Method and apparatus for wastewater treatment using gravimetric selection
AssigneesHampton Roads Sanitation District, D.C. Water & Sewer Authority
InventorsGeert Nyhuis, Maureen O'Shaughnessy, Bernhard Wett, Charles Bott, Sudhir Murthy
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Abstract
A method and a system for selecting and retaining solids with superior settling characteristics, the method comprising feeding wastewater to an input of a processor that carries out a treatment process on the wastewater, outputting processed wastewater at an output of the processor, feeding the processed wastewater to an input of a gravimetric selector that selects solids with superior settling characteristics, and outputting a recycle stream at a first output of the gravimetric selector back to the processor.
Claims30
A method for selecting and retaining solids with superior settling characteristics, the method comprising:
- feeding wastewater to an input of a processor that carries out a treatment process on the wastewater;
- outputting processed wastewater at an output of the processor;
- feeding the processed wastewater to an input of a gravimetric selector that selects solids with superior settling characteristics;
- and
- outputting a recycle stream at a first output of the gravimetric selector,
- wherein a waste stream is rejected and the recycle stream is supplied to the processor.
A method for selecting and retaining solids with superior settling characteristics, the method comprising:
- feeding wastewater to an input of a processor that carries out a treatment process on the wastewater;
- outputting processed wastewater at an output of the processor;
- feeding the processed wastewater to an input of a gravimetric selector that selects solids with superior settling characteristics;
- outputting a recycle stream at a first output of the gravimetric selector;
- and
- outputting a waste stream at a second output of the gravimetric selector to solids handling, where solids handling includes at least one thickening, stabilizing, conditioning, and dewatering.
A method for selecting and retaining solids with superior settling characteristics, the method comprising:
- feeding wastewater to an input of a processor that carries out a treatment process on the wastewater;
- outputting processed wastewater at an output of the processor;
- feeding the processed wastewater to an input of a gravimetric selector that selects solids with superior settling characteristics;
- and
- outputting a recycle stream at a first output of the gravimetric selector,
- wherein the gravimetric selector comprises a cyclone that accelerates the wastewater and provides shear-force to the wastewater to separate solids with good settling characteristics from solids with poor settling and filtration characteristics.
A method for selecting and retaining solids with good settling characteristics, the method comprising:
- feeding wastewater to an input of a processor that carries out a treatment process on the wastewater;
- outputting processed wastewater at an output of the processor;
- feeding the processed wastewater to an input of a gravimetric selector that selects solids with good settling characteristics;
- and
- outputting a recycle stream at a first output of the gravimetric selector,
- wherein the gravimetric selector comprises a centrifuge that provides centrifugal and shear force to separate solids with good settling characteristics from solids with poor settling and filtration characteristics in the wastewater.
An apparatus that selects and retains solids with superior settling characteristics, the apparatus comprising:
- a processor that comprises an input and an output, the processor being configured to carry out a treatment process;
- and
- a gravimetric selector that comprises an input, a waste stream output and a recycle stream output, the gravimetric selector being configured to select solids with superior settling characteristics,
- wherein the recycle stream output of the gravimetric selector is coupled to the input of the processor, and
- wherein the waste stream output of the gravimetric selector is coupled to solids handling, wherein solids handling includes at least one of thickening, stabilizing, conditioning, and dewatering.
A method for selecting and retaining solids with superior settling characteristics, the method comprising:
- receiving wastewater from a wastewater supply;
- processing the wastewater to provide processed wastewater;
- gravimetrically selecting solids with superior settling characteristics from the processed wastewater and outputting a recycle stream and a waste stream;
- supplying the recycle stream to a processor to further process the recycle stream together with further wastewater received from the wastewater supply;
- and
- supplying the waste stream to solids handling, where solids handling includes at least one of thickening, stabilizing, conditioning, and dewatering.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.