1. A system for introducing gas into a slurry disposed in a tank, said system comprising:
an impeller disposed in the tank for agitating the slurry, and
a stationary lance disposed on an outflow side of the impeller, the lance including
(i) a conduit through which the gas passes, the conduit having an outlet formed therein that is generally directed away from the impeller, and (ii) at least one vane coupled to the conduit.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the lance is spaced apart from the impeller.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one vane is a single, approximately planar blade.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one vane converts at least a portion of a swirling flow from the impeller into longitudinal flow.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one vane is a pair of vanes disposed on opposing sides of the lance, a first one of the pair of vanes is pitched relative to a second one of the pair of vanes such that the vanes have an orientation opposing the direction of swirling flow of the impeller.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the vanes convert a portion of the swirling flow into longitudinal flow.
7. The system of claim 5 wherein the vanes are approximately planar.
8. The system of claim 5 wherein each vane is relatively thin at a leading edge and a trailing edge and is relatively thick therebetween.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein the conduit includes a main supply pipe, an elbow, and an outlet portion, and the gas outlet is disposed in the outlet portion.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein the outlet portion is approximately parallel to an impeller axis of rotation.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein the impeller axis of rotation is pitched approximately 10\xb0 to approximately 15\xb0 below horizontal.
12. The system of claim 9 wherein the direction of the gas outlet is substantially horizontal.
13. The system of claim 9 wherein the elbow has an inside radius equal to or greater the internal diameter of the main supply pipe.
14. The system of claim 9 wherein the vane has a length about two to about four times the internal diameter of the main supply pipe.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein the vane length is about twice the pipe internal diameter.
16. The system of claim 14 wherein the vane has a width about three to about five times the pipe internal diameter.
17. The system of claim 16 wherein the width is approximately four times the pipe internal diameter.
18. The system of claim 9 wherein a centerline of the outlet portion is offset from an impeller axis of rotation by a distance R that is approximately 25% to 100% of the impeller diameter.
19. The system of claim 18 wherein the distance R is approximately 35% to approximately 45% of the impeller diameter.
20. The system of claim 18 wherein the distance R is approximately 38% of the impeller diameter.
21. The system of claim 18 wherein the main supply pipe is spaced apart from the impeller by approximately one third to approximately two thirds the impeller diameter.
22. The system of claim 18 wherein the main supply pipe is spaced apart from the impeller by approximately one-half the impeller diameter D.
23. The system of claim 9 wherein the at least one vane is connected to the horizontal portion of the conduit.
24. The system of claim 23 wherein the main supply pipe is a downcomer that is approximately vertical.
25. The system of claim 1 wherein the conduit includes an approximately horizontal portion, said portion terminating to form the gas outlet.
26. The system of claim 1 wherein the gas lance outlet is offset from a longitudinal center line of the agitator.
27. The system of claim 1 wherein the slurry comprises calcium sulfite in a flue gas desulfurization process.
28. A method of injecting gas into a slurry, including the steps of:
(a) providing a tank containing the slurry;
(b) providing an agitator that includes an impeller;
(c) providing a stationary gas lance that is disposed in the tank on an outflow side of the impeller, the gas lance including an outlet that is generally directed away from the impeller and at least one vane;
(d) injecting gas into the tank through the gas lance; and
(e) rotating the impeller to create flow of slurry over the gas lance.
29. The method of claim 28 wherein the vanes promote local flow generally away from the impeller proximate the gas lance outlet, thereby diminishing flooding of the impeller.
30. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of rotating the impeller creates swirling outflow from the impeller, the vanes increase the longitudinal component of the swirling outflow proximate the gas lance outlet.
31. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of providing the gas lance includes disposing the gas lance near the impeller at a location that creates impeller flooding when employing a straight, substantially vertical lance.
32. The method of claim 28 wherein the at least one vane is a single, approximately planar blade.
33. The method of claim 30 wherein the at least one vane is a single, approximately planar blade.
34. The method of claim 28 wherein the at least one vane is a pair of vanes disposed on opposing sides of the lance, a first one of the pair of vanes is pitched relative to a second one of the pair of vanes such that the vanes have an orientation opposing the direction of swirling flow of the impeller.
35. The method of claim 30 wherein the at least one vane is a pair of vanes disposed on opposing sides of the lance, a first one of the pair of vanes is pitched relative to a second one of the pair of vanes such that the vanes have an orientation opposing the direction of swirling flow of the impeller.
36. The method of claim 28 wherein the slurry comprises calcium sulfite in a flue gas desulfurization process.
37. The method of claim 28 wherein the gas lance is spaced apart from the impeller.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate, comprising:
non-volatile solids present in an amount ranging from about 20% to about 70% of the ink concentrate, the non-volatile solids including encapsulated pigment particles having a particle size ranging from about 500 nm to about 20 \u03bcm, and a viscosity modifier; and
a balance of a liquid composition, the liquid composition including a carrier;
wherein the concentrate is dispersible in an ink vehicle to form a print-ready liquid electrophotographic ink having the non-volatile solids present in an amount ranging from about 0.5% to 5% of the print-ready liquid electrophotographic ink.
2. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 1 wherein the viscosity modifier is chosen from erucamide and aliphatic acids having 6 to 50 carbon atoms.
3. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 1 wherein the particle size ranges from about 500 nm to about 5 \u03bcm.
4. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 1 wherein the pigment particles are chosen from inorganic pigment particles, organic pigment particles, and combinations thereof.
5. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 4 wherein the pigment particles are chosen from metallic pigment particles, fluorescent pigment particles, opalescent pigment particles, and combinations thereof.
6. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 1 wherein the carrier is an oil-based carrier.
7. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 1 wherein the carrier is chosen from perchloroethylene, halocarbons, cyclohexane, dodecane, mineral oil, isoparaffinic fluids, siloxanes, and mixtures thereof.
8. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 2 wherein the aliphatic acid is chosen from lauric acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and cis-5-dodecenoic acid.
9. The liquid electrophotographic ink concentrate as defined in claim 1 wherein the liquid composition further includes a dispersant chosen from polyisobutylene succinimide amines, sodium di-2-ethylhexylsulfosuccinate, dioctyl sulfosuccinate, fluorosurfactants, Lecithin, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide.
10. An ink system, comprising:
a concentrate cartridge having therein the ink concentrate as defined in claim 1; and
a vehicle cartridge having therein the ink vehicle that disperses the ink concentrate when mixed therewith.
11. The ink system as defined in claim 10 wherein the viscosity modifier is chosen from erucamide and aliphatic acids having 6 to 50 carbon atoms.