Liquid purification or separation – With gas-liquid surface contact means – With separator
Patent
1986-11-05
1989-06-06
Wyse, Tom
Liquid purification or separation
With gas-liquid surface contact means
With separator
210180, 210188, 210404, 210539, 435303, 435306, 435312, C02F 1104, B01F 906
Patent
active
048369187
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to apparatus for gas-producing treatment, especially fermentation or digestion, of organic material.
Accordingly, the apparatus according to the invention comprises a horizontal treatment drum adapted to be rotated about its horizontal axis and material transport means fixedly secured to the drum interiorly thereof.
Particularly when the material to be treated is industrial or domestic waste, it often includes a substantial portion of solid materials that are not biodegradable. Such materials may be both heavy materials, such as sand, pebbles, metal objects, having a tendency to separate from the suspension by settling, and light materials tending to rise to and float on the surface of the suspension and form a so-called scum layer.
An object of the invention is to provide in apparatus of the afore-mentioned kind a treatment drum capable of transporting undegradable material through the drum more rapidly than the remaining, degradable material which requires a certain, relatively long retention time within the drum.
To this end, in apparatus according to the invention, the material transport means comprises a plurality of guide ribs which are spaced longitudinally of the drum and include an acute angle with transverse planes through the drum and which are attached to axially extending support surfaces fixed with respect to the drum, the guide ribs being arranged such that settling particles in the drum intercepted by a flank of the guide ribs are deflected thereby towards the other end of the drum.
As will appear more clearly from the following detailed description, the invention makes use of the idea of utilizing the vertical motion of material tending to separate from the suspension and, by redirecting this movement towards the outlet end of the drum by means of guide ribs, effecting transport of such material towards the outlet end while the drum rotates.
In apparatus of the kind to which the invention relates the drum may be very large; the volume of the drum may be ten thousand cubic meters or more in the case of apparatus for digestion of industrial, domestic or agricultural wastes. Even if the drum is immersed in water so that the load on the drum support devices is moderate, the turning moment required for the rotation is great. The drive means therefore has to be dimensioned to produce substantial forces and apply them to the drum and for this reason is expensive.
Accordingly, a further object of the invention is to substantially reduce or more or less eliminate the driving force that has to be applied externally to the drum to rotate it.
This aspect of the invention is based on the idea of utilizing the gas produced during the treatment (in the case of digestion chiefly methane and carbon dioxide) to effect an uneven distribution within the drum of the material being treated therein such that the material applies to the drum a turning moment acting in the desired direction of rotation of the drum.
To this end, in apparatus according to the invention, in each of a plurality of angular drum positions baffles provided within the drum define together with the interior side of the drum a downwardly open gas collection space which is spaced from the vertical plane containing the axis of rotation of the drum.
In this space the produced gas, or at least a substantial portion thereof, is collected during the treatment. The collected gas prevents the fluid or slurry-like material in the drum from distributing itself evenly on both sides of the vertical plane containing the axis of rotation. As a consequence, a larger portion of the material will be present on the side of the vertical plane remote from the gas collection space and the material will thus apply to the drum a resulting turning moment tending to turn the drum such that the gas collection space and the adjoining parts of the drum are lifted.
Suitably, the drum is rotated intermittently. The apparatus then may include a control device which arrests the drum in each of the afore-said rotational positions, which may be angula
REFERENCES:
patent: 3540589 (1970-02-01), Boris
patent: 3630893 (1971-12-01), Tanaka et al.
patent: 3720320 (1973-03-01), Fletcher
patent: 3779911 (1973-12-01), Freudenthal et al.
patent: 4038184 (1977-07-01), Svanteson
patent: 4541929 (1985-09-01), Janusch
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