Claims
- 1. A method for redispersing hydrocarbon sludge deposited in a crude oil storage tank containing crude oil and said hydrocarbon sludge, said crude oil storage tank having a manway in the side thereof covered by a normally closed gate valve, said method comprising the steps of:
- mounting on said gate view an isolation barrel open only at the front thereof and having an axially aligned packing gland in the rear end thereof and a drain line, said isolation barrel containing a crude oil circulator comprising a laterally elongate housing open at the rear end thereof and having upstanding rotatable nozzled outlet jets and nozzle turning means mounted thereon and also having independently rotatable tubular connecting means mounted on said rear opening thereof, said tubular connecting means including nozzle drive means operatively connected with said nozzle turning means and also having tubular casing turning means mounted therein and operatively connected with said nozzle drive means.
- inserting an initial joint of pipe through said packing gland, said joint of pipe having interconnective turning means mounted therein, coupling said joint of pipe to said tubular connecting means and connecting said interconnective turning means with said tubular casing turning means,
- opening said gate valve to establish communication between the interior of said storage tank and the interior of said isolation barrel,
- coupling to said initial joint of pipe additional joints of pipe, each of said joints of pipe containing interconnective turning means, and connecting each of said interconnective turning means with the next succeeding interconnective turning means thereby progressively moving said crude oil circulator through said open gate valve into said crude oil storage tank and to provide multi-joint support pipe means for supporting said crude oil circulator in said tank,
- continuing said additional coupling of joints of pipe to said multi-joint support pipe means until said crude oil circulator is approximately centrally positioned in said crude oil storage tank,
- fluidly interconnecting said drain line sequentially with drain line conduit means, filter means, filter conduit means and the suction side of a high pressure crude oil pump, fluidly interconnecting the discharge side of said high pressure pump with a conduit means fluidly connected to the rearmost of said joints of pipe,
- connecting the interconnective turning means of said rearmost of said joints of pipe with indexing power means for rotating said interconnective turning means, said tubular casing turning means and said nozzled outlet jets,
- actuating said high pressure crude oil pump to circulate crude oil from said crude oil storage tank through said isolation barrel, drain line, said filter means, said multi-joint support pipe means, said tubular connecting means, said hollow housing and said nozzled outlet jets back to said storage tank,
- said crude oil being ejected from said nozzled outlet jets at an outlet velocity within the range of about 200 to 300 ft. per second, and
- rotating said indexing power means to rotate said nozzled outlet jets at the rate of about 0.5 to 5 revolutions per hour and
- continuing said recycle of said crude oil through said nozzled outlet jets and continuing said rotation of said nozzled outlet jets until said sludge originally in said storage tank is substantially redispersed in said crude oil.
- 2. A method as in claim 1 wherein said crude oil is ejected from said nozzled outlet jets above the floor of said storage tank and into said hydrocarbon sludge in the form of a high velocity cone of ejected crude oil impinging on the floor of said storage tank.
- 3. A method as in claim 1 wherein the said additional coupling of joints of pipe to said multi-joint support pipe means is accomplished by:
- positioning a tripping rack in axial alignment with the elongate axis of said isolation barrel, said tripping rack comprising an elongate frame, reciprocating means carried by said frame for forward and backward movement and a tripping sled comprising push-pull coupling means mounted on said elongate frame in operative engagement with said reciprocating means,
- conducting an initial operation by moving said tripping sled to the rear of said frame, coupling a first additional joint of pipe with said push-pull coupling means and with the said tubular connecting means of said crude oil circulator and connecting said interconnective turning means of said first additional joint of pipe with said tubular casing turning means,
- moving said tripping sled forward along said tripping rack to thereby force said first additional joint of pipe through said packing gland into said isolation barrel and forcing said crude oil circulator further into said storage tank,
- conducting a succeeding operation by disconnecting said first additional joint of pipe from said push-pull coupling means and moving said tripping sled to the rear of said frame,
- coupling a next joint of pipe to said push-pull coupling means and said first additional joint of pipe and uniting the interconnective turning means of said next joint of pipe to the interconnective turning means of said first additional joint of pipe, and
- again moving said tripping sled forward along said tripping rack to thereby force said next joint of pipe through said packing gland into said isolation barrel and to thereby force said crude oil circulator still further into said storage tank, and
- repeating said succeeding operation until said multi-joint support pipe means has been formed and said circulating means is located adjacent the center of said crude oil storage tank.
- 4. A method as in claim 1 including the additional steps performed after said multi-joint pipe support means has been formed, and
- wherein said tripping sled also comprises an elbow-jointed tubular transition sub open at the front thereof and having pipe joining means mounted on said open front end and also having a high pressure packing gland at the rear end thereof having a turning rod extending therethrough, said elbow joint of said transition sub being fluidily interconnected with said pump discharge conduit means, and said indexing power means being operatively connected to said turning rod,
- said additional method steps comprising the additional steps of coupling the rearmost of said joints of pipe of said multi-joint support means to said transition sub and connecting the interconnective turning means of said rearmost joint of pipe with said turning rod,
- then actuating said high pressure crude oil pump to thereby inject crude oil under pressure through said elbow joint of said transition sub to said multi-joint support pipe means and
- actuating said indexing power means to rotate said turning rod and, hence, through said interconnective turning means, said independently rotatable tubular connecting means and said nozzle turning means to thereby rotate said nozzled outlet jets.
- 5. A method for redispersing hydrocarbon sludge deposited in a cylindrical crude oil storage tank containing crude oil and said hydrocarbon sludge, said crude oil storage tank having a nozzled rotatable outlet jet mounted therein adjacent the center thereof, said method comprising the steps of:
- removably positioning said nozzled rotatable outlet jet inside the tank through a conduit in a wall of the tank adjacent the bottom thereof;
- continuously recirculating a stream of substantially sludge-free crude oil into the storage tank through said rotatable outlet jets at an injection velocity of from about 200 to about 300 feet per second, while rotating said outlet jets about said storage tank at a rate of rotation of about 0.5 to 5.0 revolutions per hour, to thereby redisperse said hydrocarbon sludge in said crude oil, and
- continuing to recycle said crude oil through said rotating nozzled outlet jets until the hydrocarbon sludge initially present in said storage tank is substantially redispersed in said crude oil.
- 6. In a method wherein crude oil is stored in a cylindrical crude oil storage tank, whereby with the passage of time, the aromatic, asphaltic, naphthenic, and porphrynic components of said crude oil will agglomerate to form a hydrocarbon sludge that will accumulate at the bottom of the storage tank, the improved method for recovering said hydrocarbon sludge which comprises the steps of:
- removably positioning a pair of opposed rotatable nozzled outlet jets in said storage tank at about the center thereof adjacent said hydrocarbon sludge,
- continuously recycling and injecting said crude oil into said hydrocarbon sludge through said rotatable nozzled outlet jets at an injection velocity of from about 200 to about 300 feet per second,
- simultaneously rotating said outlet jets about said storage tank at a rate of rotation of about 0.5 to 5.0 revolutions per hour,
- to thereby commence the resuspension of said hydrocarbon sludge in said crude oil, and
- continuing to recycle said crude oil through said rotating nozzled recirculation nozzle until the hydrocarbon sludge initially present in said storage tank is substantially redispersed in said crude oil.
- 7. A method as in claim 6 also including the steps of: positioning a high pressure crude oil pump adjacent said crude oil storage tank,
- operatively interconnecting the discharge side of said crude oil pump with said rotatable, nozzled outlet jets,
- operatively interconnecting the suction side of said crude oil pump with the interior of said storage tank,
- actuating said crude oil pump to draw crude oil from said crude oil storage tank to the suction side of said crude oil pump, to pressure said crude oil in said high pressure crude oil pump and to recycle said pressured crude oil to said outlet jets in said described manner,
- positioning indexing power means adjacent said storage tank, operatively interconnecting said indexing power means with said rotatable outlet jets, and
- actuating said indexing power means to rotate said outlet jets in said described manner.
- 8. A method for recovering hydrocarbon sludge from a cylindrical crude oil storage tank, wherein aromatic, asphaltic, naphthenic and porphrynic components of said crude oil have with the passage of time, agglomerated to form a hydrocarbon sludge accumulated at the bottom of the storage tank, which comprises the steps of:
- removably positioning a pair of opposed rotatable nozzled outlet jets in said storage tank adjacent said hydrocarbon sludge,
- positioning a high pressure crude oil pump adjacent said crude oil storage tank,
- operatively interconnecting the discharge side of said crude oil pump with said rotatable, nozzled outlet jets,
- operatively interconnecting the suction side of said crude oil pump with the interior of said storage tank,
- actuating said crude oil pump to draw crude oil from said crude oil storage tank to the suction side of said crude oil pump, to pressure said crude oil in said high pressure crude oil pump and to recycle said pressured crude oil to said outlet jets to impact said crude against the hydrocarbon sludge to suspend such sludge in the crude oil,
- continuously recycling and impacting said crude oil against said hydrocarbon sludge through said rotatable nozzled outlet jets at an injection velocity of from about 200 to about 300 feet per second,
- simultaneously rotating said outlet jets about said storage tank at a rate of rotation of about 0.5 to 5.0 revolutions per hours to thereby commence the resuspension of said hydrocarbon sludge in said crude oil, and
- continuing to recycle said crude oil through said rotating outlet jets until the hydrocarbon sludge initially present in said storage tank is substantially redispersed in said crude oil.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of application Ser. No. 07/180,334, filed 4/11/88 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,933.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1361557 |
Jul 1974 |
GBX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
180334 |
Apr 1988 |
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