JPH0338292A - Apparatus for removing spillage oil - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recover a large quantity of oil spilled on a water surface economically and quickly under a labor-saving condition by installing a concentric cylindrical partition plate at an upper part inside a vessel so as to form an oil separation part and also by installing an air dispersion pipe at the vessel bottom in a construction, wherein water is made to flow downward through the vessel containing contact materials made of laminated mesh chips continuously and discharged out of the bottom. CONSTITUTION:While water involving oil, water and air bubbles is delivered from a pump 4 and flows downward through a contact materials 15 as oil and water droplets and air bubbles, the oil droplets are adsorbed by wires of the contact materials 15 consisting of meshes as oil film. By making fine air bubbles pass through from an air dispersion pipe 25 below the contact materials 15, the adsorbed oil film on the wires of meshes is stripped off, accumulated and grows up into oil drops while the air bubbles ascend through the wires of the meshy contact materials 15. These air bubbles and oil drops go upward through the wires of meshy contact materials 15 and between them, the oil is collected into an oil separation part 23 and the air bubbles and volatile light oil are purged into the air. This collected oil is sucked off, separated efficiently from water with a centrifuge etc., and recovered.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an apparatus for economically and rapidly recovering oil spilled in large quantities onto the water surface, while saving labor, and preventing its spread to surrounding areas.

<Conventional technology and its challenges> Massive oil spill accidents such as strandings and shipwrecks of crude oil tankers occur every year around the world. Collecting floating oil within the fence area requires a great deal of labor and material funds, such as manual dispersion and collection of oil mats, and it takes a long time, and the weather changes during that time. Oil fences are of no use, and oil spills out again, causing great damage to marine products.

<Means for solving the problem> The present applicant had previously proposed a biological filtration device for water surface in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-205363, but by adding some additional devices to the device, it was possible to make it more effective and unique. It has been found that an oil spill recovery device can be obtained.

As a motive for this, Japanese Patent No. 131 owned by the present applicant
The contact material, which can be produced in large quantities at low cost using No. 7260 "Apparatus for manufacturing prismatic packings for water treatment," is a contact material made of laminated net small lumps made of synthetic resin that is lighter than water. This is the result of observing that it is an effective oil adsorbent, and its characteristics are as follows: A: High-density polyethylene, which has a higher affinity for oil than water, like the material of the oil adsorption mat (polypropylene). Although it is made of resin, its specific gravity is closer to that of water than polypropylene resin, making it an excellent contact material for underwater use. also observed that the effect of adsorbing and retaining only oil from a mixture of water and oil is more effective in water. The experiment involved putting water in a beaker, adding oil and stirring, then adding this mesh contact material and leaving it to stand.Oil molecules gathered inside and outside the mesh of the contact material, and the areas without the contact material became transparent. It was clearly distinguishable from water.

This indicates that a laminated network block with coarse mesh is more effective in water than one with dense fibers such as a mat. C: With mats, it is impossible to completely remove the oil after use, so there is no other option than incineration, but with this contact material, it can be easily reused by physical and chemical cleaning.

22 The light contact material in the form of small clumps can be mechanically loaded and discharged, so no human effort or troublesome work is required.
No matter how much physical deformation is applied to this contact material, if it is left unbroken, it will gradually return to its old shape. A: The mat floats above the water surface, and uses the capillary action of blotting paper and its affinity with oil to resist gravity and pull the oil up into the air above the water surface, so it is not possible to create a close-contact situation. Made of fibers with a porosity of several tens of percent
On the other hand, the porosity of the contact material in the form of a small block of laminated mesh is several times larger than this, and since it is used constantly suspended in water, there is no need to expect capillary action. Therefore, oil always tries to float to the top and water tries to sink to the bottom, and the existence of this contact material is due to the affinity and attraction between the contact material and the oil, and also due to the separation properties of water and oil. Due to the difference in specific gravity, oil always gathers inside the contact material, and oil molecules also cluster outside the contact material.Also, each contact material maintains a suspended state in a layered manner, so the individual contact materials A phenomenon in which the gaps (outer surface) are also naturally filled with oil can be observed. In other words, the observation that the contact material is located at the boundary between water and oil makes sense, considering the difference in specific gravity between these three materials. This means that the amount of oil retained in water is proportional to its porosity, and the contact material, which is rigid, has large gaps, and has fine laminated small lumps with pores that do not deform or contract under underwater pressure does not require capillary action. In water, it is much better than dense mats.

<Function> An embodiment of a spilled oil recovery device using this laminated network contact material (hereinafter referred to as contact material) will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. intake weir 2
, the vertical pump 4 that generates the water flow (arrow 3) is connected to the main body 1
It is placed on a bowl 6 in the center of the bowl, and an inlet 5 is opened downward in the center. Communication between the main body 1 on the upper outer periphery and the bowl part 6 is made into a strong integral structure by a plurality of radial communication pipes 7.7, and the water from the outer area flowing in from the overflow pores 8.8 of the intake weir 2 is transferred to the bowl part. 6. That is, the lower part 9 of the main body 1, which is also the connecting pipe 7 that also serves as a guide to the suction port 5 of the upright pump 4, has a flexible resin membrane structure and is sandwiched between the main body 1 and the intake weir 2, If they are connected using a 1O110 joint bolt, even large items are lightweight and have many advantages in terms of transportation, are simple and inexpensive, and are less likely to be damaged during use.

The upper body 1, intake weir 2, bowl part 6, and connecting pipe 7 are preferably made of reinforced resin (FRP) or a welded integral structure of aluminum for small ones, and for large ones, they are made of steel and divided into several parts. It will be assembled on site.

The floats 11 of the main body 1 have a fan-shaped thick shape, are fixed to the main body 1 by fixing bolts 12 and 12 on the inner circumference of the main body 1, and have buoyancy to float the main body 1 to an appropriate height. .

The porous bottom plate 13 is located in the center of the lower part 9 of the main body, and is for draining the water from the outside area sucked in by the upright pump 4 out of the main body 1 again.

A coarse mesh 14 is stretched between the central bowl part 6 and the upper part of an upright partition plate 21, which will be described later, to prevent the contact material 15 filled in the main body 1 from being washed away.

The contact material 15 as shown in FIG. 3 is filled into the main body 1 after removing the net 14, but it floats slightly lighter than water, and each member has a certain amount of room to move even if it is washed away and pressed by the water current, i.e. The internal volumes of the main bodies 1 and 9 should be limited to 70 to 80%, and should be such that a space is created between them and the porous bottom plate 13.

The main body 1 of the device is placed at a position where the amount of water overflowing from the intake weir 2 is larger than the amount of water pumped by the pump 4, as shown in Fig. The buoyancy and gravity shall be adjusted so that there is no problem in keeping the object horizontally, it has appropriate and sufficient buoyancy, and it can float.

The pump is driven by an electric motor 18, but power is supplied from a generator mounted on a boat or buoy.

To explain the function of the device, when the pump 4 is operated, the water level in the central bowl part 6 is lowered, and the oil floating on the water surface from the intake weir 2 and part of the surface water are pumped into the bowl part 6 through the connecting pipe 7. flowing into
It is poured onto the net 14 from the discharge port 19 of the pump, passes downward between the contact materials 15 floating at the bottom, exits through the porous bottom plate 13, and circulates around the device.

This device is more effective when operated inside an oil boom that prevents oil from spreading. In other words, since this device sucks up young trees on the surface layer, the floating oil in the outer area is drawn over a wide area by the action of surface tension, so as the device progresses in oil recovery, the inner surface of the oil fence is reduced. However, there is no risk of oil leaking from the bottom of the oil fence to the outside area, and oil recovery can be carried out more quickly and effectively.

The water discharged from the pump 4 entrains oil, water, and air bubbles, and falls downward between the contact materials 15 as oil droplets, water droplets, and air bubbles. The droplets are covered as an oil film, and there are also air bubbles and minute water droplets between them, but the water flow 3 is discharged in large quantities one after another.
As a result, the contact material 15 directly below the discharge port 19 moves downward while resisting the floating blade, but many air bubbles are also trapped in the mesh of the contact material 15, making it even lighter, and the main body moves up and down with a weak water flow. It naturally moves to the bottom of the outer periphery of No.1.

An upright partition plate 21 having a cylindrical shape concentric with the main body 1 is installed at an appropriate height from above the water surface to below the water surface on the upper part of the main body 1, that is, inside the float 11, and divides the water surface inside the main body 1 into outside and inside. , a net 22 is placed on the lower surface of the outer area to prevent the contact material 15 from floating;
An oil separation part 23 is formed in the upper part of the outer area, and the net 22 at the bottom of this oil separation part 23 is configured with a truncated cone-shaped slope that is low on the outer periphery of the main body l and higher on the lower part of the upright partition plate 21. The rotation of the contact material 15 within the main body 1 (arrow 26) works more effectively.

That is, as described above, after the contact material 15 in the inner area 24 directly below the discharge port 19 moves to the bottom of the outer periphery of the main body 1, the contact material 15 under the net 22 at the bottom of the oil separation part 23 fills the empty space. It moves as if filling the space and gradually advances toward the inner region 24 directly below the discharge port 19. If a resin net with thick wires and a coarse mesh is used as the lower net 22, it will work more effectively by sliding on the contact material 15.

An aeration pipe 25 is placed around the bottom of the main body 9 at the bottom of the contact material 15 that has been pushed down by the water flow 3 and moved to the bottom of the outer periphery of the main body 1 and has stagnated there, to diffuse fine air bubbles. When the bubbles pass through the wires of the mesh of the contact material 15 that have absorbed the oil and move upward, the oil film on the wires of the mesh is peeled off and grown into oil droplets, and the bubbles and oil droplets are removed. Contact material 1
The oil flows upward through the wires 5 and between them and accumulates in the oil separation section 23, and the bubbles and volatile light oil escape into the air. Of course, part of the light oil is released into the air by the stirring effect of the pump, and the amount of volatile light oil released into the air is reduced, which has the effect of reducing the amount of oil removed from the water. is also derived.

The contact material 15 floats in water and easily slides in oil, and due to its resistance to water currents and bubbles, as described above, it is pushed upwards in the lower area of the outer periphery of the main body 1 and strongly pushed downwards in the inner area by the downward water flow 3. Therefore, the entire contact material 15 gradually moves convectively up and down at the periphery and center (arrow 26), and furthermore, the floating body 1 and the lower part 9 of the flexible membrane structure constantly sway due to wind waves and water currents, and rotate up and down. The effect of the convective movement of the contact material 15 is further increased by the movement and kneading action in the main body 9.

In fact, this condition was confirmed by mixing contact materials 15 of different colors.

The oil thus accumulated in the oil separation section 23 may be sucked, efficiently separated into oil and water using a centrifuge or the like (not shown), and then collected and removed.

Even after the floating oil in the surface water is collected, some oil film and oil droplets remain on the wires of the contact material 15, but if the main body 1 is lifted as is, the oil droplets will drip from the porous bottom plate 13. Therefore, in this case, if you insert a suction hose into the upper part of the inner area 24 and suck out the water and contact material 15 using a foreign matter suction pump or vacuum device, almost the entire amount of contact material 15 and remaining oil can be removed in a short time. Can be removed.

The oil-contaminated contact material 15 can be washed with a detergent and then returned to the main body 1 using a water stream, all of which can be carried out mechanically and with labor savings.

Although a small amount of oil remaining on the inner and outer surfaces of the main body 1 does not have a negative impact on the environment like the amount of oil attached to the hull of a normally operating vessel,
The damage caused by uncontaminated oil flows from giant tankers in places such as Belja Bay did not become serious over the years and the situation has since recovered.The current situation is that there are microorganisms on earth that gradually decompose even mineral oil underwater and make it harmless. It would also be proof that it exists.

<Effects of the Invention> This device is originally the above-mentioned "biological filtration device for water surface" with some additional parts added, and utilizes the affinity and specific gravity difference between the contact material 15 and oil. Since it is a biological treatment for water surfaces such as red tide and blue tide, and is also a purification device for polluted water, it can be operated as a purification device for this water area even after spilled oil is recovered.

This device itself and the total amount of the contact material 15 are extremely lightweight,
Transport by helicopter or installation from a ship can be done very easily.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A showing an example of the device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a contact member. 1...Main body of the device 2...Intake weir 3...Direction of water flow 4...Pump 5...Pump inlet 6...Central bowl part 7...Connecting pipe
8... Overflow pore 9... Lower part of main body lO...
・Joining bolt 11...Float 12...
Float fixing bolt 13...Porous bottom plate 15...Contact material 17...Water surface 19...Pump discharge port 21...Upright partition plate 23...Oil separation section 25...Aeration pipe 14... ...Contact material flow prevention net 16...Thermal welding part 18 of contact material...Electric motor 20...Pump propeller 22...Contact material flotation prevention net 24...Inner area 26...Contact material 15 rotation directions

Claims (1)

[Claims] An axial flow pump in the center of a circular or polygonal bowl-shaped container filled with a contact material of laminated net small lumps made of synthetic resin that is lighter than water sucks surface water, continuously flows it into the container, and drains it from the bottom. In this structure, a concentric cylindrical upright partition plate with an appropriate height is installed inside the upper part of the container from above the water surface to below the water surface, dividing the water surface inside the container into an outer area and an inner area, and a laminated net is placed on the lower surface of the outer area. It is characterized by a device having a structure in which a net is placed to prevent the floating of small pieces of contact material to form an oil separation section, and an aeration pipe is provided at the lower part of the periphery inside the container, and the device is suspended at a predetermined water level with respect to the water surface. Oil spill removal equipment.