Liquid purification or separation – Processes – Treatment by living organism
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-28
2001-12-18
Upton, Christopher (Department: 1724)
Liquid purification or separation
Processes
Treatment by living organism
C210S617000, C210S630000, C210S631000, C210S669000, C210S151000, C210S170050, C210S256000, C210S266000, C210S747300, C210S903000, C210S906000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06331249
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to wastewater treatment and more particularly to an apparatus and method for recovering nutrients from a residential or small commercial wastewater stream.
Wastewater from residential or small commercial sites commonly contain nitrogen and phosphorus. In most water bodies of the United States the limiting nutrients for the prevention of eutrification is nitrogen and/or phosphorus. In addition, nitrogen in drinking water is a health hazard due to associated diseases such as methemoglobinemia and others that have been linked to nitrogen in drinking water. From an environmental and public health perspective the discharge of micro and macro nutrients from wastewater sources must be prevented and there is a need for an efficient and economical method to remove these nutrients from the waste stream.
There are many prior art devices and processes for the removal of dissolved and suspended organic solids and nutrients from wastewater. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,894 to Ball et al. describes a method of improving the quality of septic tank effluent which includes passing the effluent through an aerobic filter and recycling the effluent back into the septic tank. U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,080 to Boyle describes a system for the treatment of nitrate-containing wastewater by periodic addition of a Pseudomonus bacteria and a milk carbon source into an underground treatment chamber. U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,753 to Nielson et al. describes a method for the treatment of municipal or industrial wastewater that includes a multiple series of alternating aerobic-anaerobic bioreactors in series. U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,314 to Rose describes a zeolite septic leach bed system that provides for the removal of the nitrogen contaminants directly from the septic tank effluent.
Most of these and the other known processes are treatment methods that utilize the aerobic decomposition process to convert organic materials to biological solids that can then be removed from the waste stream though settling or filtration. These methods do not significantly lower the concentration of most micro and macro nutrients from the wastewater stream, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus.
There remains a need for a low cost, simple and easily maintained system to treat residential or small commercial waste streams to a very high quality before reintroduction back into the environment. It would be preferable to have a simple low cost system that can efficiently prevent the discharge of micro and macro nutrients into the environment, especially as part of an onlot treatment system typically found in residential or small commercial situations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a simple low cost system to remove nutrients from residential or small commercial waste streams.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system that treats residential or small commercial wastewater that has previously been treated to commonly accepted secondary treatment standards (BOD/Suspended Solids of 30/30) prior to disposal in subsurface trenches or other treatment mechanism.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a system to be included as one device in a series of treatment devices utilized to treat wastewater in an onlot or near lot system in order to further treat waste water that has been previously treated to remove BOD and convert ammonium (NH
4
) and organic nitrogen compounds to nitrate (NO
3
). The utilization of the present invention in connection with septic tanks will be a secondary application of the proposed process.
These and other objects are obtained by providing an apparatus for processing secondary treated wastewater effluent. The apparatus comprises an anoxic first zone for accepting the secondary wastewater effluent wherein the first zone includes heterotrophic bacteria, a carbon source, and an outlet structure including a limestone aggregate. The apparatus further comprises a second zone including an entrance structure that is in fluid communication with the outlet structure and an exit structure in fluid communication with the second zone. The exit structure includes a cationic exchange medium wherein the exit structure discharges the effluent to a disposal mechanism such as a subsurface disposal field.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4279753 (1981-07-01), Nielson et al.
patent: 4917802 (1990-04-01), Fukaya et al.
patent: 4933076 (1990-06-01), Oshima et al.
patent: 5185080 (1993-02-01), Boyle
patent: 5221470 (1993-06-01), McKinney
patent: 5318699 (1994-06-01), Robertson et al.
patent: 5330651 (1994-07-01), Robertson et al.
patent: 5462666 (1995-10-01), Kimmel
patent: 5531894 (1996-07-01), Ball et al.
patent: 5766454 (1998-06-01), Cox et al.
patent: 5876606 (1999-03-01), Blowes et al.
patent: 5908555 (1999-06-01), Reingel et al.
patent: 6080314 (2000-06-01), Rose
Knight James E.
Nelson Douglas J.
Noga Mark C.
Bond, Schoeneck & King, LLP
Knight Treatment Systems, Inc.
Upton Christopher
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