Liquid purification or separation – Processes – Treatment by living organism
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-08
2003-08-12
Prince, Fred G. (Department: 1724)
Liquid purification or separation
Processes
Treatment by living organism
C210S629000, C210S173000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06605220
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aqueous waste treatment method and apparatus that provides improved treatment of aqueous waste and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus which employs improved functionality, ease of operation and aeration techniques to provide improvement in the treatment of aqueous waste.
2. Background Information
Currently, the processes used in wastewater treatment plants follow traditional methods that expend energy, materials and labor at a relatively high rate along with a large use of land. The high costs associated with traditional methods of wastewater treatment are due to the treatment, handling, and monitoring of all of the wastewater flow's components with equipment such as pumps, blowers, air compressors, scrapers, filters, chemicals, heat, presses, coagulants, flocculants, precipitants and dewatering, among others. In traditional wastewater treatment systems, the wastewater is treated using high-energy-consuming methods. These methods include, but are not limited to, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion, sludge thickening and solids dewatering processes. The costs associated with these treatments amount to approximately 85% of the plant operating energy budget.
In a typical influent wastewater stream which is subject to wastewater treatment, 99.9% of the entire wastewater stream is water and about 0.1% is organic, inorganic and dissolved solids. The typical influent wastewater stream also contains nutrients in varying concentrations. Nutrients within the wastewater stream which need removal have an oxygen demand which must be met for decomposition. In the industry, this oxygen demand is referred to as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Of the approximately 0.1% solids, about 10% to 20% are settleable solids containing about 35% of the BOD. The remaining 65% of the BOD is contained within the dissolved organic matter portion of municipal waste. See FIG.
13
.
In the solids (sludge) handling systems of traditional wastewater treatment systems, processing energy is expended for organic matter to be reduced by digestion to a level of about 50% reduction in volume while the remaining 50% volume of organic matter is disposed of by a number of means including, but not limited to, landfill disposal, incineration and land application. This results in the expenditure of additional energy and expense for the handling of solids. It would be beneficial to have a system and method that eliminates most of the need for disposal of organic matter.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for treating aqueous waste containing organic matter and chemicals.
It is another object of the present invention to use an activated sludge process with recirculation of a treatment zone and greater aerator effectiveness to decrease the time and energy necessary for decomposition of organic matter.
It is yet another object of the present invention to substantially reduce the wasting of organic matter in the form waste activated sludge (WAS), which is the intentional removal of organic settled solids from the system, and thus reduce the effort and cost of solids handling facilities.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for treating aqueous wastewater that contains high concentrations of industrial type nutrients.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to treat municipal waste that has typical concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD), BOD, ammonia and phosphorus.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to treat industrial strength waste that has high concentration levels of COD, BOD, ammonia and phosphorus typically found in animal type wastes.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for pretreating wastewater from on-site facilities such as might occur from industrial manufacturers or animal wastes facilities.
It is another object of the present invention to utilize an efficient re-circulating aeration system (RCAS), which provides a combination of aeration, mixing, homogenizing and shredding that is superior to and is more affordable than conventional aeration systems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that is easier to design, operate, construct, initialize, manage, expand and maintain than conventional treatment systems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that is easier to adapt to changes in processing and flow conditions, and that is easier to automate, monitor and control than conventional treatment systems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that when compared with similar wastewater treatment requirements, uses an overall smaller footprint (land area) than that found with conventional wastewater treatment plants.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that is more economical to operate than conventional wastewater treatment systems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that is less expensive to build and operate than conventional wastewater treatment systems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that increases the ability of the process vessels to treat larger quantities of wastewater in aeration basins by not being limited by vessel floor surface area for placement of diffusers with regard to the ability to deliver intense aeration.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that provides a significantly increased decay coefficient (k
d
).
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that increases the mean cell residence time (MCRT) beyond that of conventional treatment systems, thereby providing for increased volatile solids destruction and subsequent reduced solids-handling efforts.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that allows for a highly flexible food-to-microorganism (F/M) ratio range above and below the ratio ranges of conventional treatment systems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that reduces start-up costs, which include, but are not limited to, more rapidly increasing the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration, lower power costs for initial start-up and reduced costs for hauling of seed sludge, thereby achieving design flow capacity with increased efficiency.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that uses vessels for a type of sequential batch reaction system during start-up conditions for faster initial plant start-up.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that uses vessels for a type of sequential batch reaction that allows micro colonies to grow rapidly following conditions that have upset a process, so as to quickly grow microorganisms which recover from the upset conditions.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a treatment plant that contains less apparatus and processes to treat the wastewater to the desired effluent quality than conventional wastewater treatment systems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device that separates solids from liquid through clarification without the need for scraping, raking or brushing devices in clarifiers.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device that acts as a solids-capturing zone which includes, but is not limited to clarifiers, filtration structures and optional tertiary treatment systems that further capture organic matter, and that return the organic matter to aerobic zones for continued solids digestion.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a d
Davidson Leonard
Garcia Paul F.
Garcia Paul G.
Johnson Martin Perry
Russell H. Matthew
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Premier Wastewater International, Inc.
Prince Fred G.
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