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Method and apparatus for treating a liquid mixture

  • US 5,082,560 A
  • Filed: 03/09/1990
  • Issued: 01/21/1992
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/20/1989
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for treating a liquid mixture to separate a clarified fraction therefrom leaving a concentrated sludge fraction, comprising:

  • a vertical tank having a perforated plate spaced from its upper end dividing the tank into an upper chamber and a lower chamber;

    means for injecting a flocculent material in the liquid mixture;

    a tangential inlet in said lower chamber of the vertical tank at a location substantially above its bottom for inletting the liquid mixture and flocculent material tangentially into the lower chamber to produce a flow in said lower chamber having a rotational velocity in the horizontal direction adjacent to the outer periphery of said lower chamber, and a lower rotational velocity in the horizontal direction adjacent to the center of said lower chamber;

    the holes in said perforated plate defining reduced-area passages from the lower chamber to the upper chamber producing a vertical flow of low velocity in the lower chamber and of higher velocity through said passages, whereby the flocculent material flocks with most of the solid particles in the liquid mixture at the lower part of the lower chamber and with the remaining solid particles at the upper part of the lower chamber, such that a clarified fraction passes through the holes in the plate to the upper chamber, leaving a concentrated sludge fraction in the lower chamber;

    a radial outlet in the upper chamber for outletting the clarified fraction therefrom to produce a radial flow of the clarified fraction in the upper chamber radially across the perforated plate thereby permitting settling of solid particles in the clarified fraction through the perforated plate back to the lower chamber; and

    an outlet in the bottom of the lower chamber for outletting the concentrated sludge fraction therefrom.

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