A graphene preparing apparatus for exfoliating graphite includes a high-pressure water pump for generating a high-pressure flow of water, a waterjet nozzle for receiving the water and for generating a pulsed or cavitating waterjet, a graphite supply vessel having a supply duct for supplying graphite powder, an exfoliation chamber that has a first inlet for receiving the waterjet and a second inlet for receiving the graphite powder, an outlet through which a graphite slurry is expelled from the exfoliation chamber, a filtering unit downstream of the exfoliation chamber for separating graphene from the slurry and a graphene collection tank for collecting the graphene.

A method for algae disruption includes: a thermal treatment of microalgae belonging to Heterokontophyta at a pH of 3.5 or more and 9.5 or less and a temperature of 40° C. or more and 65° C. or less; and a physical treatment of the microalgae using a high pressure dispersion apparatus, the physical treatment following the thermal treatment.

A method of processing a heterogeneous material includes entraining heterogeneous particles into a fluid stream. Each of the heterogeneous particles comprises a liquid portion and a solid portion. The fluid stream is passed through at least one adjustable nozzle, and is impacted to dissociate the liquid from the solid. A method of separating oil from solid particles includes mixing oil-coated solid particles with water to form a slurry, passing a first portion of the slurry through a first nozzle, and passing a second portion of the slurry through a second nozzle such that the second portion of the slurry intersects the first portion of the slurry to separate the oil from the particles.

The present invention relates to a method of cleaning solids to be free of, or separating solids from, viscous materials and in some cases other solids such as, but not limited to resins and other coatings, foreign debris, clays, silts, contaminated water or chemicals and in other cases separating some liquids form some other liquids. Also disclosed are systems to accomplish such.

An apparatus and process mechanically remove hydrocarbons and other contaminants from solids through high energy slurry impact with a stationary plate or through high energy slurry impact of two or more slurry streams. In addition to the mechanical process, a gas additive, such as CO.sub.2, in solid, liquid or gas form, can be introduced into the slurry stream. The presence of gas additive can aid in the liberation of the contaminant. The process can increase efficiencies, reduce costs and improve thoroughness of contaminate cleaning in conjunction with aqueous pressure and sheer energy.

A comminution system for heterogeneous materials includes pumps, a source of liquid in fluid communication with the pumps, a source of heterogeneous material, a mixer to combine the heterogeneous material and the liquid, and nozzles in fluid communication with the pumps, respectively. The pumps are in straight-line alignment with the nozzles. The nozzles receiving the heterogeneous material combined with the liquid direct the combined slurry to an impact zone where the fractions of the heterogeneous material are disassociated.

In consideration of increasing throughput rate of a stable operating process as well as making the process energy-efficient, the aim is to optimise a fluidised bed opposed jet mill and a dedicated process to produce ultrafine particles from a feed material of low bulk density with a housing in vertical design, with a product feed point and a product discharge, with a grinding zone located in the lower area of the housing which has grinding nozzles spaced evenly around the circumference whose jets intersect at one central point and with a classifying device installed in the upper area of the housing. This is achieved by the feed material dosed to the mill from the bottom into the mill sump as a gas-particle mixture, whereby a deflector hood is located above the feed point and below the grinding nozzle level, and the grinding gas nozzles designed to be flush with the walls.

A device and method for counter collision treatment. The device includes: first and second nozzles oppositely disposed so as to inject jets of a highly pressurized fluid into a body protective ring; the injection directions of the first and second nozzles are determined so as to intersect with an angle at one point located in front of the nozzle orifices thereof. Further, the jets from the first and second nozzles are caused to collide with each other to thereby effect homogenization of the fluid by impact-fragmentation. Yet further, one of the first and second nozzles is provided with a turning mechanism for enabling the nozzle to turn around the fixed injection direction as the axis of the turn while keeping the injection direction unchanged.

A system and method for dry ablation beneficiation of ore. The system comprises a nozzle to emit an air stream, and a feeder to provide ore particles for entraining in the air stream and colliding. The ore comprises gangue grains bound together with a cementing material. The cementing material comprises a desired material. The collisions are controlled to help preferentially break the cementing material over breaking the bonds holding a gangue grain together. The system also comprises a classifier to separate broken cementing material from the remaining material (which includes gangue grains) based on size. The method comprises entraining the ore particles in an air stream and colliding to preferentially break the cementing material. The ore particles may be collided with each other or a surface. The broken cementing materials are then separated from the remaining materials (which includes gangue grains). The enriched ore is the separated cementing material.

An apparatus and a method are for separating a plastic-based insulation material from a concrete-based constructional element, to which the insulation material is attached. The apparatus has at least one fluid-jetting device which is in fluid communication with a pressure-generating device to produce a fluid jet with a pressure sufficient to release the insulation material from the constructional element. The apparatus is configured to allow relative motion between the fluid-jetting device and the constructional element.