Patent Application
20220204365
This invention process is related to the field of water & wastewater treatment. More specifically, this process invention comprises the process of using a specialized electrocoagulation reactor design along with an electrical current to drastically reduce total suspended solids (TSS), heavy metals, COD, BOD. Color, and inorgaic/organic long chain compounds in a water stream.
There are different coagulation processes for treating water. Most of these processes uses some sort of chemical process to reduce particular contaminants from a water or wastewater treatment stream. There have been in recent years, alternative coagulation process using electricity instead of chemicals to coagulate and removal contaminants. This particular inventive process seeks to provide an added level of sophistication to the alternative coagulation process electricity instead of chemicals to coagulate and remove contaminants.
In this particular reactor process design, the utilization of both a monopolar or bipolar electrode configuration can be configured inside a square or rectangular design composed of an epoxy coated reactor skin or a polyethylene or polypropylene reactor shell. The electrodes (cathode/anode) will be composed of vertical perforated metallic plates, rings, rods or balls made of stainless steel, iron or aluminum or other specific metallic material. The thickness of the metallic material and width between metallic material will be optimized to ensure optimal power consumption and long chain compound contaminant reduction.
The treatment process through the metallic material will be an up flow process to allow a combination of upward generated gas flotation along with coagulation with coagulated overflow via top side outlet to a dissolved air flotation, incline plate clarifier or centrifugal filtration system.
The potential of air introduction into the process and the utilization of a programmable logic controller with artificial intelligence capabilities to change electrical outputs and initiate polarity reversal as necessary to reduce metallic scaling and associated process inefficiency will be integrated.
The reactor design shall be classified as a continuous batch reactor process with recirculation capabilities to ensure proper reaction time.
The present invention process comprises a specialized process reactor for coagulating contaminants in water & wastewater treatment streams. This particular process shall be based on electrochemical in-situ reactions to significant reduce certain inorganic and organic contaminants including long chain compounds such as emulsified hydrocarbons, as well as colloidal silica, TSS, BOD, heavy metals, among other specific contaminants.
This invention process utilizes a unique modular reactor design with electrified metallic perforated plates, rods, and balls to significantly reduce colloidal contaminants in a water stream with an up flow water flow configuration to reduce fouling/plugging and maximize reactor surface area for effective treatment. This particular system can be used in new system process or it can be retrofitted into an existing system process. This system integrating this particular reactor process can be used in both pre-treatment or post treatment applications for drinking water and wastewater.
A drawing titled,
Many contaminants in wastewater or drinking water streams, whether they be organic or inorganic in nature can be capable of being electrically removed through the use of an electrolysis process in a water source using specific metallic electrode materials.
This can be understood through chemical reactions that are created by an electrical charge created by the application of an electrical current on the surface of metallic electrode material. This electrical charge causes the release of hydrogen and oxygen in the water source, as well as an attraction of opposite charged molecules in the water source to attach to the metallic molecules of the electrode material to form coagulated suspended solids that can easily be clarified and filtered. According to
An electrical charge is introduced by an external DC supply to the primary electrodes of the reactor design which have both positive (cathode) and negative (anode) connections.
To avoid potentially fouling/clogging of the electrode material, there is a polarity reversal capability in the system controller.
This system controller uses AI technology to optimize the chemical reactions, recirculating reaction time, and power consumption which is determined by current density and surface area of the electrode material.
The coagulated treated water flows through the system outlet and is pumped to a dissolved air flotation system or clarifier system with flocculant addition or by using a centrifugal filtration process. This would be followed by polishing tertiary filtration and disinfection steps prior to sustainable discharge, reuse or distribution.
