COMPACT WASTEWATER CONCENTRATOR AND POLLUTANT SCRUBBER
First Claim
1. A process for concentrating wastewater with a heated gas comprising oxides of sulfur (SOx) and reducing SOx therein, the process comprising:
- (a) combining the heated gas and a liquid flow of wastewater under pressure to form a mixture thereof;
(b) reducing the static pressure of the mixture to vaporize a portion of the liquid in the mixture yielding a partially vaporized mixture comprising entrained concentrated liquid and a liquid concentrate;
(c) contacting with the partially vaporized mixture an alkaline agent to reduce the oxides of sulfur in the partially vaporized mixture; and
,(d) removing a portion of the entrained concentrated liquid and reduced oxides of sulfur from the vaporized mixture to provide a demisted gas.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A compact and portable liquid concentrator includes a gas inlet, a gas exit and a flow corridor connecting the gas inlet and the gas exit, wherein the flow corridor includes a narrowed portion that accelerates the gas through the flow corridor. A liquid inlet injects liquid into the gas stream at a point prior to the narrowed portion so that the gas-liquid mixture is thoroughly mixed within the flow corridor, causing a portion of the liquid to be evaporated. A demister or fluid scrubber downstream of the narrowed portion removes entrained liquid droplets from the gas stream and re-circulates the removed liquid to the liquid inlet through a re-circulating circuit. Fresh liquid to be concentrated is also introduced into the re-circulating circuit at a rate sufficient to offset the amount of liquid evaporated in the flow corridor.
145 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A process for concentrating wastewater with a heated gas comprising oxides of sulfur (SOx) and reducing SOx therein, the process comprising:
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(a) combining the heated gas and a liquid flow of wastewater under pressure to form a mixture thereof; (b) reducing the static pressure of the mixture to vaporize a portion of the liquid in the mixture yielding a partially vaporized mixture comprising entrained concentrated liquid and a liquid concentrate; (c) contacting with the partially vaporized mixture an alkaline agent to reduce the oxides of sulfur in the partially vaporized mixture; and
,(d) removing a portion of the entrained concentrated liquid and reduced oxides of sulfur from the vaporized mixture to provide a demisted gas. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 29, 30)
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22. A process for concentrating wastewater with a heated gas comprising oxides of sulfur (SOx) and reducing SOx therein, the process comprising:
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(a) combining the heated gas and a liquid flow of wastewater comprising an alkaline agent under pressure to form a mixture thereof and to reduce the oxides of sulfur; (b) reducing the static pressure of the mixture to vaporize a portion of the liquid in the mixture yielding a partially vaporized mixture comprising entrained concentrated liquid and a liquid concentrate; and
,(c) removing a portion of the entrained concentrated liquid and reduced oxides of sulfur from the vaporized mixture to provide a demisted gas.
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23. A process for concentrating wastewater with a heated gas comprising oxides of sulfur (SOx) and reducing SOx therein, the process comprising:
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(a) combining the heated gas and a liquid flow of wastewater under pressure; (b) passing the combined heated gas and liquid flow of wastewater through a mixing corridor of a concentrator to form a gas-liquid mixture having a liquid concentration of about 5 weight percent (wt. %) to about 20 wt. %, based on the total weight of the mixture, the mixing corridor having a narrowed portion in which gas and liquid flow within the mixing corridor accelerates when traveling from its inlet to its outlet; (c) contacting with the gas-liquid mixture an alkaline agent to reduce the oxides of sulfur in the gas-liquid mixture; (d) separating a portion of the liquid from the gas-liquid mixture to provide a gas mixture entrained with liquid droplets, wherein one of the liquid and the liquid droplets comprises reduced oxides of sulfur; (e) removing liquid droplets entrained in the gas mixture obtained in step (d) to provide a concentrated liquid and a substantially liquid-free and substantially SOx-free gas. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A process for removing ammonia from wastewater and concentrating the wastewater with a heated gas, the process comprising:
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(a) combining with a liquid flow of the wastewater a pH-raising agent to form a flow of increased-pH wastewater; (b) contacting with the flow of increased-pH wastewater an air stream under conditions sufficient to remove ammonia from the wastewater yielding an ammonia-rich air exhaust stream and an ammonia-lean, increased-pH wastewater; (c) combining the heated gas and a flow of the ammonia-lean, increased-pH wastewater under pressure to form a mixture thereof; (d) reducing the static pressure of the mixture to vaporize a portion of the liquid in the mixture yielding a partially vaporized mixture comprising entrained concentrated liquid and a liquid concentrate; and
,(e) removing a portion of the entrained concentrated liquid from the vaporized mixture to provide a demisted gas. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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Specification