ULTRASOUND AND ACOUSTOPHORESIS TECHNOLOGY FOR SEPARATION OF OIL AND WATER, WITH APPLICATION TO PRODUCE WATER

摘要

Several prototype systems are described for separating oil and water from emulsions. The systems operate at ultrasonic resonance and are thus low power. Each system contains one or more acoustic transducers operating in the 100 kHz to 5 MHz range. Each system contains flow input for the emulsion and two or more flow outputs for the separated oil and water. Existing prototypes operate from 200 mL/min to >15 L/min. Each uses low power in the range of 1-5 W.

主权项

1. A system to concentrate and separate lipid or oil phase from an oil/water or lipid/water emulsion comprising:
a flow chamber through which the emulsion of water and microscopic oil droplets or lipids flows, the flow chamber comprising one or more flow inlets and flow outlets, wherein the dimensions of the cross-section of the flow chamber are larger than the wavelength corresponding to the generated sound; an ultrasonic transducer, wherein the ultrasonic transducer is driven by an oscillating voltage signal or ultrasonic frequencies; and a reflector, wherein the reflector is located such that an acoustic standing wave is generated in the host medium; wherein a acoustic field exerts an acoustic radiation force on a secondary phase component containing oil droplets or lipids, such that the oil droplets are trapped in the acoustic field against the fluid drag force, resulting in large scale collection of the secondary phase component over time; and where the rapid collection of oil droplets in agglomeration of the oil droplets or the formation of large aggregates of microscopic oil droplets, such that the buoyancy force of the droplet aggregates is sufficient to force the oil droplet aggregates to float to the top of the flow chamber, such that over time an oil layer, representing all collected oil droplets, accumulates at the top of the flow chamber; and where conventional means can be used for harvesting of this oil layer.