Method for treating waste-activated sludge using elecroporation
AssigneeOpencel LLC
InventorsJeffrey Held, Satya P. Chauhan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of treating of municipal sludge, paper-pulp sludge, animal and plant waste, and the like, whereby the treatment thereof via electroporation causes the breakdown of waste activated sludge, which is then recycled back to a bioreactor, or to one or more additional bioreactors such as aerobic, facultative, anoxic, or strictly anaerobic.
Claims13
A method of treating sludge containing cellular units including intercellular water, intracellular water and organic solids, comprising:
- (a) directing the sludge to an electroporating system;
- (b) electroporating the sludge for destroying at least most of the cellular units contained therein by incorporating a nonarcing voltage and pulse width;
- and
- said (b) causing disruption of the cellular units, allowing for the release of intercellular water, intracellular water and organic solids;
- and
- (c) directing the electroporated sludge to a bioreactor for performing biological digestion thereon whereby the electroporated sludge is used as food.
A method of treating sludge containing cellular units including intercellular water, intracellular water and organic solids, comprising:
- (a) delivering sludge to an electroporation system;
- (b) electroporating said sludge in said electroporation system by exposing said sludge to a pulsed electric field with a nonarcing voltage and pulse width to disrupt said cellular units and to release intercellular water, intracellular water and organic solids;
- and
- (c) delivering said electroporated sludge to at least one bioreactor for reaction therewith;
- said (c) comprising supplying said electroporated sludge as food for said at least one bioreactor.
A method of treating sludge containing cellular units including intercellular water, intracellular water and organic solids, comprising:
- (a) delivering sludge to an electroporation system;
- (b) electroporating said sludge in said electroporation system by exposing said sludge to a pulsed electric field with a nonarcing voltage and pulse width to disrupt said cellular units and to release organic solids;
- and
- (c) supplying said released organic solids as food to a means for biologically digesting organic solids.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.