More or less hydrocarbon is wasted by being drawn off with the extract, and to make up for this loss a supply may be introduced at intervals from a tank through the pipe, h.
By the practice of the process described above, the inventor is enabled to obtain a purer extract than by the ordinary process of treating substances with liquid hydrocarbon. At the same time the substances treated will be much more free from noxious odors than when the hydrocarbon is used over and over again without washing.
It is not essential strictly to adhere to the apparatus shown in Fig. 34, as the construction of the apparatus will, in fact, depend in a great measure on the locality in which it is to be situated.
Adamson’s Process for Removing Hydrocarbons from Substances which have been treated therewith. This process consists of washing from animal and vegetable substances the hydrocarbon which they retain after being treated therewith for the extraction of oils, fats, etc., and for other purposes.
Different apparatus may be employed for carrying out this process, and it may be conducted in the same vessel in which the material is treated with hydrocarbon.
The vessel, which is shown in Fig. 35, has been found to answer well for this purpose.
This vessel is furnished with a suitable detachable cover, a, and with two perforated or wire-gauze diaphragms, b and d, both extending across the interior of the vessel, one near the top and the other near the bottom of the same.
A steam-coil, B, communicating with any adjacent steam-generator, is contained in the vessel below the lower diaphragm, to vaporize the hydrocarbon, the vapor passing through the substance between the two diaphragms and out through a pipe, D, which passes through a condenser, E, the latter restoring the hydrocarbon to a liquid form, in which it is reconveyed to the vessel through a pipe, D´.
In practicing the washing process a pipe, m, to introduce water into the vessel, and one or more outlet-pipes, n n′, two in the present instance, are necessary. There may also be a pipe, p, through which air can be introduced into the vessel, under the circumstances explained hereafter.
When the treatment of the material in the vessel with hydrocarbon vapor or liquid hydrocarbon has been completed, steam is cut off from the coil B, the pipes D and D´ are closed, and the cover a may be removed.