Air Stripper System And Method

An air stripper apparatus comprising:

• a cabinet having a fluid inlet port for admitting a contaminant-entrained fluid, a clean fluid discharge port adjacent a lower area of the cabinet, and contaminant-entrained air discharge port adjacent an upper end of the cabinet;
• a central vertical wall which divides the cabinet into two vertically arranged, side by side sections;
• a plurality of trays arranged vertically within the cabinet in the side by side sections so as to be staggered vertically from one another;
• each said tray being slidably supported within the cabinet in a horizontal orientation and removable from the cabinet from cleaning;
• a plurality of weirs, each said weir being disposed adjacent an associated one of the trays;
• a plurality of horizontally disposed floor sections, each one of said horizontally disposed floor sections being disposed adjacent a respective one of the weirs;
• each said tray having a plurality of perforations for allowing air to be blown in an upwardly direction through the tray while enabling the contaminant-entrained fluid entering from the fluid inlet port to collect on each said tray;
• and
• a plurality of downcomers disposed within the cabinet, each said downcomer being disposed adjacent an associated one of the horizontal floor sections and adjacent a respective one of the weirs, for helping to control a flow of the contaminant-entrained fluid through the cabinet.

A method for performing an air stripping operation to remove contaminants from a contaminant-entrained fluid, the method comprising:

• using a cabinet to receive a contaminant-entrained fluid at an upper end thereof,
• flowing the contaminant-entrained fluid through a plurality of vertically spaced apart trays each having a plurality of perforations formed therein, and each said tray being slidably removably supported within the cabinet in a non-vertical orientation to enable sliding removal of the trays for cleaning;
• simultaneously forcing a clean air flow in an upward direction from a lower area of the cabinet through each one of the trays while the contaminant-entrained fluid is flowing in a downward direction over the trays, to remove the contaminants from the contaminant-entrained fluid and produce a clean fluid;
• draining the clean fluid from the lower area of the cabinet;
• and
• collecting contaminant-entrained air from an upper area of the cabinet.