US 11,813,575 B2
Subsea seawater filtration apparatus
Andrei Strikovski, Spring, GA (US); Janardhan Davalath, Spring, TX (US); Abhishek Shah, Cypress, TX (US); Loreen Ople Villacorte, Cypress Cypress, TX (US); Paul Verbeek, Velp (NL); and Thomas Krebs, Voorhout (NL)
Filed by FMC Technologies, Inc., Houston, TX (US)
Filed on Apr. 18, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/723,355.
Application 17/723,355 is a division of application No. 16/619,072, abandoned, previously published as PCT/US2017/038752, filed on Jun. 22, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0241729 A1, Aug. 4, 2022
Int. Cl. B01D 61/02 (2006.01); B01D 63/06 (2006.01); B01D 61/08 (2006.01); B01D 65/02 (2006.01); B01D 65/08 (2006.01); C02F 1/44 (2023.01); C02F 1/76 (2023.01); C02F 103/08 (2006.01)
CPC B01D 63/06 (2013.01) [B01D 61/026 (2022.08); B01D 61/027 (2013.01); B01D 61/08 (2013.01); B01D 65/02 (2013.01); B01D 65/08 (2013.01); C02F 1/442 (2013.01); C02F 1/76 (2013.01); B01D 2311/12 (2013.01); B01D 2311/2649 (2013.01); B01D 2313/04 (2013.01); B01D 2313/08 (2013.01); B01D 2313/18 (2013.01); B01D 2313/20 (2013.01); B01D 2319/025 (2013.01); B01D 2319/04 (2013.01); B01D 2321/08 (2013.01); B01D 2321/168 (2013.01); C02F 2103/08 (2013.01); C02F 2303/16 (2013.01); C02F 2303/20 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A filtration apparatus which comprises:
a tubular casing which includes a longitudinal axis and first and second casing ends;
a plurality of partition plates which are positioned in the casing and are sealed thereto to thereby define a plurality of axially successive chambers within the casing, including an intake collection chamber between a first of said partition plates and the first casing end, a discharge collection chamber between a second of said partition plates and the second casing end, and a reject collection chamber opposite the second partition plate from the second casing end;
a plurality of elongated filtration membrane stacks which are positioned side-by-side in the casing generally parallel to the longitudinal axis, each filtration membrane stack comprising an intake end which is fluidly connected to the intake collection chamber, a discharge end which is fluidly connected to the reject collection chamber, and a permeate channel which extends between the intake and discharge ends and is fluidly connected to the discharge collection chamber;
an intake pipe which is connected to the intake collection chamber;
a discharge pipe which is connected to the discharge collection chamber; and
a reject pipe which is connected to the reject collection chamber;
wherein a fluid to be filtered is communicated to the intake collection chamber through the intake pipe and is separated by the filtration membrane stacks into a permeate which is discharged from the discharge collection chamber through the discharge pipe and a reject fluid which is discharged from the reject collection chamber through the reject pipe;
wherein each filtration membrane stack is comprised of a plurality of filtration membranes arranged end-to-end, wherein the plurality of filtration membrane stacks together define a plurality of axially successive sets of radially adjacent filtration membranes, and wherein the filtration membranes of each set of radially adjacent filtration membranes are sealed to corresponding holes in a respective partition plate; and
wherein each filtration membrane comprises an inlet end and an outlet end, wherein each filtration membrane is sealed to its corresponding hole between the inlet and outlet ends, wherein the outlet end of each filtration membrane is spaced apart from an adjacent partition plate located closer to the second casing end, and wherein, with the exception of the filtration membranes in the set of radially adjacent filtration membranes located closest to the second casing end, the outlet end of each filtration membrane in each set of radially adjacent filtration membranes is in fluid communication with the inlet end of each filtration membrane in a successive set of radially adjacent filtration membranes located closer to the second casing end.