IE42701B1 - Improvements in or relating to material recovery apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to material recoveryapparatus and. is particularly although not exclusively concerned with a recovery apparatus for the removal of oil from the surface of water.

Xn an oil recovery apparatus hitherto proposed, use is made of a buoyant rope which has the property of preferentially adsorbing oil in relation to water and which is formed as a continuous loop which floats on the water between a desorption station where it is advanced through an oil de10 sorption means and one or more rope-guide stations remote from the desorption station where the run of the loop is guided round one or more guide pulleys floating on the water. The rope is continuously advanced in its run over the water, around the pulley or pulleys and through the desorption unit, the oil being removed from the incoming run of the rope to produce a continuously cleaned return ruti for a further advance over the oil contaminated water.

The oil desorption station may simply comprise a pair of squeeze rollers through the nip of which the rope is 43701 caused to pass, l.he toUits serving to wring out. oil in the oil-laden run advanced to it whilst providing the drive for the advancement of the rope. For heavy duty operation additional squeeze rollers may be provided or the oil Laden rope may be caused to make more than one pass through the single pair of squeeze rollers.

The desorption station in the oil recovery systems hitherto proposed may be a land station at the edge of the water or a vessel in the form of, say, a barge anchored offshore or Id moving slowly through the oil-contaminated water, while the rope-guide stations may simply comprise a floating pulley anchored Lo an opposite shore or to the water bed or tied to a small manned boat whieh is either anchored offshore or is advanced slowly through the water, the positions of the de15 sorption station and rope-guide station or stations being so chosen as to bring the rope loop into or hoLd it in a position in whieh it is most effective for picking up and roniaiuing the oil floating on fhe water.

It will be appreciated that the repositioning of Lhe site of the simply anchored pulley is at best a tedious operation and the need from time (o time for complete withdrawal of the rope loop leads to further inconvenient operations. Where the oil recovery system is employed at a permanent site it has been proposed to employ a chain loop traversing the water bed and passing through an anchor at the guide-station, the floating pulley being attached to the chain so that it can be withdrawn to the desorption station. Chain withdrawal of the pulley is however of very limited application.

While the use of a small manned boat as the rope-guide station gives much more Flexibility to the recovery system, additional personnel are required to man the boat, leading to prohibitive operating costs.

According t·· the present invention, there is provided material recover\ apparatus comprising a rope of ari adsorbent material, a desorption station, one or a plurality of rope42701 - 4 guide stations for floating on the surface of a liquid contaminated by a liquid contaminating material preferentially adsorbed by the rope, the rope being in the form of a continuous loop which, in use, extends in contact with the surface of the liquid in an outward run from the desorption station to the rope-guide station or to a first of said plurality of rope-guide stations and in a return run from the said rope-guide station or a last of said plurality of rope-guide stations to the desorption station, through which desorption station the rope, is, in use, advanced to remove material adsorbed thereon, and the rope being guided round guide means in a rope guide unit at the rope-guide station or each of the rope-guide stations, and hold-off means for holding off the rope-guide station or each of the rope-guide stations from the desorption station by a predetermined distance, the hold-off means comprising a strut or an assembly of struts which is connected direct to the desorption station and to the rope-guide station, ihe arrangement being such as, in use, to restrain yawing movement of the rope-guide station relative to the desorption station, and to permit pitching movement of the ropeguide station relative to the desorption station whereby the rope-guidp station has sufficient freedom of movement to allow it to remain in a floating disposition for a pre2J determined range of dispositions of the desorption station.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:FigUre 1 is a schematic plan view of part of an oil 30 recovery apparatus according to the invention and Figure 2 is a schematic side elevation of the oil recovery apparatus shown in Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings and principally to Figure 1, the oil recovery apparatus shown comprises a barge 11, an oil-adsorbing rope 12 in the form of a continuous loop and arranged to float on water ahead of the barge 11 by passage round pulleys 13 and 14 carried by float units 15 and 16 held in spaced relation ahead of the bows of the barge by struts 17, 18, 19 and 20.

The float unit 15 is, as .shown, rigidly but detachably connected to one end of the strut 17, ihe other end of which is pivotally mounted on the side of the barge in the region of the bows. The strut 19, which holds the strut. 17 against angular displacement in a horizontal plane i.e. yaw, is pivotally mounted at one end to ihe side of the barge at an intermediate position (.herealong and al. the other end to an intermediate point on t.he sl.rul 17 to permit pitching movement of the float unit. 15 relat— ive t.o the barge 11. The float unit 10 is, likewise, rigidly but detachably fixed to the end of the strut IS, which is pivotally mounted on the othei> side of the barge, the strut 20 holding the strut lS against horizontal angular displacement and being pivoted in the same manner as the strut 19.

The float unit 1.5 is made up of the oulley 13 which is self-supporting in the water and two .stabilizing floats 21 and 22, flic pulley 13 and the floats 21 and 22 being .supported by and freely rotatable in a frame 131. The float· unit lo is made up in the same manner wi Hi stabi l ising floats 23 and 24· in the region of the bows of the barge there is provided a drive and desorption unit 2S through wliich the rope J.2 is advanced. The unit 25 comprises a pair of drive rollers 20 and 27 arranged to be driven by a petrol or diesel engine 43 via a chain drive 44 and a clutch mechanism 45. l'he chain drive 44 may, if desired, be replaced by a hydraulic drive and in some situations fhe clutch mechanism is omitted. The rollers 26 and 27 form two nips through which the rope 12 passes in turn, as -6 shown, Lhe rollers serving to draw the oil-laden run of Lhe rope 12 from Lhe water over a guide roll 28, along an oil drip trough 29, beLween vertically arranged guide rolls 30 and 31, over Lhe drive roller 20, through Lhe first nip between the rollers 20 and 27, under the roller 27, around spaced vertically arranged guide rolls, one of which is shown at 32 in Figure 2, through the second nip between the rollers 26 and 27, between a further pair of vertically arranged guide rolls 33 and 34 and then in its forward run into the water between spaced vertically arranged guide bars 35 and 36 mounted on the side of the barge 11 in the region of the bows. The rollers 26 and 27 whilst drawing the oil-laden run of the rope 12 in the manner described simultaneously squeeze out adsorbed oil which is then collected in a tank 46 provided beneath the desorption unit 25- An oil pump (not shown) driven by Lhe engine 43 is mounted in the tank 46 and employed Lo pump collected oil from Lhe tani< by hose lines to flexible containers arranged for floating alongside Lhe barge. The outward run of the rope 12 passing into the water is guided round the pulley 13 into a path across the bows of the barge 11, round the pulley 14 and back in a return run to the unit 25, adsorbing oil during its passage in the water. The barge 11 may be anchored in the path of an oil spill or can be advanced through the contaminated area, the float units 15 and 16 being held at fixed distances from the bows of the barge 11.

It will be seen that the barge is provided at its sides with horizontally arranged support rails 37 and 38, each rail being provided with spaced holes 39 along the length thereof. in the arrangement shown in Lhe drawings, each of the struts 19 and 20 is pivotally connected to the side of the barge by a ball and cup universal joint mounting 40, the cup portion of which is secured to the strut and the ball portion of which provided with a spigot which slidingly engages in one nt' the holes - 7 39 ίη the rail 37· Repositioning of the mounting 4() to engage others of the holes 39 in the rail 37 permits variations i.n the positions of the float units 15 and 16, either to increase or reduce the catchment area of the.· rope 12. Che other ends of the struts I» and 20 are pivotally connected to the struts 17 and IS by detachable ball and cup universal joint mountings 41 which provide for ready detachment when the equipment is to be stowed away in the barge.

The struts 17 and l8 are pivotally connected to the bows of t.he barge 11 using detachable ball and cup universal joint mountings 42 identical fo the mountings 40 employed for the struts 19 and 20 likewise to provide for ready detachment, and so that, the struts 17 and IS can if desired be pivotally connected along the sides of the barge 11 by utilising the holes 39 in the rails 37 and 38. for some purposes it may be found useful fo operate the rope 12 in a trailing position either by reversing the direction of motion of barge 11 or mounting' the float units and 10 and the unit 25 at the stern of the barge.

The arrangement of the float unit, 15 and the struts 17 and 19 may if desired be repeated on each side of the barge 11 at the stern and the rope loop 12 arranged fo pass round the pulleys of all four units and in addition to pass through the drive and desorption unit 25.

The rope 12 may comprise a rope core to which is woven a thick nap of adsorbent material which preferentially absorbs oil, the whole of the rope having a specific gravity less than 1.

The recovered oil extracted by the desorption unit, on the barge maj conveniently be pumped into flexible containers, which can then be floated and towed by the; barge.

Claims (12)

1. Material recovery apparatus comprising a rope of an adsorbent material, a desorption station, one or a plurality of ropeguide stations for floating on the surface 5 of a liquid contaminated by a liquid contaminating material preferentially adsorbed by the rope, the rope being in the form of a continuous loop which, in. use, extends in contact with the surface of the liquid in ari outward run from the desorption station to the rope-guide station 10 or to a first of said plurality of rope-guide stations and in a return run from the said rope-guide station or a last, of said plurality of rope-guide stations to (.hr desorption station, through which desorption station the rope is, in use, advanced to remove material adsorbed 15 thereon, and the rope being guided round guide means in a rope guide unit at the rope-guide station or each of the rope-guide stations, and hold-off means for holding off the rope-guide station or each of the rope-guide stations from the desorption station by a predetermined 20 distance, the hold-off means comprising a strut or an assembly of struts which is connected direct to the desorpt ion station and to the rope-guide station, the arrangement being such as, in use, to restrain yawing movement of the rope-guide station relative to the desorption station, 25 and to permit pitching movement of the rope-guide station relative to the desorption station whereby the rope-guide station has sufficient freedom of movement to allow it to remain in a floating disposition for a predetermined range of dispositions of the desorption station. 30

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the rope is capable of adsorbing· oil in preference to water.

3. - Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the said strut or assembly of struts is pivotally mounted on the desorption station to give the required degree of freedom 35 of movement to the rope-guide unit.

4. Apparatus according- to Claim 3, wherein the desorption station comprises a barge or other craft.

5. Apparatus according to Claim 4, wherein the rope-guide unit or each of the rope-guide units is arranged to be held in spaced relation ahead of the bows of the barge or craft.

6. Apparatus according to Claim 4 or 5, wherein the said assembly of struts comprises first and second struts, wherein the rope-guide unit is rigidly connected to one end of the first strut, the other end of which is pivotally mounted on the side of the barge or craft and wherein the second strut holds the first strut against angular displacement in a horizontal plane and is pivotally mounted at one end to the side of the barge or craft at a posi tion thereon spaced from the position at which the first strut is pivotally mounted and at the other end to an intermediate point on the first strut.

7. Apparatus according to Claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein the barge or craft comprises a horizontally arranged support rail extending along each side thereof, said rail being provided with spaced holes therealong to receive a spigot of a mounting for pivotally supporting the end of the or each strut mounted on that side of the barge or craft, whereby variations in the position of the or each floating rope-guide unit can be made to increase or reduce the catchment area of the rope.

8. Apparatus according to any of Claims 2 to 7, wherein the guide means of the or each floating rope-guide unit comprises a rope-guide pulley which is self supporting in water.

9. Apparatus according to Claim 8, wherein the floating rope-guide unit comprises a frame supporting two stabilising floats and the rope-guide pulley arranged in non-linear spaced relation. - ίο 10. Apparatus according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein the desorption station includes a rope drive and desorption unit through which the rope is advanced, the unit comprising a pair of drive rollers forming one or

10. More nips through which the rope passes and at which adsorbed material is squeezed from the rope.

11. Apparatus according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein a rope comprises a rope core to which is woven a nap of adsorbent material which preferentially adsorbs 15 oil·

12. Material recovery apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.