Patents by Inventor Howard E. Spencer

Howard E. Spencer has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5360530
    Abstract: A process for solvent dewaxing a waxy oil feed to obtain petroleum oil lubricating stock comprising the steps of contacting a warm waxy oil feed by indirect heat exchange first with cold filtrate, then with refrigerant to crystallize and precipitate the wax in the oil feed to form an oil/solvent/wax mixture. The oil/solvent/wax mixture is diluted with cold solvent to adjust the viscosity of the mixture and the mixture is fed to a filter which filters and removes the wax from the cold oil/solvent/wax mixture. A cold wax cake is recovered and a cold oil/solvent filtrate stream is recovered. The cold oil/solvent filtrate stream is fed, at the filtration temperature, to a selective permeable membrane. The membrane selectively separates the cold filtrate into a cold solvent permeate stream and a cold filtrate stream which contains the dewaxed oil and the remaining solvent. The cold solvent permeate stream at the filtration temperature is recycled to the filter feed stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1993
    Date of Patent: November 1, 1994
    Assignee: Mobil Oil Corporation
    Inventors: Ronald M. Gould, William F. Heaney, Albert R. Nitsch, Howard E. Spencer