Patents Examined by Alexa Ann Doroshenk
  • Patent number: 6680032
    Abstract: A new process for continuously preparing granules having narrow grain size distribution, comprising a) spraying the product to be granulated in liquid form into a fluidized bed, b) separating the proportions of fine material escaping from the fluidized bed from the off-gas and returning said fine material to the fluidized bed as nuclei for granule formation, c) setting the fluidizing gas flow such that granules are formed which are of a predetermined size, and d) removing the completed granules solely by way of at least one countercurrent gravity classifier inserted into the outflow bottom of the fluidized-bed vessel. A new apparatus for carrying out the process according to the invention and new granules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2004
    Assignee: Bayer AG
    Inventors: Hans Uhlemann, Burkhard Braun, Heinz Hausmann, Gerhard Stopp, Horts Karkossa
  • Patent number: 6652815
    Abstract: A shelf is incorporated into a typical FCC riser that permits the tips of the nozzles to extend past the wall of the riser while preventing the tips from promoting coke build-up and protecting the tips from erosion. The shelf can be part of an angled section that often appears in a transition zone for increasing the internal diameter of the riser to accommodate the volumetric expansion of the feed. The shelf section reduces the non-uniformity in the mixing of the catalyst and feed and minimizes backmixing of the feed injection. The shelf of this invention accomplishes these objectives without recessing the feed injectors into the riser wall which can interfere with the spray pattern. The shelf provides a location for the tips of the upwardly directed feed injectors which virtually eliminates quiescent areas that were the sites for riser coking and that resulted from the protrusion of nozzles and/or nozzle protection devices into the riser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2003
    Assignee: UOP LLC
    Inventor: Aziz A. Sattar
  • Patent number: 6648931
    Abstract: A turbine produces in an improved gasification process a stream of pressurized air, which is cooled and further compressed by a cooler and booster/compressor. The cooled and compressed air is humidified in a humidifier, heated by a low temperature heat source and subsequently fed into a gasification vessel in which a feedstock is gasified or partially oxidized. The humidifier may advantageously utilize wastewater to humidify the cooled and compressed air, wherein the wastewater may or may not be produced by a component in a gasification plant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Assignee: Fluor Corporation
    Inventor: Ashok Rao
  • Patent number: 6630112
    Abstract: A process for carrying out a reaction on an organic feed, for example dimerization, co-dimerization, oligomerization or metathesis of olefins, as described in which the catalyst is a catalytic metal compound dissolved in a non-aqueous ionic medium which is not or is only slightly miscible with hydrocarbons. The reaction is carried out in a system comprising at least two treatment loops each comprising at least one reaction zone and at least one zone for separating the organic and polar phases between which the polar medium containing the catalytic metal compound, and the organic phase circulate. Fresh polar phase is injected into the second loop and used polar phase is eliminated from the first loop. The hydrocarbon to be transformed is injected into the first loop and the products are withdrawn from the second loop. The invention also concerns a unit for carrying out the process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2003
    Assignee: Institut Français du Pétrole
    Inventors: Helene Olivier, Dominique Commereuc, Alain Forestiere, Francois Hugues
  • Patent number: 6627161
    Abstract: An FCC feed injection arrangement injects feed transversely from the sides of a restricted opening into a stream of FCC catalyst to provide good feed and catalyst contacting in an arrangement that simplifies external pipe configurations and maintenance of the feed injection system. The invention forms a venturi or restricted opening by forming a generally square opening between two parallel extended chords on opposite sides of the riser. A venturi area may be built out of refractory lining or other abrasion-resistant structures. The invention may use horizontally extended pipes that are tangentially positioned apart from each other across from the restricted opening to provide a simple construction for the feed injection arrangement. The pipes are easily inserted and withdrawn from the riser to permit easy maintenance of the nozzles in the highly erosive environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: UOP LLC
    Inventors: William H. Radcliffe, Brian W. Hedrick
  • Patent number: 6623602
    Abstract: An improved method is disclosed for reclaiming volatile products and non-volatile residue through the pyrolysis of a polymeric material comprising placing the polymeric material in a reactor and establishing an oxygen deficient atmosphere in a reactor. The polymeric material is simultaneously compressed and heated to a temperature sufficient to pyrolyze the polymeric material to produce volatile products and non-volatile residue. The volatile products and non-volatile residue are subsequently removed from the reactor and collected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Inventor: G. Thomas Bissell
  • Patent number: 6620388
    Abstract: Disclosed is a catalytic pipe for an endothermic catalytic reaction of a process medium, with an outer cladding tube which is tightly closed at its end sides by a first base and a second base. A rising pipe arrangement is arranged in the interior of the cladding tube and is connected, in the vicinity of the first base, with an outlet which is guided outward for the product resulting from the catalysis of the process medium. According to the invention, the rising pipe arrangement is formed by a plurality of line strands which end in a collector which is connected to the outlet for the product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignees: Mannesmann Aktiengesellschaft, K.T.I. Group B.V.
    Inventors: Francesco Giacobbe, Renzo Coletti
  • Patent number: 6616901
    Abstract: This invention relates to pollution control requirements for fossil fuel burning facilities such as power plants, and, more particularly, to an apparatus for providing a safe and economical supply of ammonia, from a urea feedstock, when ammonia is desired or necessary to initiate, cause and/or supplement the removal of one or more pollutants from an exhaust gas stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Hera, LLC
    Inventors: Vincenzo Lagana, Felix E. Spokoyny