Treatment of industrial waste water
First Claim
1. A method for processing industrial waste water containing magnesium and calcium salts which comprises:
- (a) adding magnesium hydroxide and gaseous carbon dioxide to the waste water in an amount sufficient to precipitate calcium carbonate in the water;
(b) settling the precipitates in said water and recovering a treated water having substantially reduced calcium content and a higher magnesium salt content than said waste water;
(c) processing the treated water by reverse osmosis, distillation, electroldialysis or freezing to obtain a purified water and a residual brine enriched in calcium and magnesium contents;
(d) adding calcium hydroxide to at least a portion of said brine in an amount sufficient to precipitate magnesium hydroxide therefrom;
(e) separating said magnesium hydroxide from said brine; and
(f) returning said magnesium hyroxide for addition to said waste water in the aforesaid precipitation of calcium carbonate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is disclosed for processing industrial waste waters and, in particular, blow down water from thermal electric plants. The water is processed to concentrate the salts contained therein and to obtain a concentrated brine which can then be passed to a thermal evaporator and/or solar evaporation ponds. The water is processed by the addition of magnesium hydroxide and carbon dioxide in amounts sufficient to precipitate the calcium as calcium carbonate, thereby obtaining a water reduced in calcium content and increased in magnesium content from the industrial waste water. The treated water is processed to recover a purified water from a brine, preferably by reverse osmosis. Calcium hydroxide is added to the brine generated by the reverse osmosis process in an amount sufficient to precipitate magnesium hydroxide therefrom which can be recycled to supply the magnesium hydroxide used in pre-treatment of the water prior to the reverse osmosis process. A clarified brine is recovered from the magnesium hydroxide precipitation step and may then be naturally or thermally evaporated to produce a saturated slurry of salt solids. This slurry can then be further reduced to dryness by solar evaporation.
132 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for processing industrial waste water containing magnesium and calcium salts which comprises:
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(a) adding magnesium hydroxide and gaseous carbon dioxide to the waste water in an amount sufficient to precipitate calcium carbonate in the water; (b) settling the precipitates in said water and recovering a treated water having substantially reduced calcium content and a higher magnesium salt content than said waste water; (c) processing the treated water by reverse osmosis, distillation, electroldialysis or freezing to obtain a purified water and a residual brine enriched in calcium and magnesium contents; (d) adding calcium hydroxide to at least a portion of said brine in an amount sufficient to precipitate magnesium hydroxide therefrom; (e) separating said magnesium hydroxide from said brine; and (f) returning said magnesium hyroxide for addition to said waste water in the aforesaid precipitation of calcium carbonate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. The method of processing waste water from an electrical power generation plant which comprises:
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(a) adding calcium hydroxide to the waste water in an amount sufficient to coprecipitate magnesium hydroxide and silica in the water; (b) adding magnesium hydroxide and gaseous carbon dioxide to the waste water in an amount sufficient to precipitate calcium carbonate in the water; (c) settling the precipitates in said water and recovering a treated water having substantially reduced silica and calcium contents and a higher magnesium salt content than said waste water; (d) processing the treated water by reverse osmosis, distillation, electrodialysis or freezing to obtain a purified water and a residual brine enriched in calcium and magnesium contents; (e) adding calcium hydroxide to at least a portion of said brine in an amount sufficient to precipitate magnesium hydroxide therefrom; (f) separating said magnesium hydroxide from said brine; (g) returning said magnesium hydroxide for addition to said waste water in the aforesaid precipitation of calcium carbonate; and (h) processing said brine from step (f) by vapor compression evaporation to concentrate said brine to a slurry of salt solids.
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Specification