Patent ID: 8859793
Filing Date: 2014-10-14
Classification: B01D,C11B

Abstract:
1. A process for extracting oil from oil-bearing materials in a process unit comprising a reactor vessel, a condensation/storage vessel, a vaporization/separation vessel, and an oil collection vessel, wherein the reactor vessel, the condensation/storage vessel, and the vaporization/separation vessel have an outer jacket covering at least 80% of each vessel, which outer jacket is capable of allowing a heating and cooling fluid to flow into an out of said jacket, which process comprising: a) removing air and any other oxidizing gases from each vessel of the process unit; b) ensuring that the condensation/storage vessel contains at least an effective amount of normally gaseous solvent in its liquid state, and if not conducting a normally gaseous solvent into said condensation/storage vessel; c) introducing oil-bearing material to be extracted into said reactor vessel through an opened port; d) closing and sealing the opened port of said reactor vessel containing oil-bearing material to be extracted; e) pulling a vacuum on said reactor vessel and venting its' gaseous contents to the atmosphere; f) introducing an effective amount of normally gaseous solvent in its liquid state into said reactor vessel from the condensation/storage vessel by raising the temperature and pressure within said condensation/storage vessel by flowing a heating fluid through the outer jacket of said condensation/storage vessel and lowering the temperature and pressure of said reactor vessel by passing a cooling fluid through the outer jacket of said reactor vessel so that the reactor vessel being at least 3 psi lower in pressure than the condensation/storage vessel; g) repeatedly fluctuating the pressure within said reactor vessel by alternating the flow of heating and cooling fluid through the outer jacket of said reactor vessel, which pressure will fluctuate in the range of about 100 psig to about 300 psig, thereby resulting in oil-extracted solids material and a liquid mixture of extracted oil and solvent; h) draining the resulting mixture of oil and solvent into said vaporization/separation vessel by passing a heating fluid through the outer jacket of said reactor vessel and by passing a cooling fluid through the outer jacket of the vaporization/separation vessel wherein the temperature of the heating fluid and temperature of the cooling fluid are such as to result in the vaporization/separation vessel being at least about 3 psi lower in pressure than said reactor vessel; i) heating said vaporization/separation vessel to an effective temperature to vaporize substantially all of the normally gaseous solvent and allowing the vaporized normally gaseous solvent to flow upward into said condensation/storage vessel, which heating is provided by passing a heating fluid of sufficient temperature through the outer jacket of the vaporization/separation vessel to cause the liquid normally gaseous solvent in the vaporization/separation vessel to be converted to a vapor; j) cooling said condensation/storage vessel, by passing a cooling fluid of sufficient temperature through the outer jacket of said condensation/storage vessel to cause the pressure within the condensation/storage vessel to be at least 10 psi lower than the pressure in said vaporization/separation vessel, thereby enhancing the transfer of vaporized normally gaseous solvent and to result in the conversion of the vaporized normally gaseous solvent to its liquid state; k) conducting oil from the vaporization/separation vessel to the oil collection vessel; l) collecting the oil-depleted solid material from the reactor vessel.