Patent ID: 8082939

Claim:
A seal leakage recovery system for recovering leakage from at least one unit of rotating equipment having a process fluid chamber, a rotatable shaft and an operator connected to said shaft within said process fluid chamber for operating on a process fluid disposed in said process fluid chamber during rotation of said shaft, said recovery system comprising: a housing having a central bore receiving said shaft therethrough and having opposite inboard and outboard ends wherein said inboard end is in fluid communication with said process fluid chamber, said housing having seals along said shaft and comprising at least first, second and third chambers disposed along said shaft wherein said third chamber is disposed intermediately between said first and second chambers; said first chamber receiving a seal supply fluid into said first chamber and receiving fluid leakage of said process fluid along said shaft such that said seal supply fluid includes any said fluid leakage therein, said seal supply fluid being flowable along said shaft from said first chamber to said third chamber; said second chamber receiving a buffer fluid therein which flows into said second chamber and is flowable along said shaft to said third chamber which mixes with said seal supply fluid within said third chamber to define a leakage recovery fluid; a flow distribution system which supplies said seal supply fluid to said first chamber, said buffer fluid to said second chamber and receives said leakage recovery fluid from said third chamber, said flow distribution system including a pressurizing device pressurizing said leakage recovery fluid to thereby define said seal supply fluid which flows from said pressurizing device to said first chamber as said seal supply fluid, said seal supply fluid at least comprising said buffer fluid and any of said process fluid leakage collected from said third chamber.