Dry physical separation of particulate material

Dry physical separation of particulate material

Abstracts of Recent Patents In the UK British Patent specifications can be ordered from: The Patent Office (Sales Branch), Unit 6, Nine Mile Point, Cw...

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Abstracts of Recent Patents In the UK British Patent specifications can be ordered from: The Patent Office (Sales Branch), Unit 6, Nine Mile Point, Cwmfelinfach, Crosskeys, Newport, Gwent NPl 7H2, UK. Tel: 07495207 700

Membrane Filter with Electrical and/or Acoustic Enhancement In WO9803245 Atkins Fulford Ltd reports an invention that relates to tubular and flat sheet membrane filters, particularly those filters whose ability to separate particulate, molecular or ionic contaminants from suspensions is enhanced by the addition of electric fields to the filter. When a membrane filter is in use, contaminants from the feed liquid accumulate at the membrane surface to form a polarised layer that inhibits flow through the membrane. Contaminants in a liquid become charged and when subjected to an electric field will migrate toward one or other of the electrodes. If the electrodes are located either side of a permeable membrane or barrier, the contaminant can be caused to migrate by electrophoresis away from the membrane or barrier. The system can be made more effective by using a combination of ultrasonic fields and controlled hydrodynamic fields with the electric field. The ultrasonic and the hydrodynamic fields will improve the separation of the solids from the water and the electric field will cause the particles to migrate away from the membrane. Inventors: M. 6. C. Quigley and R.J. Wakeman. Date of Publication: 291”January 1998.

Dry Physical Separation of Particulate Material In WO 98065 13 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Technological Resources Pty. Ltd describes an apparatus for the dry physical separation of particulate material. It comprises an inclined separating surface having upper and lower edges, oscillation means for inducing nonlinear oscillatory motion of the separating surface, and introduction means for introducing the particulate material onto the separating surface between the upper and lower edges. Inventors: M. T O’Connor, J. M. F: Clout, J. F: Gannon, and K. Weller. Date of Publication: 19th February 1998.

Downhole Cyclone Separation In WO 9802637 Baker Hughes Limited describes an apparatus for downhole use in an oil well. The apparatus comprises a first and a second hydrocyclone. The underflow of the first hydrocyclone is connected to the inlet of the second hydrocyclone, a first pump for pumping production fluid into the inlet of the first hydrocyclone; and a second pump for pumping liquid from the overflow of the first hydrocyclone to the surface. The overflow of the second hydrocyclone is connected to the inlet of the first pump, or to the inlet of the second pump, and the underflow outlet of the second hydrocyclone discharges into the well. Inventor: E Ski/beck. Date 22fld of Publication: January 1998.

Method for the Adsorptive Separation of Air In WO 9807275 Bayer Aktiengesellschaft SgiProzesstechnik GmbH describes an improved method for the separation of oxygen or nitrogen from air according to the vacuadsorption (U~A/S~:~~ess or pressure vacuum swing adsorption (PVSA) process using a vacuum pump system optimized for the desorption of the adsorbed air component. This system comprises a radial flow compressor and a vacuum pump operating according to the displacement principle. Inventors: G. Reiss and H. Amlinger. Date of Publication: 15th January 1998.

Filtration Unit with Pleated Filtering Elements In WO 9809710 Sartorius AG describes a compact filtration unit with a pleated filtering element for filtering fluids. The filtration unit is composed of a few parts with a minimum of areas that need to be sealed. For this purpose, a pleated filtering element is arranged in a cylindrical housing in such a way that the open folds and backs of the pleats on one side of the pleated filtering element face the cavity of the housing at the inlet side and the open folds and backs of the pleats on the other side of the pleated filtering element face the cavity of the housing at the outlet side. The front sides of the pleated filtering element are adjacent to the cylindrical wall of the housing and joined therewith in a fluid-tight manner by a curable sealing compound. Because of its compact size, the

favourable relation between the filtering surface and the housing volume and its reduced dead volume, the filtration unit is particularly suitable as a disposable unit for laboratories, but also for scaling operations and when fitted with membrane adsorbers, for extracting valuable substances. Inventor: A. Graus. Date of Publication: 12th March 1998.

Shear Localized Filtration System In WO 9809720 Spintek Systems, Inc. describes a filtration apparatus that includes a stack of rapidly rotating membrane packs and a stack of stationary separator elements interleaved with the membrane packs to leave thin gaps between them, which obtains the advantages of both series-connected and parallel-connected systems. A feed conduit connects the outer ends of the gaps, to carry feed fluid into and out of each gap. The rapidly rotating membrane packs cause outward flow near their surfaces, which causes inward flow near the surfaces of the stationary elements, to cause fluid flow inwardly and then outwardly through each gap. The stationary elements have apertures to equalize the pressure on opposite sides thereof and to promote fluid shear at the membrane surfaces. An accumulator is coupled to the feed inlet to maintain feed fluid pressure during an abnormal loss of feed fluid pressure, for the time required to stop rotation of the stack of membrane packs. Inventors: D. N. Salyer; W.A. Greene, K.W Severing and R.G. Hayes. Date of Publication: 12h March 1998.