An oil skimming device for the removal of oil located at the surface of a body of water includes a float, at least one skimming surface, a sorbent material, at least one scraper, and a motor. The float is arranged such that the device rests on the surface of the body of water from which the oil is to be removed. The at least one skimming surface is rotatable about an axis such that when the device is floating in the water a portion of the ridged skimming surface is above and a portion of the skimming surface is below the water surface. The sorbent material is removably attached to and substantially covers the skimming surface. The sorbent material is configured to rotate with the skimming surface and to sorb oil as the skimming surface is rotated.

A cavitation reactor having a pulse valve for receiving an input fluid flow and generating a pulsed output flow that is provided to the input of a resonance chamber, such as a tube. The pulse valve uses a shaft with a number of regularly spaced lands to form fluid conduits between an input port and the output port connected to the resonance tube to cause fluid communication between the input and output ports to be regularly opened and closed, thereby producing a pulsed output that drives the formation of resonance waves in the resonance chamber. The shaft is rotated at a suitable frequency to produce cavitation bubbles that collapse in the resonance chamber without damaging the valve shaft.

An oil spill recovery vessel (10) is provided that comprises a catamaran bow section (12) with twin hulls between which an oil skimmer unit (11) is arranged for displacement between a lowered, operating, position in oil-polluted water and a raised, non-operational, position clear of the water. Aft of the catamaran bow section (12) is a trimaran main section (13) made up of a central hull interposed between two outer hulls formed by aft continuations of the twin hulls of the catamaran bow section (12); the three hulls of the trimaran main section have conjoined upper portions. A propulsion unit (53) is operative to move the vessel (10) forward at slow speed for skimming operations, and, with the skimmer unit (11) in its raised position, at a fast speed in which the vessel planes on its trimaran main section (13).

Deep desulfurization of hydrocarbon feeds containing undesired organosulfur compounds to produce a hydrocarbon product having low levels of sulfur, i.e., 15 ppmw or less of sulfur, is achieved by hydrotreating the feed under mild conditions, and separating the hydrotreated effluent into an aromatic-rich fraction which contains a substantial amount of the aromatic refractory and sterically hindered sulfur-containing compounds, and an aromatic-lean fraction. The aromatic-rich fraction is contacted with isomerization catalyst, and the isomerized aromatic-rich fraction is recycled to the mild hydrotreating process.

A cavitation reactor having a pulse valve for receiving an input fluid flow and generating a pulsed output flow that is provided to the input of a resonance chamber, such as a tube. The pulse valve uses a shaft with a number of regularly spaced lands to form fluid conduits between an input port and the output port connected to the resonance tube to cause fluid communication between the input and output ports to be regularly opened and closed, thereby producing a pulsed output that drives the formation of resonance waves in the resonance chamber. The shaft is rotated at a suitable frequency to produce cavitation bubbles that collapse in the resonance chamber without damaging the valve shaft.

A method of recovering a bead support from an emulsion includes supplying an aqueous surfactant solution into a centrifuge tube; supplying a hydrophobic liquid over the surfactant solution in the centrifuge tube, wherein a ratio of the volume of the aqueous surfactant solution to the volume of the hydrophobic liquid is not greater than 0.5; and applying an emulsion over the hydrophobic liquid while centrifuging, the emulsion comprising a dispersed aqueous phase including the bead support, the emulsion breaking and material of the dispersed phase preferentially partitioning to the surfactant solution.

A system includes a vessel containing a crude oil inlet for introducing crude oil into the vessel; a fixed super-hydrophobic mesh subsystem comprising a fixed super-hydrophobic mesh; an inductor cup set system comprising at plurality of inductor cups, each of the plurality of inductor cups comprising a primary coil and a secondary coil, the inductor cups to determine an amount of water in the crude oil based on a comparison of the induced voltage between the primary coil and the secondary coil; a movable super-hydrophobic mesh subsystem comprising a super-hydrophobic mesh coupled to at least one stepper motor, the stepper motor to rotate the mesh by a predefined angle based on the comparison of the induced voltage determined by the inductor cups; and a metal grid subsystem comprising a metal grid electrically coupled to a transformer residing outside of the vessel, the metal grid to electrostatically dehydrate the crude oil.

Deep desulfurization of hydrocarbon feeds containing undesired organosulfur compounds to produce a hydrocarbon product having low levels of sulfur, i.e., 15 ppmw or less of sulfur, is achieved by hydrotreating the feed under mild conditions, and separating the hydrotreated effluent into an aromatic-rich fraction which contains a substantial amount of the aromatic refractory and sterically hindered sulfur-containing compounds, and an aromatic-lean fraction. The aromatic-rich fraction is contacted with isomerization catalyst, and the isomerized aromatic-rich fraction is recycled to the mild hydrotreating process.

A cavitation reactor having a pulse valve for receiving an input fluid flow and generating a pulsed output flow that is provided to the input of a resonance chamber, such as a tube. The pulse valve uses a shaft with a number of regularly spaced lands to form fluid conduits between an input port and the output port connected to the resonance tube to cause fluid communication between the input and output ports to be regularly opened and closed, thereby producing a pulsed output that drives the formation of resonance waves in the resonance chamber. The shaft is rotated at a suitable frequency to produce cavitation bubbles that collapse in the resonance chamber without damaging the valve shaft.

A mixer settler system is disclosed. The system comprises a mixer [110] configured for receiving an organic phase and an aqueous phase, the mixer [110] being further configured to maintain the organic phase and the aqueous phase in a single unstable emulsion phase, wherein mass transfer occurs between said organic phase and said aqueous phase; and, a column settler [120] which is configured to receive a single unstable emulsion phase from the mixer [110] via an emulsion inlet [125] and is also configured to separate the single unstable emulsion phase into a stable organic phase and a stable aqueous phase by virtue of coalescence; the column settler further comprising an organic outlet [121] above the emulsion inlet [125] and an aqueous outlet [123] below the emulsion inlet [125]; the column settler [120] further discouraging mass transfers within the unstable emulsion phase and further promoting coalescence of each of said stable organic phase and stable aqueous phase. A method of settling two immiscible liquids is further disclosed. The method comprises providing a mixer [110] configured for receiving an organic phase and an aqueous phase; maintaining the organic phase and the aqueous phase in a single unstable emulsion phase using the mixer [110], wherein mass transfer occurs between said organic phase and said aqueous phase; providing a column settler [120] which is configured to receive a single unstable emulsion phase from the mixer [110]; sending the single unstable emulsion phase to the column settler [120]; and separating the single unstable emulsion phase into a stable organic phase and a stable aqueous phase within the column settler [120] by virtue of coalescence.