Liquid purification or separation – Processes – Treatment by living organism
Patent
1996-09-16
1998-03-10
Wyse, Thomas G.
Liquid purification or separation
Processes
Treatment by living organism
210612, 210631, 210764, 210180, 210201, 210255, C02F 312, C02F 1114
Patent
active
057257701
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
THIS INVENTION relates to a waste treatment plant and process.
BACKGROUND ART
Hitherto disposal of waste including faeces from livestock feedlots including piggeries, beef cattle feedlots, dairy cattle milking sheds and holding yards, and poultry farms which were operated on a large scale commercial basis has been a time consuming and expensive process. This was mainly because of the problem of effective disposal of an insoluble or undigested solid or sludge component which was mainly formed from animal faeces which was sometimes mixed with undigested livestock feed. Animal faeces contains proteins, protein breakdown products, fats, complex carbohydrates and lignocellulose. Lignocellulose is an amorphous matrix of hemicellulose and lignin. Hemicelluloses are polysaccharides which are usually branched and formed from sugars and uronic acids. Lignins are highly cross-linked aromatic polymers of no regular repeating unit because of their formation by free radical condensation. Lignocellulose in the animal faeces is derived from barley (e.g. barley awns), lucerne, sorghum and other stockfeeds.
Reference is made to Australian Patent Application 91080/91 (ie. International Patent Application PCT/AU91/00587 which was published under WO 92/11210) which describes a waste treatment process and plant which comprises passing biological waste through one or more hanging curtains made from two layers of a soft reticulated polyurethane foam and a reinforcing layer of synthetic material interposed therebetween. The curtains formed a support for filamentous micro-organisms which formed a dense mat of cellular material. The micro organisms remove dissolved phosphorus, nitrogen in the form of ammonia and carbon as organic acids from the biological waste.
The process of Specification WO 92/11210 was extremely efficient in processing biological waste from distilleries and breweries as well as glycerol waste because this waste did not require an initial anaerobic fermentation step which is necessary in relation to waste from livestock feedlots as described above. As stated in Specification WO 92/11210 non-fermented biological waste must be subjected to an anaerobic fermentation step so as to break down complex macromolecules such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids to organic acids of 8 carbon atoms or less. This fermentation step takes place usually in the presence of acidogenic fermentative bacteria which may produce organic acids such as volatile fatty acids which may be readily metabolised to carbon dioxide by the hanging curtain technology described above.
After the fermentation period was completed which usually took 5 days or more soluble digestible matter was collected as supernatant and separated from the insoluble or undigested sludge component discussed above which contained lignocellulose.
The conventional methods for disposal of the indigestible material included passing the indigestible material to anaerobic ponds, septic tanks or pits. Alternatively the indigestible material was dewatered by filtration or by drying on open or covered sand beds. The dried sludge was subsequently incinerated or used as fertiliser. In some cases the indigestible material was used as landfill.
However it will be appreciated from the foregoing that the presence of the indigestible material in the anaerobic fermentation tank or digester meant that fermentation had to be stopped at periodic intervals of time to remove the indigestible material which was time consuming, wasteful and expensive.
The indigestible material also could not be spread onto anaerobic ponds or used as landfill in Moslem countries such as Malaysia or Indonesia. In countries where this method of disposal could be achieved, it was relatively expensive because of the transportation costs.
The presence of the indigestible material in the anaerobic digester also was undesirable in that it accumulated in the digester over a period of time and inhibited the fermentation reaction proceeding in an efficient manner because of the production of pheno
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patent: 5228995 (1993-07-01), Stover
patent: 5290450 (1994-03-01), Kobayashi
patent: 5380438 (1995-01-01), Nungesser
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patent: 5514277 (1996-05-01), Khudenko
patent: 5616241 (1997-04-01), Khudenko
Blachford, et al., "Oxygenated Activated-Sludge Process: Evaluation at Palmersford", Journal of the Institute of Water Pollution Control, vol. 81, No. 5, pp. 601-618, 1982.
Fungi-Gulp Pty. Ltd.
Wyse Thomas G.
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