Cleaning system for filter beds
AssigneeIMC Consulting LLC
InventorsWolfgang F Zwanziger, Natasha S Zwanziger, M Matt Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cleaning system for filter beds uses the existing permanent infrastructure of a water filtration plant. Treatment fluids of opposite pH are introduced into a pair of filter cells that are separated by a gullet. Each filter cell contains a filter bed. One filter cell receives an acidic treatment fluid and the other receives an alkaline treatment fluid. After treatment is complete, the treatment fluids from each filter cell are simultaneously drained into the gullet, where mixing and neutralization occur. The resulting spent treatment fluid has an intermediate pH that allows it to be safely drained into a wastewater sewer.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a first filter cell containing a granular media filter bed and a first treatment fluid having an acidic first pH;
- a second filter cell containing a granular media filter bed and a second treatment fluid having an alkaline second pH, the second filter cell in fluid isolation from the first filter cell;
- and
- a receptacle adapted for selective fluid communication with each of the first and second filter cells, within which treatment fluids from the first and second filter cells may be received and mixed to produce a spent treatment fluid having a third pH intermediate to the first and second pHs;
- in which each filter cell has an open upper end exposed to the ambient atmosphere.
A method of cleaning granular media filter beds in first and second filter cells, each filter cell having a base and the second filter cell in fluid isolation from the first filter cell, comprising:
- treating the filter bed of the first filter cell with a first treatment fluid having a first acidic pH;
- treating the filter bed of the second filter cell with a second treatment fluid having a second alkaline pH while the second filter cell is maintained in fluid isolation from the first filter cell;
- and
- combining outflow from the first and second filter cells in a receptacle to produce a spent treatment fluid having a third pH intermediate to the first and second pHs,
- wherein each filter cell has an open upper end exposed to the ambient atmosphere.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.