Separator system for use in agricultural processing
AssigneeSafe Foods Corporation
InventorsSteve Huff, Todd Coleman, Douglas M. Dawson, Anthony Nguyen, Daniel Lehmkuhl
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An agricultural processing system includes a process that uses water and produces wastewater having insoluble solids, a pump configured to receive and pressurize the wastewater from the process, and a plurality of centrifugal separators connected in parallel and configured to receive the wastewater from the pump. The separators are each configured to separate out the insoluble solids from the wastewater to produce a cleaned wastewater for reuse in the process.
Claims20
An agricultural processing system, comprising:
- a process that uses water and produces wastewater comprising insoluble solids;
- a pump configured to receive and pressurize the wastewater from the process;
- a plurality of centrifugal separators connected in parallel and configured to receive the wastewater from the pump;
- wherein the separators are each configured to separate out at least a portion of the insoluble solids from the wastewater to produce a cleaned wastewater;
- and
- an additive supply comprising a supply of flocculant configured to introduce the flocculant into the cleaned wastewater;
- and
- wherein the system is configured to recycle the cleaned wastewater to the process.
An agricultural processing system, comprising:
- a process that uses water and produces wastewater comprising insolubles;
- a first pump configured to receive and pressurize the wastewater from the process;
- a first centrifugal separator configured to receive the wastewater from the first pump and separate out at least a portion of the insolubles from the wastewater to produce a once-cleaned wastewater;
- a tank configured to receive and hold the once-cleaned wastewater;
- a second pump configured to receive and pressurize the once-cleaned wastewater from the tank;
- a second centrifugal separator configured to receive the once-cleaned wastewater from the second pump and separate out at least a portion of the insolubles from the once-cleaned wastewater to produce a twice-cleaned wastewater;
- and
- an additive supply comprising a supply of flocculant configured to introduce the flocculant into the once-cleaned wastewater and/or the twice-cleaned wastewater;
- and
- wherein the system is configured to recycle the twice-cleaned wastewater to the process.
A method of processing food, comprising within a process, contacting food workpieces with water to produce wastewater comprising insoluble solids dislodged from the workpieces;
- using a pump to direct the wastewater to a plurality of centrifugal separators;
- using the separators to remove at least a portion the insoluble solids from the water to produce a cleaned wastewater comprising residual insoluble solids;
- introducing a flocculant to the cleaned wastewater to increase a particle size of the residual insoluble solids;
- and
- recycling the cleaned wastewater to the process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.