Flotation apparatus and process utilizing a novel mixing and floc dispersion means

An improved flotation apparatus for treating an effluent by forming a separable, buoyant floc from waste matter suspended in said effluent, comprising:

• (a) a treatment tank for containing the effluent being treated;
• (b) an inlet means for introducing a stream of effluent of cross-sectional area A into the tank;
• (c) conditioning agent supply means for supplying a stream of conditioning agent to said stream of effluent;
• (d) a bubble generator for introducing a stream of gas bubbles into said stream of effluent;
• (e) a mixing and floc dispersion means for admixing said stream of effluent, conditioning agent and bubbles and for dampening fluid currents generated by said effluent stream and for uniformly dispersing the buoyant floc formed in said chambers across the width of an area of the surface being treated in said tank, including:
• (i) a series of at least two elongated and fluidly connected chambers of increasing size, including first and second chambers having substantially constant cross-sectional area along their longitudinal axes of values X and Y, respectively, wherein Y is greater than X and X is greater than A;
• (ii) an inlet port defined in the free end of the first chamber having a cross-sectional area greater than A for receiving said stream of effluent, conditioning agent and bubbles, and
• (iii) an outlet port defined in the free end of the last chamber in fluid communication with the effluent being treated in said tank.

An improved flotation process for treating a stream of effluent by forming a separable, buoyant floc from waste matter suspended in said effluent, comprising the steps of:

• (a) introducing said stream of untreated effluent into a tank containing effluent being treated;
• (b) supplying a stream of conditioning agent to said stream of effluent;
• (c) supplying a stream of gas bubbles to said stream of effluent;
• (d) admixing said streams of untreated effluent, conditioning agent and bubbles and reducing the turbulent currents generated by the introduction of said effluent stream into the tank and uniformly distributing the resulting buoyant floc across an area of the surface of the effluent in the tank by directing said streams into an inlet port defined in the free end of the first of a series of at least two elongated, fluidly connected chambers, wherein each of said chambers has a constant cross-sectional area but wherein the cross-sectional area of each subsequent chamber is larger than the one before it, and wherein the free end of the last of the series of chambers includes an outlet port in fluid communication with the effluent being treated in the tank.