Patent ID: 7198108

Claim:
Apparatus for use in an offshore hydrocarbon processing facility that is located in a surrounding sea, to change the temperature of large quantities of produced water that flows out of a produced water conduit and that has a temperature that is a plurality of degrees Centigrade different from the temperature of the surrounding sea and for discharging the produced water into the surrounding sea without creating spots in the surrounding sea where the water is of a greatly different temperature than that of the rest of the sea, comprising: a mixer tube that has input and output ends and that has a tube middle portion lying between said ends; at least one nozzle that has a nozzle outlet end lying in said tube middle portion and that is directed toward said mixer tube output end; said produced water conduit being connected to said nozzle to deliver said produced water to said nozzle to flow out from said nozzle end, said mixer tube input and output ends both lying in the surrounding sea, and at said nozzle outlet end the cross-sectional area of the inside of said mixer tube is a plurality of times the outside diameter of said at least one nozzle end, so produced water flowing out of said nozzle end induces the flow of large quantities of sea water through said mixer tube.