Methods and systems for heating and manipulating fluids

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for heating and manipulating a fluid to heat the fluid, evaporate water from the fluid, concentrate the fluid, separate the fluid into fractions; and/or pasteurize the fluid, comprising a closed-loop heating subsystem coupled to a primary fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger, and one or more fluid manipulation subsystems also coupled to the primary fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of concentrating a fluid, comprising:
 providing a closed-loop heating subsystem comprising a thermal energy device, a fluid circulation pump, a first path through a fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger, all configured to heat and circulate a first fluid to less than its atmospheric boiling point;   providing a fluid concentrating subsystem comprising a flash tank, a second path through the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger and a condensing heat exchanger;   pumping a second fluid through the second path in the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger;   transferring heat from the first fluid to the second fluid in the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger;   flashing the second fluid into its liquid and vapor phases in the flash tank to evaporate at least a portion of water from the second fluid;   drawing the second fluid vapor from the flash tank into the condensing heat exchanger to condense the vapor to liquid by transferring heat from the vapor; and   removing a portion of the liquid phase from the flash tank as concentrated fluid when a pre-determined property of the liquid phase is reached.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the thermal energy device is selected from the group consisting of: a direct-fired, hydrocarbon-fueled boiler; a rotary heating device driven by an internal combustion engine; and a Diesel-Electric generator set powering an electric boiler. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 operating the flash tank at less than atmospheric pressure.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 preheating the second fluid by transferring heat from the concentrated fluid.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the condensing heat exchanger is a fluid-to-fluid condensing heat exchanger and further comprising:
 providing a retention area holding a quantity of the second fluid;   extracting a portion of the second fluid from the retention area to be pumped to the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger; and   using another portion of the second fluid in the retention area to cool the vapor phase in the condensing heat exchanger.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , comprising
 operating the condensing heat exchanger at less than atmospheric pressure.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second fluid is diluted completion fluid and the concentrated fluid is a completion fluid. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second fluid is produced water and the concentrated fluid is a concentrated brine solution. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 withdrawing a portion of the liquid phase from the flash tank;   determining a property of the withdrawn liquid phase; and   mixing the withdrawn liquid phase with the incoming second fluid.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 using the property determined from the withdrawn liquid to control the removal of the portion of the liquid phase from the flash as concentrated fluid.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the condensing heat exchanger is an air-to-fluid condensing heat exchanger. 
     
     
         12 . A fluid concentrating system, comprising:
 a closed-loop heating subsystem comprising a thermal energy device, a fluid circulation pump, a first path through a fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger, all configured to heat and circulate a first fluid to less than its atmospheric boiling point;   a fluid concentrating subsystem comprising:
 a second path through the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger; 
 a pump for pumping a second fluid through the second path in the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger to transfer heat from the first fluid to the second fluid in the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger; 
 a flash tank having an orifice through which the heated second fluid is flashed into its liquid and vapor phases to evaporate at least a portion of water from the second fluid;, 
 a condensing heat exchanger to condense vapor withdrawn from the flash tank to liquid by transferring heat from the vapor; and 
 an extraction system for removing a portion of the liquid phase from the flash tank as concentrated fluid when a pre-determined property of the liquid phase is reached. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the thermal energy device is selected from the group consisting of: a direct-fired, hydrocarbon-fueled boiler; a rotary heating device driven by an internal combustion engine; and an Diesel-Electric generator set powering an electric boiler. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 A vacuum system to operate the flash tank at less than atmospheric pressure.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a fluid-to-fluid preheating heat exchanger for preheating the second fluid by transferring heat from the extracted concentrated fluid to the incoming second fluid.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a retention area holding a quantity of the second fluid; and   wherein the condensing heat exchanger is a fluid-to-fluid condensing heat exchanger for transferring heat from the vapor to portion of the second fluid from the retention area.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising
 a vacuum system for operating the condensing heat exchanger at less than atmospheric pressure.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the second fluid is diluted completion fluid and the concentrated fluid is a completion fluid. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the second fluid is produced water and the concentrated fluid is a concentrated brine solution. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a liquid phase flow path between the liquid phase in the flash tank and a second fluid inlet to the fluid-to-fluid heat exchanger;   a device for determining a property of the liquid phase in the liquid phase flow path.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , further comprising:
 a control signal from the property-determining device to the extraction pump to control the removal of the portion of the liquid phase from the flash tank as concentrated fluid when the determined property reaches a desired value.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the condensing heat exchanger is an air-to-fluid condensing heat exchanger.