Method for removing pollutants from water
AssigneeNorth American Wetland Engineering, Inc.
InventorScott D. Wallace
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for removing pollution from water, utilizing a subsurface constructed wetland system using forced bed aeration and variable water levels, to promote greater root depth and better root structure of the wetland vegetation, and to establish staged anaerobic and aerobic zones within the system.
Claims26
A method of removing pollutants from water, comprising:
- providing a system for removing pollutants from water, the system including an impermeable primary treatment cell, the primary treatment cell substantially disposable in the earth and comprising an inlet, an outlet, bed media particulates providing habitat for bacteria and disposed between the inlet and the exit, wetland vegetation rooted in the bed media, and means for air injection disposed proximate a bottom portion of the primary treatment cell;
- activating the air injection means;
- and
- establishing a substantially horizontal flow of untreated polluted water in the primary treatment cell by flowing the polluted water into the primary treatment cell through the inlet, through spaces between the bed media particulates, and out of the primary treatment cell through the outlet, thereby establishing an aerobic zone and an anaerobic zone, the aerobic zone disposed in the primary treatment cell proximate the air injection means, the anaerobic zone disposed in portions of the primary treatment cell not aerated by the air injection means, the pollutants removed from the flowing water by a cooperation between the wetland vegetation, aerobic bacteria in the aerobic zone, and anaerobic bacteria in the anaerobic zone.
A process of removing pollutants from waste water in a system characterized by an impermeable primary treatment cell substantially disposable within the earth, the process comprising:
- ingressing untreated waste water into the primary treatment cell via an inlet, the inlet fluidly communicating the primary treatment cell with a waste water source;
- substantially horizontally flowing the waste water through spaces defined by a layer of bed media disposed in the primary treatment cell, the waste water flowing around roots of wetland vegetation rooted in the bed media, the waste water further flowing through an aerobic zone and an anaerobic zone, the aerobic zone established by injecting air proximate a bottom portion of the bed media layer, thereby removing at least some of the pollutants from the flowing waste water in the aerobic and anaerobic zones and producing treated waste water;
- and
- egressing the treated waste water from the primary treatment cell via an outlet.
A method of treating polluted water, comprising establishing a substantially horizontal flow of untreated polluted water between bed media particulates disposed in an impermeable primary treatment cell, wetland vegetation rooted in the bed media particulates, the flow of polluted water extending through an aerobic zone established by air injection and through an anaerobic zone, the substantially horizontal flow of polluted water in the aerobic zone with a first flow rate, the substantially horizontal flow of polluted water in the anaerobic zone with a second flow rate, the first flow rate substantially equal to the second flow rate, the bed media particulates in the aerobic zone providing habitat for aerobic bacteria, the bed media particulates in the anaerobic zone providing habitat for anaerobic bacteria, the polluted water being treated by a cooperation between the wetland vegetation and the aerobic and the anaerobic bacteria.
A process of treating polluted water comprising:
- ingressing polluted water through an inlet into an impermeable primary treatment cell;
- generally horizontally flowing the polluted water in the primary treatment cell around bed media particulates and around roots of wetland vegetation rooted in the bed media particulates through a series of alternating aerobic zones and anaerobic zones in the primary treatment cell, the bed media particulates excluding any adhesive connections therebetween, the primary treatment cell containing aerobic bacteria in the aerobic zones and anaerobic bacteria in the anaerobic zones, the polluted water being treated by the roots, the aerobic bacteria, and the anaerobic bacteria;
- and
- exiting the treated water from the primary treatment cell via an outlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.