Thermal Processing Apparatus for Waste Gas and Liquid Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional evaporators face challenges in efficiently processing waste gases and liquids, particularly in remote locations like oilfields, where they struggle with noxious by-products and solid waste accumulation, leading to inefficient disposal and energy recovery.
Innovation Solution
A thermal processing apparatus comprising a flame chamber, liquid-processing chambers, thermocatalytic chambers, and a dry loop, which uses combustion to generate high-temperature gases for thermal processing, preventing liquid incursion and allowing for multiple thermal processes at varying temperatures, including evaporation, condensation, and energy recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional evaporators are used to process waste gases and liquids, then evaporation can be achieved, but solid waste accumulates on heated surfaces reducing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful solid waste accumulation problem by using a fluidized bed reactor that prevents solids from adhering to heated surfaces. The fluidized bed continuously suspends and circulates solid particles, extracting them from the problematic surface-contact scenario and eliminating the accumulation issue while maintaining evaporation efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a fluidized bed as an intermediary between the heat source and the waste material. This fluidized bed acts as a mediator that transfers heat to the waste without allowing direct contact between heated surfaces and solid deposits, thus preventing accumulation while enabling efficient thermal processing.
2Adaptability or versatility
If evaporators are deployed in remote field locations, then on-site processing is enabled, but access to utilities is difficult or impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by designing a system that generates its own heat through combustion of the waste materials themselves. The apparatus requires no external utility connections - it processes waste gases and liquids by burning them or using their combustion heat, making the system completely self-sufficient and adaptable to remote field locations without water, power, or other infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal processing system that can handle multiple types of waste materials (gases, liquids, slurries) using the same combustion-based approach. This multi-functional capability allows the apparatus to be deployed in diverse remote locations regardless of the specific waste stream, eliminating the need for location-specific utility adaptations.
3Loss of energy
If waste materials are combusted to reduce volume, then energy recovery is possible, but noxious by-products are generated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful noxious by-products of combustion into beneficial energy sources. The system captures waste gases and liquids that would otherwise be pollutants, combusts them to generate heat and energy, and uses this energy for the processing operation. The harmful waste materials become the fuel source that drives the entire system, transforming environmental liabilities into energy assets.
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
The apparatus enables efficient thermal processing and energy recovery from waste gases and liquids, reducing waste volume, and producing environmentally acceptable substances for re-introduction into oil-bearing strata, thereby enhancing oil extraction and facilitating on-site energy utilization.
Implementation Method 1
The flame chamber receives a stream of fuel and an oxidizer and combusts the fuel in the presence of the oxidizer to generate thermal energy
Implementation Method 2
The thermocatalytic chamber is heated by the flame chamber and uses the thermal energy to perform a desired thermal process on an introduced stream of processable material
Implementation Method 3
The liquid-processing chamber contains a liquid and is heated by the flame chamber. The liquid is heated by the thermal energy to a temperature allowing separation of the liquid from solids
Implementation Method 4
separating a liquid from solids or from other substances present in the liquid, separating one type of liquid from a mixture containing at least one other type of liquid, or separating a liquid from a gas
Implementation Method 5
converting at least a portion of the target material into a gas or vapor that can be used for another purpose or safely disposed
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and methods are disclosed that perform thermal processing of any of various materials, including materials that ordinarily would be considered waste materials posing problems with disposal. Thermal processing can include energy recovery from the material, conversion of the material, phase change, or other process. An exemplary apparatus includes first and second liquid-processing chambers containing a liquid at a level in the first chamber lower than in the second. A flame chamber and downstream thermocatalytic chamber are immersed in the liquid in first chamber, and a dry loop is immersed in the liquid in the second chamber. The dry loop is coupled to a downstream processed/exhaust gas diffuser immersed in the first chamber. The temperature profile of a fluid stream drops as the stream passes through the apparatus. During passage, at least one thermal process is performed that contributes to the processed gas stream entering the diffuser. From the diffuser, the processed/exhaust gas is bubbled into the liquid, serving to scrub the gas, at least partially. Much of the thermal energy entering and produced in the apparatus is usefully captured.