Wastewater purification with nanoparticle-treated bed
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorsTianping Huang, James B. Crews
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Nanoparticle-treated particle packs, such as sand beds, may effectively filter and purify liquids such as waste water. When tiny contaminant particles in waste water flow through the particle pack, the nanoparticles will capture and hold the tiny contaminant particles within the pack due to the nanoparticles' surface forces, including, but not necessarily limited to van der Waals and electrostatic forces. Coating agents such as alcohols, glycols, polyols, vegetable oil, and mineral oils may help apply the nanoparticles to the particle surfaces in the filter beds or packs.
Claims13
A method for purifying an aqueous liquid containing clay particles, the method comprising:
- contacting said aqueous liquid with a particle pack comprising substrate particles and comparatively smaller particulate additives;
- where the substrate particles are comparatively larger than the particulate additives and are selected from the group consisting of sand, gravel, ceramic beads, glass beads, and combinations thereof,
- where the particle pack is at least partially coated with a coating agent comprising a mineral oil,
- where the particulate additives have a mean particle size of 1000 nm or less and are alkaline earth metal hydroxides;
- and
- attracting said clay particles from the aqueous liquid to the particulate additives to purify the aqueous liquid.
A method for purifying aqueous fluids containing clay particles, the method comprising:
- contacting said aqueous liquid with a particle pack comprising substrate particles and comparatively smaller particulate additives;
- where the substrate particles are comparatively larger than the particulate additives, have a mean particle size of from about 2000 microns to about 45 microns and are selected from the group consisting of sand, gravel, ceramic beads, glass beads, and combinations thereof, and where the particulate additives:
- where the particle pack is at least partially coated with a coating agent comprising a mineral oil,
- where the particulate additives have a mean particle size of 1000 nm or less and are alkaline earth metal hydroxides;
- where the particulate additives range from about 1 part by weight for about 200 to about 5000 parts by weight of the particle pack;
- and
- attracting said clay particles from the aqueous liquid to the particulate additives to purify the aqueous liquid.
A method for purifying an aqueous liquid containing clay particles, the method comprising:
- contacting said aqueous liquid with a particle pack comprising substrate particles and comparatively smaller particulate additives;
- where the substrate particles are comparatively larger than the particulate additives and are selected from the group consisting of sand, gravel, ceramic beads, glass beads, and combinations thereof where the particle pack is at least partially coated with a coating agent comprising a mineral oil,
- where the particulate additives are of smaller mean particle size than the substrate particles, where the particulate additives are at least partially coated on the substrate particles by the mineral oil, and where the particulate additives have a mean particle size of 1000 nm or less and are alkaline earth metal hydroxides;
- and
- attracting said clay particles from the aqueous liquid to the particulate additives to purify the aqueous liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.