Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – Including regeneration – purification – recovery or separation...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-10
2001-09-04
El-Arini, Zeinab (Department: 1746)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
Including regeneration, purification, recovery or separation...
C134S013000, C134S104400, C134S109000, C134S110000, C134S111000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06284054
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and method for the separation of animal waste from waste water. The present invention also relates to a system and method for recycling and purifying the waste water. In particular, the present invention is directed to system for flushing and treating waste water from an animal storage pen using electrocoagulation to separate the animal waste from the waste water. The present invention is also directed to method for flushing and treating waste water from an animal storage pen using electrocoagulation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The growth of commercial hog production facilities has led to significant political and public resistance to their operation mainly as a result of hog waste concerns. Specifically, as hog production capacity has risen over the past years, so has the volume of hog sewage that must be safely contained and treated. Current waste control methods do not always adequately manage the waste, resulting in operations which are unsanitary, smelly, and costly to operate.
Current methods of handling hog waste by many producers typically involve the use of hog waste lagoons, which is simply a hollowed open area into which the material is pumped to allow settling of the solid matter to the bottom of the lagoon and dispersal of the liquid and gas content by evaporation. Raw hog waste, which is comprised generally of a solid component and a liquid component, is pumped into these lagoons and confined, allowing solar evaporation to slowly remove the volatile liquid component of the waste slurry. However, over time, the pathogen laden solids contained in the waste slurry begin to break down and liquefy, producing a large volume of pathogen rich liquid which constitutes an environmental hazard that is costly to treat. It is common practice to periodically remove the resulting liquefied solids from the lagoon and to spray or discharge the same on agricultural fields. Obviously, as the liquefied solids retain significant bacteria or other pathogens then the spraying or discharge of such onto agricultural land poses a serious health and safety risk to the public. The continuous evaporation of the liquid acts to discharge into the air noxious gases which leads to environmental pollution which is becoming politically unacceptable. The toxic leachates and their associated volatile organic compounds as well as offensive inorganic gases and vapors emanating from such lagoons are a major source of atmospheric pollution.
The lagoon can also leak so as to cause contamination of the ground water. The discharging of such waste into the ecological environment such as rivers, tributaries, and streams, pose immediate threats to drinking water, wildlife, vegetation and food sources.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the above-identified shortcomings of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for recycling waste water.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for recycling waste water in which solid waste is removed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for recycling waste water in which solid waste is removed using electrocoagulation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for treating hog waste.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for treating hog waste whereby liquid waste is separated from solid waste.
It is a further object of the present invention to further purify the liquid waste such that purified water may be recycled.
It is a further object of the present invention to recycle the purified water for flushing an animal storage pen.
It is another object of the present invention to eliminate the need for lagoons to store animal waste.
It is another object of the present invention to separate solid animal waste from the waste water for subsequent treatment.
It is an object of the present invention to remove the solid animal waste from the waste water using electrocoagulation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of flushing an animal storage pen using water whereby the solid animal waste is separated from the waste water.
It is another object of the present invention to remove ammonia from the waste water.
It is another object of the present invention to remove nitrates from the waste water.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method of flushing an animal storage pen whereby purified waste water is recycled to the flush the storage pen.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a system for separating waste material from waste water for use in connection with the flushing of an animal storage pen (such as, for example, a hog barn) to remove the waste material from the animal storage pen such that the waste water is recycled. The system includes a fluid storage assembly for storing a supply of fluid for flushing the animal storage pen. The system also includes a large waste material separation assembly for separating large solid waste material from a waste water mixture flushed from the animal storage pen. After the large waste material has been separated from the waste water mixture, a small waste material separation assembly separates the small waste material from the waste water mixture such that the remaining waste water mixture is substantially free of waste material and pathogens. A waste water return assembly supplies waste water from the small waste material separation assembly to the fluid storage assembly. A solid waste storage assembly collects and stores the large solid waste separated from the waste water mixture and the small waste material separated from the waste water mixture. The waste material collected in the solid waste storage assembly may be disposed of by incineration or other suitable disposal methods. The present invention eliminates the need for lagoons housing waste material. The present invention further permits the recycling of water for flushing the animal storage pen, which results in a conservation of water resources.
In accordance with the present invention, the large waste material separation assembly may include at least one filtering assembly for separating the large solid waste material from the waste water mixture. The large waste material separation assembly may further include a transfer assembly for transferring the large solid waste material to the solid waste storage assembly.
In accordance with the present invention, the small waste material separation assembly may include at least one filter assembly for filtering larger sized waste material from the waste water mixture, and a coagulator assembly for separating the small waste material and pathogens from the waste water mixture. In a preferred form, the coagulator assembly is an electrocoagulator assembly having a plurality of electrodes. The small waste material separation assembly may further include a series of tanks for receiving the waste water mixture. A first tank may be located between the at least one filter assembly and the coagulator assembly. A second tank may be provided for receiving the waste water mixture from the coagulator assembly. A third tank may be provided for receiving the waste water mixture from the second tank. The purified waste water may be separated from a purified waste water mixture in the third tank. The purified waste water is returned to the fluid storage assembly through the waste water return assembly. The small waste material separation assembly may further include at least one filtering assembly for filtering the purified waste water mixture to remove any remaining solid waste material from the purified waste water mixture.
The present invention is also directed to a method for flushing waste material from an animal storage pen. The method includes the step of supplying a flow of fluid from a fluid supply through the animal storage pen to remove waste material from the animal storage pen. The method further inc
El-Arini Zeinab
Global Waste, Ltd.
Swidler Berlin Shereff & Friedman, LLP
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