Patent Application
20100062094
The present invention relates to a molding machine for molding a gas hydrate by compression molding, and more specifically to a molding apparatus suitable for making pellets by compression molding of a gas hydrate in a high-pressure gas atmosphere.
Generally molding pellets by compressing powder adopts a molding apparatus having a pair of forming rolls having molding concavities on the surface thereof. As shown in
In the molding apparatus 1 having the above structure, the powder a is supplied to the forming rolls 6a and 6b by a screw transfer unit 16. The powder a is pressed and compacted in the molding concavities formed on the surface of the respective rolls 6a and 6b to become pellets P, which pellets P are then discharged from the discharge opening 3.
The applicant of the present invention has already proposed a method for increasing the filling rate of gas hydrate, for improving the stability and safety during transportation and storage of the gas hydrate, or for improving the handling of the gas hydrate loading/unloading through the procedure that a raw material gas, containing methane as a principal component, such as natural gas, is brought into gas-liquid contact with water, under a specified pressure and temperature condition (for example, 5.4 MPa and 4° C.), to thereby form the gas hydrate, which gas hydrate is then molded into pellets through the compression molding by a pair of rotary rolls in said pressure atmosphere (for example, Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2002-220353
When the above-described conventional molding apparatus is used for pelletizing a powder in a high-pressure atmosphere, since the raw material gas is a flammable gas or an ignitable gas like methane, there are requirements for providing each of bearings with a mechanical seal so as not to allow the leak of the high-pressure gas through said bearing parts, which results in an expensive molding apparatus.
The present invention has been perfected to solve the above conventional problems and has features of (1) a gas hydrate compression molding apparatus comprising: a hopper which holds gas hydrate formed by the reaction of a raw material gas with a raw material water under a high pressure; a pair of forming rolls positioned at the upper portion of an opening part of the hopper; and a screw transfer unit which supplies gas hydrate powder in said hopper to said forming rolls, wherein said forming rolls are positioned in a high-pressure vessel which can pressurize thereof to said gas hydrate-forming pressure; (2) the gas hydrate compression molding apparatus in which said screw transfer unit is positioned in said high-pressure vessel; (3) the gas hydrate compression molding apparatus in which a driving unit for driving said forming rolls is positioned in said high-pressure vessel; and (4) the gas hydrate compression molding apparatus in which a driving machine structuring the driving unit for driving said forming rolls and/or a driving machine for driving said screw transfer unit is a hydraulic motor.
According to the invention described in claim 1, since the forming rolls are positioned in the high-pressure vessel allowing pressurizing thereof to a gas hydrate-forming pressure, there is no need of applying expensive mechanical seal, and thus the utility cost can be reduced.
Furthermore, only a simple modification that the conventionally used molding machine is positioned in the high-pressure vessel allows the conventional molding machine to be used under a high-pressure under which the gas hydrate forms.
According to the invention described in claim 2, the screw transfer unit is positioned in the high-pressure vessel so that the screw shaft of the screw transfer unit does not penetrate through the high-pressure vessel. That is, there is no need of mounting a seal mechanism such as mechanical seal at a part where the screw shaft penetrates through the high-pressure vessel, which further suppresses the fabrication cost, and further prevents gas leak through the penetration part of the screw shaft.
According to the invention described in claim 3, since the driving unit for the forming rolls is positioned in the high-pressure vessel, the drive shaft of the driving unit does not penetrate through the high-pressure vessel. Accordingly, at the part where the drive shaft penetrates through the high-pressure vessel, seal mechanism such as mechanical seal need not be mounted, thus the cost increase is prevented, and the gas leak from said penetrating part is not generated.
According to the invention described in claim 4, the driving machine of the driving unit adopts a hydraulic motor so that there is not generated spark which is observed in electric motor, and thus there is no danger of ignition and explosion in the high-pressure vessel even in a high-pressure and flammable gas atmosphere.
The embodiments of the molding machine according to the present invention will be described below referring to
Into the slurry-forming apparatus 20 maintained to a specified pressure and temperature (for example, 5.4 MPa and 4° C.), a raw material gas g and a raw material water w are introduced, and an agitation method or a bubbling method is applied to bring the raw material gas g and the raw material water w into contact reaction, and to form a slurry h1 containing gas hydrate.
Then, said slurry is dewatered in the dewatering apparatus 21 to prepare a gas hydrate h2 in powder form containing large amounts of gas hydrate.
Said powdery gas hydrate h2 is supplied to the molding apparatus 22 to produce pellets P having approximate lengths ranging from 5 to 30 mm. The gas hydrate pellets P are cooled by the cooler 23, (for example, to about −20° C.), which are then depressurized to atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa) by the depressurizing apparatus 24. The depressurized pellets P are stored in a storage tank (not shown) positioned at the downstream side.
Next, the description will be given to the molding apparatus 22 of the gas hydrate, being applied to the gas hydrate production apparatus such as the one shown in
In
In such structured high-pressure vessel 25, a frame 32 is positioned. On the frame 32, there are mounted a molding machine 26, a synchronous unit 36, and a reduction gear 38.
A driving unit 40 which rotates the forming rolls 33a and 33b structuring said molding machine 26 is composed of an electric motor 41, the reduction gear 38, and the synchronous unit 36 equipped with a synchronous gear. A rotary shaft 42 of the electric motor 41 penetrates through a side wall 25a of said high-pressure vessel 25, and a mechanical seal 50 is provided at the penetrating part.
A screw transfer unit 43 is structured by a hopper 47 which holds the gas hydrate h2, and a screw 46 which supplies the gas hydrate h2 in the hopper 47. Said screw 46 is attached to a rotary shaft 45 of a hydraulic motor 44a located inside the high-pressure vessel 25. The hopper 47 of said screw transfer unit 43 has a guide 48 which introduces the gas hydrate h2 supplied from the supply opening 30 into the hopper 47.
In the molding apparatus 22 for the gas hydrate, having such structure, the internal pressure of the pressure vessel 25 is the same as that of said dewatering apparatus 21. Thus, the gas hydrate h2 supplied from the dewatering apparatus 21 can be smoothly supplied without ejection caused by a pressure difference.
The powdery gas hydrate h2 supplied from said dewatering apparatus 21 is supplied to the hopper 47 via the supply opening 30 and the guide 48. The gas hydrate h2 in the hopper 47 is fed under pressure in between the forming rolls 33a and 33b of the molding machine 26 by the screw transfer unit 43. The fed gas hydrate h2 under pressure is molded by compression molding in the molding concavities (not shown) to become the gas hydrate pellets P, which are then discharged from the discharge opening 31, and are stored in a storage tank or the like (not shown).
According to the example, since the rotary shaft penetrating through the high-pressure vessel 25 is located at only a single site of the electric motor 41 of the molding machine 26, the molding apparatus 22 can be fabricated at a low cost.
Furthermore, pellets can be produced without decomposing the gas hydrate in the high-pressure vessel 25, and without the leak of the gas hydrate therefrom.
In the molding apparatus 22 in the embodiment replaces, the electric motor is replaced by a hydraulic motor 44b, and further the hydraulic motor 44b is positioned in the high-pressure vessel 25.
According to Example 2, since the rotary shaft penetrating through the high-pressure vessel 25 is only a single site of the rotary shaft 45 of the electric motor 42 of the screw transfer unit 43, the seal part is located at a single site. Consequently, the molding apparatus 22 can be fabricated at a low cost.
Furthermore, by switching the electric motor as the driving machine to the hydraulic motor, a possibility of explosion in the high-pressure vessel 25 is eliminated even if the internal atmosphere is flammable gas such as natural gas containing methane as a principal component.
In the molding apparatus 22 in the embodiment, the driving unit 40 for the forming rolls 33a and 33b and the screw transfer unit 43, are positioned in the high-pressure vessel 25, and further positions the driving unit for driving the screw 46 of said screw transfer unit 43 are also positioned in the high-pressure vessel 25. Said driving unit is the hydraulic motor 44a.
According to Example 3, since there is no rotary shaft penetrating through the high-pressure vessel 25, and there is no need of the seal part as in the above examples, the molding apparatus 22 can be fabricated at a low cost.
The embodiments described in said Examples 1 to 3 are only examples, and the present invention is not limited to these examples. A core of the present invention is the technological concept to reduce the mechanical seal parts by locating at least the driving motor in the high-pressure vessel, and it is clear that modifications can be possible within the range not to depart from such concept.
That is, the mechanical seal part can be eliminated by positioning the driving unit 40 of the forming rolls 33a and 33b, the screw transfer unit 43, and the driving unit 44a of the screw transfer unit 43 in the high-pressure vessel 25, and thus the molding apparatus 22 can come to be fabricated at a low cost.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-095674 | Mar 2007 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2008/056245 | 3/28/2008 | WO | 00 | 9/25/2009 |
