Hatch Ltd. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20150136238 | CONDUIT CONNECTION APPARATUS WITH PURGE GAS - An apparatus connects first and second conduits that convey a flow of gas. The apparatus includes a first flange element fixed to the first conduit, and a second flange element fixed to the second conduit. The flange elements are coupled together to permit fluid communication in an internal environment between the first and second conduits. At least one port is intermediate the flange elements to deliver a flow of purge gas therebetween. The at least one port may be located within a purge gas channel arranged in one of the flange elements. A pressure gradient of the flow of purge gas may substantially prevent at least one of fluid egress from the internal environment and fluid ingress from an external environment. Purge gas distribution systems and related methods are also described. | 05-21-2015 |
20150061201 | FLUIDIC CONTROL BURNER FOR PULVEROUS FEED - A burner is provided for a pulverous feed material. The burner has a structure that integrates the burner with a reaction vessel, and has an opening that communicates with the interior of the reaction vessel. The burner also has a gas supply channel to supply reaction gas through the opening into the reaction vessel, and a feed supply for delivering pulverous material to the reaction vessel. The burner also has a fluidic control system having at least one port capable of directing a stream of fluid at an angle to the direction of flow of the reaction gas so as to modify the flow of the reaction gas. In addition, components are provided to modify the swirl intensity and turbulence intensity of the reaction gas independently of the exit velocity. | 03-05-2015 |
20150050188 | MULTI-COMPARTMENT REACTOR AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING RETENTION TIME IN A MULTI-COMPARTMENT REACTOR - A method is disclosed for controlling retention time in a reactor, such as an autoclave, having a plurality of compartments separated by dividers with underflow openings. A retention time of the reaction mixture is calculated and compared with an optimal retention time, and the volumes of the reaction mixture in the compartments are adjusted while maintaining the flow rate of the reaction mixture, so as to change the retention time to a value which is closer to the optimal retention time. The reactor may include a level sensor in the last compartment for generating volume data; a control valve for controlling the liquid level in the last compartment; and a controller which receives volume data from the level sensor and controls operation of the control valve. | 02-19-2015 |
20140352922 | COOLING OF CHILL MOLDS USING BAFFLES - A chill mold is used to cool molten material to form a casting. A support holds the chill mold so that a bottom of the chill mold is elevated. A baffle is arranged to divert a generally horizontal flow of cooling air upwardly to impinge the bottom of the chill mold. A plurality of chill molds may be aligned generally in a row, and at least one fan may be arranged at an end of the row to direct the flow of cooling air underneath the chill molds. The size and the vertical position of the baffles may be varied along the row, so as to generally equalize convective cooling rates among the chill molds in the row. | 12-04-2014 |
20140352823 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF HANDLING AN OFF-GAS CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE - An uptake apparatus is arranged to extract a stream of off-gas containing carbon monoxide from a process vessel. At least one gas conditioning train receives and conditions the stream. An outlet expels at least a portion of the stream. A portion of the stream is separated to form a recycle stream. An eductor apparatus combines the stream with the recycle stream, to decrease the temperature and increase the static pressure of the stream. The stream is maintained at a positive gauge pressure. | 12-04-2014 |
20140352269 | DUST WASH SYSTEM WITH PURGE GAS - A chute receives contaminant gas-laden dust from a dust collector. At least one gas injector provides an upward flow of purge gas in the chute to release contaminant gas entrained with the dust. Downstream areas are maintained at positive pressure relative to upstream areas. A purge hopper arranged below the chute collects the dust. Dust handling apparatuses allow the upward flow of the purge and contaminant gases. Movable flaps in the dust handling apparatuses include perforations that may be capped to vary the gas flow rate. A dust discharge apparatus discharges washed dust from the purge hopper. | 12-04-2014 |
20140150607 | PROCESS FOR DIRECT REDUCTION OF IRON OXIDE - A process for direct reduction of iron oxide in a shaft furnace. The furnace has a pre-reduction zone near its uppermost portion, a metallization zone below the pre-reduction zone, an intermediate zone which separates the pre-reduction zone from the metallization zone and which includes a restriction to inhibit rich fuel gas from passing from the pre-reduction zone to the metallization zone, and a cooling zone below the metallization zone at the lowest portion of the furnace. The process includes feeding iron oxide to the furnace, passing the iron oxide successively downwardly through the pre-reduction zone, the transition zone, the metallization zone, and the cooling zone while passing rich fuel gas produced by external partial combustion with a sub-stoichiometric volume of air upwardly through the pre-reduction zone in counter-current flow so as to partially reduce the iron oxide, and passing reducing gas downwardly through the metallization zone in co-current flow so as to substantially complete the reduction of the iron oxide to metallic iron. The reducing gas is first pre-heated in a gas heater and then subjected to partial combustion with oxygen to further increase its temperature. The process includes removing a metallized iron product from the cooling zone. | 06-05-2014 |
20140116063 | ADVANCED COMBINED CYCLE SYSTEMS AND METHODS BASED ON METHANOL INDIRECT COMBUSTION - A methanol indirect combustion combined-cycle power generation apparatus and method. A liquid methanol input stream is evaporated to provide a gaseous methanol stream which is converted to syngas that is combusted in a gas turbine assembly to drive a first electrical generator and produce an exhaust gas. Heat from the exhaust gas of the gas turbine assembly is used to produce first and second steam streams. The first steam stream drives a first steam turbine and provides the heat required for converting the gaseous methanol stream to the syngas combustion stream. The second steam stream drives a second steam turbine and provides the heat required for evaporating the liquid methanol input stream. A second electrical generator is driven using at least one of the first and second steam turbines. | 05-01-2014 |
20130264285 | PROCESS AND FACILITY TO TREAT CONTAMINATED PROCESS WATER - Process and facility for treating an aqueous solution containing substantial concentrations of a variety of contaminants, including solids, semi-solids, colloids, complexes, oligomers, polyvalents, organics and monovalents, and which tend to form gels and scale precipitates when their concentration levels are increased during treatment of the aqueous solution, the process comprising the steps of: a) feeding the aqueous solution to an ultrafiltration (UF) plant and recovering therefrom an UF permeate reduced in such suspended solids, semi-solids and colloids; b) feeding the UF permeate obtained from step (a) to a nanofiltration (NF) plant and recovering therefrom an NF permeate reduced in such complexes, oligomers, polyvalents and organics; and feeding the NF permeate obtained from step (b) to a first reverse osmosis (RO) plant and recovering therefrom an RO permeate reduced in such monovalents. The process and facility may be used for treating process water from wet process phosphate acid production. | 10-10-2013 |
20130166084 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND CONTROLLER FOR MANAGING AND CONTROLLING A MICRO-GRID - A system, method and controller for managing and controlling a micro-grid network. The system includes a plurality of energy resources including at least one dispatchable energy resource and at least one intermittent energy resource, wherein the at least one of the energy resources is an energy storage element and at least one of the intermittent energy resources is responsive to environmental conditions to generate power, a controller configured to record operational constraints of the energy resources, obtain an environmental condition prediction and generate a component control signal based on the environmental condition prediction and the operational constraints corresponding to the energy resources. The controller is further configured to receive a network disturbance signal and generate a dynamic control signal based on such disturbances. | 06-27-2013 |
20130146514 | MEMBRANE TREATMENT/SEPARATION PLANT AND CONTROL SYSTEM - A membrane treatment plant having at least two stages ( | 06-13-2013 |
20120280439 | Burner With Velocity Adjustment For Flash Smelter - A burner for a flash smelting furnace. The burner has an adjustable nozzle to control the velocity of the combustion gas supply to the reaction shaft. The nozzle is defined by the burner injector and a surrounding structure that extends from the burner wind box through an opening in the burner block that integrates the burner with the furnace. The nozzle is adjusted by control means that is exterior of the wind box. | 11-08-2012 |
20120280438 | Burner and Feed Apparatus For Flash Smelter - A burner for a flash smelting furnace. The burner includes a distributor for receiving pulverous feed material from a plurality of feed pipes. The distributor has at least one curved deflector that directs the feed stream in an evenly distributed annulus into the sleeve of the burner. | 11-08-2012 |
20120280437 | Slit Lance Burner For Flash Smelter - A burner for a flash smelting furnace. The burner includes an injector having a sleeve for delivering pulverous feed material to the furnace and having a central lance within the sleeve to supply compressed air for dispersing the pulverous feed material in the reaction shaft of the furnace. The central lance has an annular slot at its tip for creating a substantially continuous air curtain. | 11-08-2012 |
20120271597 | FLASH TUBE AND FLASH VESSEL CONFIGURATION FOR PRESSURE LETDOWN - By appropriately designing a flash tube, spraying of abrasive slurry on the vessel walls and impinging the multiphase jet on bottom of the vessel are minimized. By appropriately designing a flash vessel, once the flash tube has been designed, a slurry pool is provided having a volume that is sufficient to dissipate the flash tube exit jet momentum and the mass of entrained carry-over products exiting from the vapor outlet is minimized. | 10-25-2012 |
20110174155 | METHOD FOR REMOVING SULFUR FROM A GAS STREAM - A method for removing elemental sulfur from a hot gas stream, such as an autoclave vent gas, while simultaneously cooling the gas stream. The method results in conversion of sulfur in the hot gas stream to the form of solid, non-sticky sulfur allotropes such as rhombic sulfur while avoiding formation of sticky sulfur allotropes such as monoclinic sulfur, thereby avoiding scaling and fouling of plant equipment. According the method, the hot gas stream is contacted with an aqueous medium containing a particulate material inside a quench vessel having a first inlet for the hot gas stream, a second inlet for the aqueous medium, and an outlet for removing a sulfur-containing liquid fraction from the vessel. At least a portion of the sulfur contained in the hot gas stream, along with other condensable materials, becomes incorporated into the aqueous medium and is subsequently drained from the vessel. The aqueous medium may comprise a slurry of tailings or other waste material, and the particulate matter contained in the aqueous medium may provide nucleation sites for the preferential formation of non-sticky solid forms of sulfur. | 07-21-2011 |
20110173885 | ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE GASIFICATION PROCESS AND SYSTEM - A fuel supply system for supplying pulverized feedstock to a gasifier includes a feedstock storage apparatus for storing pulverized feedstock. The feedstock storage apparatus operates at a first pressure. The fuel supply system also includes a mechanical conveyance apparatus linking the feedstock storage apparatus to a fuel distribution apparatus. The mechanical conveyance apparatus is operable to continuously convey the pulverized feedstock from the feedstock storage apparatus to the fuel distribution apparatus at a first flow rate. The fuel distribution apparatus operates at a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure. The fuel distribution apparatus includes at least one outlet communicably connected to at least one burner on the gasifier for transferring pulverized feedstock from the fuel distribution apparatus to the at least one burner. | 07-21-2011 |
20110146278 | POWER GENERATION PLANT AND METHOD OF GENERATING ELECTRIC ENERGY - A power generation plant and a method of generating electric energy from recovered heat during an industrial process that uses steam as a means of transferring energy. The method comprises: a) generating a first saturated steam in a first heat exchanger heated by a first source of recovered heat; b) feeding the first saturated steam into a first steam turbine generator, where the first steam turbine generator outputs exhaust steam; c) removing moisture from the exhaust steam with a moisture separator; d) superheating the moisture reduced exhaust steam from step c) in a main heat exchanger with a heat source; and e) feeding the superheated exhaust steam into a second steam turbine generator. The power generation plant comprises a first source of saturated steam, a first steam turbine generator, a moisture separator, a second source of saturated steam, a heat exchanger and a second steam turbine generator. | 06-23-2011 |
20110143296 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TEMPERATURE CONTROL IN A REACTOR VESSEL - A method and apparatus are disclosed for controlling a temperature within a reactor vessel such as an autoclave operating at elevated temperature and pressure. The apparatus includes a preheating vessel for preheating a feed material such as an aqueous slurry. The preheating vessel forms part of a preheating control system which provides the primary means of temperature control within the reactor vessel, and the reactor temperature is used as the setpoint for the preheating control system. The apparatus also comprises secondary means for heating and cooling the reactor. The feed material temperature is increased or decreased by the preheating control system, based on the reactor temperature. This is sufficient to heat or cool the reactor under most process conditions. Where the preheating control system is at or near its capacity for heating or cooling, the secondary heating or cooling means is activated to bring the reactor temperature within an optimum range. | 06-16-2011 |
20110133373 | APPARATUS FOR REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT OF A HINGED LID ON A METALLURGICAL TRANSPORT VESSEL - An apparatus for the removal and replacement of a lid on a metallurgical transport vessel such as a ladle or a torpedo car. The apparatus comprises a frame, means for supporting the frame such that the vessel may be moved into position thereunder, a linkage including at least one lifting member pivotally connected to the frame, and at least one actuator connected to the linkage. The actuator is operable to move the lifting member such that when the vessel is moved to a designated position below the apparatus, the lifting member can be moved by the actuator and linkage from a first position providing clearance above the vessel, through a curved path to an intermediate position where it engages the lid, providing a vertical lifting force and a horizontal hinge releasing force to the lid, and to a second position where the lid is raised to a sufficient height to clear the vessel. The lifting member may subsequently be moved back by means of the actuator and linkage through a reverse curved path to the first position, and thereby lower the lid back on to the vessel. | 06-09-2011 |
20100071793 | APPARATUS FOR STABILIZATION AND DECELERATION OF SUPERSONIC FLOW INCORPORATING A DIVERGING NOZZLE AND PERFORATED PLATE - An apparatus is disclosed for reducing pressure and velocity of a particulate-laden, supersonic vent gas stream from a pressure vessel such as an autoclave. The apparatus includes a diverging duct in which the vent gas expands, and a perforated plate located inside the diverging duct. The perforated plate provides an area reduction that increases back pressure and forces an upstream normal shock in the diverging duct, thereby bringing about a desired reduction in pressure and velocity. The perforated plate is comprised of a material, such as a ceramic, that is resistant to erosion by the abrasive particulate entrained in the high velocity vent gas. The perforated plate has a central portion provided with holes and an imperforate peripheral portion which is resiliently received between connection flanges of the duct. | 03-25-2010 |