II New Patents

5085085 5085782

D I R E C T I O N A L S E D I M E N T A N D P O L L U T I O N M O N I T O R

P R O C E S S F O R C O N T R O L L I N G T H E P H OF A B R I N E

Roger Anderson

A directional sediment and pollution monitor adapted to be positioned in the body of water. A baffle is positioned in the upper, open end of each collecting tube for minimizing turbulence in the collecting tube and to inhibit the escape of materials. Means are also provided for collecting samples at short time intervals, for measuring the compass heading of the framework structure and collecting tubes, and for measuring and recording changes in the compass heading over short and long interval of time.

5085156

C O M B U S T I O N P R O C E S S

Owen W Dykema assigned to TransAlta Resources Investment Corporation

Darrell L Gallup, Manuel E Obando assigned to Union Oil Company of California

In the processing of a geothermal brine and the recovery of heat therefrom, there are produced a non-condensable gas stream containing hydro- gen sulfide and carbon dioxide and a liquid stream comprising a condensate of steam derived from the brine. In accordance with the present invention, the noncondensable gases are introduced into the condensate in the presence of an oxidizing agent to form a gas-liquid mixture. The mixture is maintained at an alkaline pH for a time sufficient for a substantial portion of the hydrogen sulfide to be oxidized. Thereafter, the mixture is introduced into a gas-liquid separa- tion zone for separate recovery of a gas stream comprising a major amount of carbon dioxide and substantially free of hydrogen sulfide. Ad- vantageously, the recovered gas stream is recy- cled to the geothermal brine process to reduce the pH of the brine and its scaling potential.

A combustion process for nitrogen- or for sulphur- and nitrogen-bearing fuels wherein fuel combustion is divided, by staged oxygen (pre- ferably in the form of air) injection, into at least two combustion zones. The first combustion zone involves providing fuel-rich stoichiometric conditions under which nitrogen chemically bound in the fuel (i.e. fuel-bound nitrogen) is substantially converted to molecular nitrogen. The second (final) combustion zone comprises at least two stages. In the first stage of the final combustion zone, combustion products from the first combustion zone are further conbusted un- der a condition of fuel-rich stoichiometry, pre- ferably at an oxygen/fuel stoichiometric ratio of from about 0.08 to about 1.0 and at a tempera- ture of less than about 2200 K. In the second stage of the final combustion zone, combustion products from the first stage are combusted at an oxygen/fuel stoichiometric ratio of greater than about 1.0 and at a temperature of less than about 1500 K. In this final zone, fuel combustion is completed while formation of new thermal NOx is substantially prevented. Thus, the process may be used to reduce emissions of undesirable nitrogenous compounds (e.g. NOx) which would ordinarily be formed during completion of fuel combustion. The process is particularly ap- propriate for use with the fuel-rich gases from a burner designed to control air pollutants arising from sulphur and nitrogen in the fuel.

5085843

M E T H O D O F D E S U L P H U R I Z I N G H O T W A S T E G A S

Stig Rasmussen, Bjarne Rasmussen, Karsten S Felsvang, Gadstrup, Denmark assigned to A/S Niro Atomizer

A desulphurization process, in which acid com- ponents of waste gas are removed by spray drying absorption, using an aqueous suspension of slaked lime or limestone as absorbent with recycling of part of the reaction product to the absorbent, is controlled on the basis of deter- mination of the chloride content of the aqueous suspension including recycled reaction product. The chloride content of the absorbent is used as the basis for (a) controlling the amount of chloride in the aqueous suspension to such a value that a specific chloride content of the spray dried product is between 1 and 7% by weight, and, within this range is related to the difference between the temperature of the desulphurized waste gas and the adiabatic saturation tempera- ture thereof, and/or (b) for controlling the quan- tity of water evaporated by the spray drying, which is also related to the set forth chloride con- tent, to change the difference between the tern-