efficient gas removal through pure hydraulic and pneumatic mechanisms without chemical intervention
2Object-affected harmful factors
If ships change ballast while underway to reduce organism transport, then organism neutralization improves, but operational complexity and resistance from authorities increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful organisms from the ballast water by removing the free oxygen they need to survive. The downcomer-separating pipe system efficiently extracts dissolved gases including oxygen from ballast water, rendering the water inhospitable to transported organisms without requiring complex ballast management procedures or changing ballast locations
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the chemical parameter of ballast water by reducing free oxygen concentration through mechanical extraction. This parameter change (oxygen depletion) transforms the ballast water into an environment where transported organisms cannot survive, providing a simple yet effective solution that avoids the complexity of operational ballast changes while still neutralizing organism transport risks
3Productivity
If a simple downcomer structure is used for gas removal, then device complexity is reduced, but gas extraction efficiency is insufficient without a separating pipe system
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the gas removal process into two distinct functional components: the downcomer for creating negative pressure and extracting gases from water, and the separating pipe for separating and removing the extracted gases. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, achieving high gas extraction efficiency while maintaining relatively simple individual structures that work effectively together
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively removes a significant proportion of free gases from water, neutralizing organisms in ballast water and preparing injection water for petroleum production, while being environmentally safe and cost-effective.
Implementation Method 1
The water falling through the downcomer produces a negative pressure, especially in the upper part of the downcomer, which causes the volume of the free gases in the water to increase. This facilitates the release of the gases from the water.
Implementation Method 2
In the course of the drop through the downcomer, the gases mix with the water, and the nitrogen reacts with the oxygen in the water. The resulting gas, which in the main is of the same composition as air, rises to the surface of the ballast water and is released to the atmosphere.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and device are provided for reducing the oxygen content of seawater, where the seawater is introduced into the upper part (14) of a downcomer (12), particularly for treatment of ballast water in a ballast tank (4) of a ship (1). A seawater intake pipe (6) runs from the outside of the ship to a ballast pump (8) that is designed to pump the water on through a pump pipe (10) and up to the upper part of the downcomer. The downcomer extends mainly vertically down to the ballast compartment of the ship, where the ballast water can be distributed between several ballast compartments by means of distribution headers and valves. One aim of the invention is to neutralize organisms in the ballast water.