DYNAMIC, INFLUENT-CONSTITUENT-BASED, SEPARATOR CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD

摘要

A system operating as a centrifugal, liquid-liquid separator may be controlled, and even optimized, by automatic control of back pressure to establish an optimum position of the dispersion band therein. Optimizing to minimize impurities (from each other) in each of two separated phases is possible, even simultaneously, by reliance on a processor setting the settling lengths of both heavy and light phases at the same value. Settling length, defined in accordance with the invention, reflects a settling velocity multiplied by a residence time. Equating these lengths, for droplets of each in the other liquid, provides superior results over conventional settling theory maximizing settling area. Equalization of residence times did not provide an improvement over conventional settling theory.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a separator operating to separate out at least one first liquid from at least one second liquid; the separator, characterized by an inlet receiving a mixture of the at least one first liquid and the at least one second liquid; the separator, characterized by a dispersion band therein positioned between a bulk flow of the at least one first liquid and a bulk flow of the at least one second liquid; the separator, characterized by a first outlet discharging the at least one first liquid, and a second outlet discharging the at least one second liquid; a control system operably connected to the separator and positioning the dispersion band automatically based on the cut of one of the at least one first liquid and the at least one second liquid.