Heat transfer wastewater treatment system
OwnerKevin R. CHAFFEEinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heat transfer wastewater treatment system utilizes the heat available in raw wastewater flowing into an outdoor treatment pond or other vessel of a wastewater treatment plant to increase the temperature of effluent that is drawn from the pond or other vessel and is provided to a nitrification vessel after warming, thereby improving ammonia reduction provided by the treatment plant, especially during the winter season. The system utilizes the environmentally sustainable green energy available in the raw influent to provide passive heat transfer for improved wastewater treatment.
Claims22
A wastewater treatment system for treating a raw influent, comprising:
- a wastewater influent vessel receiving the raw influent at a first temperature;
- a wastewater treatment vessel coupled to the influent vessel and receiving the raw influent at a second temperature;
- a treated wastewater effluent vessel coupled to the treatment vessel and receiving treated effluent drawn from the treatment vessel at a third temperature that is lower than the second temperature;
- a heat exchanger thermally coupling the influent vessel and the effluent vessel to transfer heat from raw influent and to the treated effluent, thereby raising the temperature of the treated effluent from the third temperature to a fourth temperature;
- and
- a nitrification vessel receiving the warmed treated effluent from the heat exchanger.
A process for treating wastewater, said process comprising the steps of:
- (a) introducing raw influent into an influent vessel at a first temperature;
- (b) passing the influent to a treatment vessel at a second temperature;
- (c) withdrawing a treated effluent from the treatment vessel at a third temperature that is colder than the second temperature;
- (d) passing the treated effluent in a heat exchange relationship with the influent to effectuate heating of the treated effluent to a fourth temperature sufficient for nitrification;
- and
- (e) introducing the heated treated effluent into a nitrification vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.