Patent ID: 9656185
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: B01D,Y10T

Claim:
1. An apparatus for contacting and separating at least two immiscible liquids into separate phases, comprising, in combination, a) a vessel having an interior space; b) a shroud positioned vertically within the interior space, the shroud having a top and an open bottom and an outer solid wall containing no openings, where the outer wall encloses a downward fluid flow path between the top and bottom of the shroud; c) a plurality of vertical hanging fibers defining a vertical axis and being contained in the downward fluid flow path and extending out beyond the open bottom of the shroud, the fibers configured to allow an admixture of at least two immiscible liquids to contact the hanging fibers and to flow in a downward direction parallel to the vertical axis; and d) a perforated extension positioned at the bottom of the shroud and extending downward from the bottom to enclose the vertical hanging fibers that extend out beyond the bottom of the shroud, where the vertical hanging fibers extend out beyond an open end of the perforated extension, where the perforated extension comprises an annulus having a coalescing surface and an open center configured to allow the vertical hanging fibers to extend through the open center, where the annulus has inner and outer walls each having one or more openings and the coalescing surface is positioned between the inner and outer walls adjacent to the one or more openings of the inner and outer walls; and e) a gravity settling zone located in the interior space of vessel but not including the downward fluid flow path, where the gravity settling zone is configured to allow the formation of a lower layer comprising the higher density liquid and the formation of an upper layer comprising the lower density liquid, wherein the perforated extension further defines an enhanced coalescing zone where the one or more openings are configured to allow a portion of the admixture of the at least two immiscible liquids to exit the perforated extension leaving the remainder of the at least two immiscible liquids to exit the open end of the perforated extension, where the portion of the at least two immiscible liquids that exits the perforated extension follows a flow path that is not parallel to the vertical axis causing one of the two immiscible liquids to coalesce as it exits.