Apparatus and method for separating particles from waste fluid using oxygen enriched air
AssigneeDhi - Dalbo Holdings, Inc. & Subsidiaries
InventorsGary J. COATES, Herron J. KENNEDY
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Abstract
A particle separation apparatus and method forms oxygen enriched air that contains an increased amount of oxygen and a decreased amount of nitrogen compared to ambient air, by passing air through at least one oxygen enriching membrane, introduces the oxygen enriched air into a fluid to form a fluid containing the oxygen enriched air, and uses the fluid containing the oxygen enriched air to generate microbubbles of the oxygen enriched air that float particulate matter in a waste fluid for separation from the waste fluid.
Claims25
A particle separation apparatus comprising:
- a treatment region;
- a waste fluid inlet configured to introduce waste fluid containing particulate matter into the treatment region;
- an oxygen enrichment system comprised of
- an intake for taking in ambient air, and
- at least one oxygen enriching membrane,
- wherein passing the air through the at least one oxygen enriching membrane increases an amount of oxygen and decreases an amount of nitrogen in the air to form oxygen enriched air;
- a system configured to intake the oxygen enriched air and a fluid for the fluid containing oxygen enriched air, and to introduce the oxygen enriched air into the fluid, thereby forming the fluid containing oxygen enriched air;
- a fluid feed region configured to produce microbubbles of oxygen enriched air from the fluid containing oxygen enriched air and provide the microbubbles for use in the treatment region;
- and
- a collection device configured to collect the particulate matter floated to a surface of the waste fluid in the treatment region by the microbubbles.
A particle separation apparatus comprising:
- a treatment region;
- a waste fluid inlet configured to introduce waste fluid containing particulate matter and oxygen enriched air and/or microbubbles of the oxygen enriched air into the treatment region;
- an oxygen enrichment system comprised of
- an intake for taking in ambient air, and
- at least one oxygen enriching membrane,
- wherein passing the air through the at least one oxygen enriching membrane increases an amount of oxygen and decreases an amount of nitrogen in the air to form oxygen enriched air;
- a system configured to intake the waste fluid and the oxygen enriched air, and to introduce the oxygen enriched air into the waste fluid;
- and
- a collection device configured to collect the particulate matter from the waste fluid that is floated to a surface of the waste fluid in the treatment region by the microbubbles formed from the oxygen enriched air.
A method of separating particulate matter from waste fluid, the method comprising
- forming oxygen enriched air that contains an increased amount of oxygen and a decreased amount of nitrogen compared to ambient air, by passing air through at least one oxygen enriching membrane;
- introducing the oxygen enriched air into a fluid to form a fluid containing the oxygen enriched air;
- introducing waste fluid containing particulate matter into a treatment region;
- forming microbubbles of oxygen enriched air from the fluid containing the oxygen enriched air and providing the microbubbles to the treatment region, and wherein the microbubbles float the particulate matter in the waste fluid to a surface of the waste fluid in the treatment region;
- and
- collecting the particulate matter from the surface of the waste fluid in the treatment region to thereby separate the particulate matter from the waste fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.