VAPOURS OR GAS, AND DEVICE FOR IMPLEMENTING SAID METHOD

DESCRIPTION

This invention relates to a method and to a device for the implementation of said method, to separate the components that are inside mixtures of liquids, gases and vapors, resorting to gravimetric principles and with (pervasive and distributed) contrast to transverse motions, producing much higher efficiency indexes, also thanks to the dynamics of three- dimensional reverse return.

It is strongly felt the need to have systems to separate gaseous or liquids mixtures in various industrial processes, particularly functional for the environmental reclamation. The existing technologies employ various principles of chemistry and of technical physics through articulated installation structures, also resorting to high pressures and with specific filters, quite high economic resources and spaces. Examples: municipal wastewater treatment plants, anaerobic digestion plants, microalgae cultivations plants. The problem also occurs in extractive processes from fossil sources, for example mixtures of bituminous shale and mixtures of gases from oils, less and less pure, accessing to less valuable resources and to greater depths. In particular, it has been examined the section of the existing biogas plants, that require technologies of "upgrading" of gaseous mixtures produced by the anaerobic digestion of organic masses: wastewaters, wet, grass cuttings and agro-food waste. It is needed a greater separation of the produced components (C0 ₂ , CH ₄ , H ₂ S), from which it is possible to isolate biomethane of a high quality and possibly to capture the C0 ₂ whose value is increased, rather than inlet into the environment (emitted by internal combustion machinery that by anaerobic digestion, that inert would flow together with the first, or issued by usual techniques of upgrading).

In summary, in the current state it is not possible to separate the components of a mixture while it is flowing, except if you use filters or centrifuge techniques which act by fractionating the flow in time, with high costs and often not sustainable, both in economic and environmental terms.

In particular, it is not possible to operate the separation of the components that constitutes a fluid in movement, that use gravimetric principles, that normally require under the state of rest to give time to act to the stratification (for example water and oil).

The purpose of the this invention is to propose a method and a device to implement said method, respectively conform to the claims 1 and 3, for the gravimetric separation of mixtures of fluids, liquid or gaseous, said mixtures being composed of fractions of different densities.

The method is of the type which provides for the execution of the following steps:

• creation of a horizontal flow of said fluid mixtures, wherein said fractions are arranged on different levels as a function of their density;

· taking said fractions through taking means positioned on each of said levels;

the separation of said fractions being obtained by the only effect of gravity and of the hydrostatic thrust which derives therefrom and it is characterized by the use of means fitted to delimit the areas in which the flow is exclusively vertical and not disturbed by said horizontal flow, in such a way as to promote said separation, because not disturbed by turbulence and transverse motions, said vertical movements generating additional horizontal formed by fluids of different density.

The device is of the type which includes:

· means fitted to create a horizontal flow of said fluid mixtures, in such a way that said fractions are arranged on different levels as a function of their density;

• taking means positioned on each of said levels, fitted to individually take said fractions;

wherein the separation of said fractions is obtained by the only effect of gravity and of the hydrostatic thrust which derives therefrom and it is characterized in that it comprises a first and a second block, each one of which comprises a plurality of vertical channels, fitted to delimit the zones in which the flow is exclusively vertical and not disturbed by said horizontal flow, said blocks being inserted in a container, so as to locate:

· a first gap, between said blocks;

- a second gap, positioned above said first block;

• a third gap located below said second block;

being provided:

- input means, positioned in correspondence with a first end of said first gap;

• taking means, positioned in correspondence with a second end of said first, second and third gaps;

when all the volume comprised in said container is filled with said mixture of fluids of different density, said fluids being:

e run into said container through said input means;

• taken from said container through said taking means, said taking being differentiated in function of the different density of the fluid.

Other characteristics, such as for example the possibility of multiple separations of components present in a mixture will be the subject of the dependent claims.

The use of a device according to the invention allows for example to separate the components of bituminous shale in the extractive industry, more and more operating at greater depths with products that are less and less pure.

The invention will be now described for illustrative and not limitative purpose, according to a preferred embodiment and with reference to the attached figures, wherein:

- Figure 1 shows the device according to the invention;

- Figure 2 shows the diagram of the operation of the device according to the invention.

With reference to fig. 1 , with (A) it is indicated a device gravimetric separator according to the invention. Said device (A) comprises a first (B) and a second (C) block, each of which comprises a plurality of vertical channels. Said blocks (B) and (C) are inserted in a container (1), indicated by the lines of great thickness and are positioned inside said container (1) so as to locate the following three gaps:

· a first gap (2), between said blocks (B) and (C);

- a second gap (3), positioned above said first block (B);

^• a third gap (4), placed below said second block (C).

At the two ends of the first gap (2) are positioned a first inlet pipe (5) and a first outlet pipe (6). According to a preferred embodiment, said first pipe (5) and second pipe (6) are cylindrical and, on each of them, a plurality of holes are made, respectively (5a) and (6a) aligned along a generatrix of said cylinders.

In the second gap (3) and in the third gap (4), in correspondence with said first outlet pipe (6), are positioned respectively a second outlet pipe (7) and a third outlet pipe (8). Also in this case, on each one of said outlet pipes (7) and (8) a plurality of holes is made, respectively (7a) and (8a) aligned along a generatrix of said cylinders.

The flow of the mixture that must be treated, indicated by the arrow (I) enters into the first pipe (5), from which it exits through the holes (5a) and it invades the whole volume enclosed by the container (1). Under the thrust of the entering flow, the mixture exits from the three outlet pipes (6), (7) and (8), passing through the holes (6a), (7a) and (8a) respectively.

The mixture that must be treated flows through the first gap (2), moving toward the first outlet pipe (6). By establishing a laminar flow regime. The fraction of the mixture having a lower density will be inclined to rise towards the first block (B), entering in the vertical channels, where it will find the state of rest to leave the gravity act, and here it will run into the second gap (3). At the same time, the fraction of the mixture having higher density will be inclined to descend towards the second block (C), entering in the vertical channels, where it will find the state of rest to leave the gravity act, and here it will run into the third gap (4). Finally, the fraction of the mixture having an average density will remain in the first gap (2). As a consequence, it will be possible to gather three fractions of the mixture from the three outlet pipes (6), (7) and (8), the flows of said three fractions being represented by arrows (01), (02) and (03), respectively for the fraction of medium density, of low density and high density.

By observing the arrow (I), which indicates the flow entering the device

(A), and the arrows (01), (02) and (03), which indicate the outgoing flows, you note that the conditions of reverse return are made. The movement in the inlet pipe (5) and in the outlet pipes (6, 7, 8) extends in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the streams in the gaps (2, 3, 4), while the movement in the vertical channels of the blocks (B, C) is simultaneously perpendicular both to the flow in the gaps (2, 3, 4), and to the flow in the pipes of the inlet (5) and outlet (6, 7, 8). In this way it is realized the reverse return in three-dimensional option. In practice the mixture to be separated is run into a side of the laminar flow that develops in the gaps and taken in correspondence of the opposite side of said laminar flow.

By inserting in the separator (A) according to the invention a mixture comprising protein and oleic fractions, the various fractions will have the following behavior:

• the oleic fraction having a lower density, will gather at the top in the second gap (3), and therefore it will be taken from the second outlet pipe

(7);

• the protein fraction, having higher density, will gather at the bottom in the third gap (4), and therefore it be drawn from the third outlet pipe (8);

• the remaining fraction, consisting mostly of water, will remain in the first gap (2), and can be taken from the first outlet pipe (6).

According to a preferred embodiment (not shown), in the container (1) a number of blocks (B, C, etc.) greater than two are positioned, in such a way as to identify a number of gaps greater than three, said arrangement allowing to make splits, greater than three fractions, of the components present in a mixture, obviously of different density among them.

The invention has been described for illustrative and not limitative purposes, according to some preferred embodiments. The person skilled in the art could devise numerous other embodiments, all falling within the scope of protection of the enclosed claims.