Patent ID: 7175716
Filing Date: 2007-02-13
Classification: B01D,C10G,E21B

Abstract:
1. A process for cleaning a material comprising the step of: charging a quantity of a material-to-be-treated selected from the group consisting of drilling fluids, reactor sludges, oil-contaminated soils, oil contaminated water, used oil, hydrocarbon fuels, tar sands, tanker bottoms, refinery bottoms, oil pit residues, refinery waste streams, refinery residue streams, paint wastes, and polymer wastes, where the material-to-be-treated comprises water and water soluble aqueous components, a non-aqueous fluid, and solid materials into an interior of an inner tube of a tubular extraction vessel comprising: an upper portion including an outer tube, an middle tube, and the inner tube; a semi-permeable membrane; and a lower portion, charging a quantity of CO contacting the material-to-be-treated with the CO concurrently, removing water and water soluble components via the semi-permeable membrane into the lower portion of the tubular extraction vessel to produce an aqueous product, forwarding the treated material into a first separation vessel comprising an interior, a treated material inlet, a fluid outlet and a solids outlet having a venturi valve, removing the solid materials from the first separation vessel through the venturi valve to a solids storage container to produce a solids product, removing a fluid comprising the non-aqueous fluid and the CO separating the fluid in the second separation vessel into used CO transferring the non-aqueous fluid product to a fluid storage container.