Patents by Inventor Orval H. Hilliard

Orval H. Hilliard 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).

  • Electrostatic enrichment of trona and nahcolite ores
    Patent number: 4375454
    Abstract: Calcined trona and/or nahcolite bearing ore particles are separated into a plurality of fractions of relatively uniform particle size. Those calcined particles smaller than about 6.7 mm in size and larger than about 0.2 mm in size are passed through an electrostatic separator to obtain an ore concentrate containing a greater percentage of soda ash and a lesser percentage of insoluble impurities than were present in the ore; a middling fraction and an ore tailing fraction containing a lesser percentage of soda ash and a greater percentage of insoluble impurities than were present in the ore. The middling fraction may be recycled to increase the yield of ore concentrate. Calcined particles smaller than about 0.2 mm may be combined with the ore concentrate. The combined ore concentrate fraction may be marked as technical grade soda ash or used as a high grade feed to a monohydrate refining process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1980
    Date of Patent: March 1, 1983
    Assignee: Intermountain Research and Development Corporation
    Inventors: Eugene G. Imperto, Orval H. Hilliard