PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR CONTAINMENT OF AQUEOUS POLLUTANTS

• US 3,744,254 A
• Filed: 05/17/1972
• Issued: 07/10/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Richard P. Fennelly
• Original Assignee: Richard P. Fennelly
• Inventors: Fennelly, Richard P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zaharna, Samih N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cintins, Ivars
• Application Number:
  US05/253,981
• Time in Patent Office: 419 Days
• Field of Search: 61/1,6 210/170,242,DIG.21
• US Class Current: 405/62
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 23/231 by bubbling mixers with gas or liquid agitation, e.g. with air supply tubes B01F33/40
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 23/231121 the flow guiding elements being baffles, tubes or walls
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 23/231231 the outlets being in the form of perforations
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 23/231265 being tubes, tubular elements, cylindrical elements or set of tubes
• CPC Class Codes: E02B 1/003 Mechanically induced gas or liquid streams in seas, lakes or water-courses for forming weirs or breakwaters; making or keeping water surfaces free from ice, aerating or circulating water, e.g. screens of air-bubbles against sludge formation or salt water entry, pump-assisted water circulation moving sediments E02B3/023; for ice breakers B63B35/08; aerating or circulating water in fish-tanks A01K63/042; purification of waste water with addition of air C02F; distributing gases in liquids in general B01F23/20
• CPC Class Codes: E02B 15/08 Devices for reducing the polluted area with or without additional devices for removing the material
• CPC Class Codes: E02B 15/0814 with underwater curtains

Abstract

An air or bubble barrier which can be used to contain and deflect aqueous pollutants, such as oil, flotsam and the like, is confined within its desired line of travel by placing a mesh material between at least one point adjacent the generation point of the gas below the surface of the water and a point which is adjacent the surface of the water. The mesh material can be ordinary wire screening used in household screens. The use of the mesh material insures that the bubble barrier will follow a desired line of travel largely unaffected by currents or eddies which would normally disperse the bubble stream to an undesirable extent.

Claims

1. In a process for the containment of aqueous pollutants by generation of gas from a gas supplying conduit located at a point below the surface of the water to form a bubble barrier which rises to the surface of the water to thereby contain the pollutants within a preselected area wherein the improvement comprises placing a mesh material between at least one point adjacent the generation point of the gas and a point adjacent the surface of the water to contain the bubbles in a desired line of travel between the bubble generation point and the surface of the water.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the mesh material which is placed adjacent the point of generation of the gas is wire screening.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the end of the mesh material which is adjacent the surface of the water is attached to a float.

4. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein two seParate portions of mesh material are used, one end of each being attached to two separate points adjacent the generation point of the gas and each other end being attached to a separate float adjacent to one another at the surface of the water.

5. In an apparatus for the containment of aqueous pollutants that uses a gas supplying conduit beneath the surface of the water to generate bubbles which rise from an opening in the conduit to the surface of the water to form a bubble barrier and thereby contain the pollutants within a preselected area wherein the improvement comprises:

a. a mesh material affixed to a point adjacent the generation point of the bubbles from the gas supplying mechanism, the mesh material stretching upwardly from this point towards and having its end terminate adjacent the surface of the water; and

b. a float which is attached to the end of the mesh material which is adjacent the surface of the water.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 in which the mesh material is wire screening.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 which comprises two separate portions of mesh material, each at one end being situated on opposite sides of the gas generation point and each at its other end being joined to a separate float.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which the two floats are held in relative fixed relationship to one another by means of a restraining member.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 which further comprises a restraining member joined at one of its ends to the float and at its other end to a portion of the gas supplying conduit adjacent the generation point for the bubbles.