Floatable Pan Wastewater Evaporator with Blowing Burner
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Solution Overview
Problem
The oil and gas production industry has faced challenges in disposing of wastewater on-site due to existing evaporative systems that fail to evaporate all wastewater and produce water vapor with hydrocarbon pollutants, leading to inefficiencies and environmental concerns.
Innovation Solution
An evaporation apparatus and method that involves a floatable pan with a heating element and a blowing burner to evaporate a predetermined volume of wastewater, utilizing on-site energy and incinerating hydrocarbon pollutants, while using hollow pipes to mix exhaust gases with wastewater and a baffle to enhance evaporation, and a fan to increase airflow and agitation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If all water in the holding pit is heated to evaporate it, then complete evaporation of wastewater is achieved, but excessive energy consumption occurs and hydrocarbon pollutants are released in the water vapor
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the large volume of wastewater into small, manageable portions using a floatable pan with a basin that holds only a fraction of the total wastewater. This segmentation allows efficient evaporation of each portion without the energy cost of heating the entire volume, while still achieving complete evaporation of the contained portion.
Solution Approach 2:
The floatable pan extracts and isolates a specific portion of wastewater from the holding pit, separating it from the bulk liquid. This extracted portion is then evaporated efficiently in the pan, avoiding the need to heat and evaporate all the wastewater in the pit, thereby reducing energy consumption while maintaining evaporation effectiveness.
2Quantity of substance
If conventional evaporative systems are used, then some wastewater evaporation is achieved, but hydrocarbon pollutants are released in the water vapor
Solution Approach 1:
The blowing burner, originally designed to agitate the liquid surface for enhanced evaporation, simultaneously incinerates hydrocarbon pollutants in the water vapor. The combustion process converts harmful hydrocarbon emissions into less harmful combustion products, transforming the pollutant release problem into a beneficial pollution control feature.
Solution Approach 2:
The blowing burner introduces strong oxidation through combustion to destroy hydrocarbon pollutants in the evaporated water vapor. This accelerated oxidation process effectively eliminates harmful emissions by converting hydrocarbons into carbon dioxide and water through high-temperature combustion.
3Productivity
If the liquid volume in the pan is increased, then more wastewater can be evaporated at once, but the heating element cannot effectively heat the entire volume
Solution Approach 1:
The floatable pan is designed to float on the wastewater surface, dynamically adjusting its position and the volume of liquid in its basin. This dynamic configuration ensures the heating element always operates with an optimal, manageable liquid volume that allows effective heating, while the pan can be repeatedly filled and emptied to maintain high overall evaporation productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs periodic action by repeatedly filling the pan with wastewater portions, evaporating them, and emptying the pan. This cyclic operation allows the heating element to maintain effective heating conditions in each cycle while achieving cumulative high productivity through multiple evaporation cycles.
4Quantity of substance
If a floatable pan with basin is used to hold liquid, then only a portion of liquid can be evaporated at a time, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The floatable pan utilizes buoyancy to automatically float on the wastewater surface and self-regulate the liquid volume in its basin. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex pumps, valves, or control systems to manage liquid portions, achieving volume control through simple passive flotation while minimizing device complexity.
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
This approach efficiently evaporates wastewater, reduces carbon footprint, and produces marketable byproducts by incinerating pollutants, addressing the inefficiencies and environmental issues of previous systems.
Implementation Method 1
a heating element at least partially sumergeable in the liquid in the basin of the pan for evaporating the liquid
Implementation Method 2
heating the heating element
Implementation Method 3
a blowing burner to incinerate pollutants present in the evaporated liquid
Implementation Method 4
one or more hollow pipes for transporting a heating material in the heating element. The hollow pipes can transport hot gases, oils, water, steam, and/or molten salts
Implementation Method 5
the baffle is positioned relative to the pan in such a way that liquid exiting the baffle falls into the pan, and exhaust gas exiting the baffle purposefully agitates the surface of the liquid in the pan to increase evaporation
Implementation Method 6
a fan, and an air inlet tower to increase air flow
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method for evaporating a liquid and incinerating pollutants present in the resulting vapor. The system includes a chamber for containing a liquid, a floatable pan in the chamber with at least one opening to allow a portion of the liquid to enter into a basin of the pan, a heating element at least partially sumergeable in the liquid in the basin of the pan for evaporating the liquid, and a blowing burner to incinerate pollutants present in the evaporated liquid.