Mobile station for diagnosing and modeling site specific effluent treatment facility requirements

• US 9,776,893 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2014
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rockwater Resource LLC
• Original Assignee: Rockwater Resource LLC
• Inventors: Wiemers, Reginald A., Kohlheb, Robert, Khalili, Bardia B., Lipovszki, Gyorgy, Zahn, Peter H.
• Primary Examiner(s): DRODGE, JOSEPH W
• Application Number:
  US14/120,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20140332450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• Field of Search: 210 85, 210 961, 210 962, 210103, 210134, 210139, 210143, 210182, 210188, 210192, 210202, 210203, 210241, 210259, 210260, 21032172, 210739, 210746, 210767, 210806, 210663, 210669, 210650, 210651, 700 28- 31, 700273, 703 2, 703 6, 703 7, 703 9, 703 10, 703 12, 706 25, 706 33
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 61/025 Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 61/026 comprising multiple reverse osmosis steps
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 61/027 Nanofiltration
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 61/029 Multistep processes comprising different kinds of membrane processes selected from reverse osmosis, hyperfiltration or nanofiltration
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/008 Control or steering systems not provided for elsewhere in subclass C02F
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/20 by degassing, i.e. liberation of dissolved gases degasification of liquids in general B01D19/00; arrangement of degassing apparatus in boiler feed supply F22D
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/28 by sorption using ion-exchange C02F1/42; sorbent compositions B01J
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/32 with ultraviolet light
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/38 by centrifugal separation
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/42 by ion-exchange ion-exchange in general B01J
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/44 by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis general membrane separation processes B01D61/00, membrane modules B01D63/00, electrodialysis C02F1/4693, combination of membrane modules and bioreactors C02F3/1268
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/441 by reverse osmosis
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/442 by nanofiltration
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/444 by ultrafiltration or microfiltration
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/463 by electrocoagulation
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/52 by flocculation or precipitation of suspended impurities C02F1/463 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/66 by neutralisation; pH adjustment for degassing C02F1/20; using ion-exchange C02F1/42; for flocculation or precipitation of suspended impurities C02F1/52; for removing dissolved compounds C02F1/58
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2001/007 Processes including a sedimentation step
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2201/008 Mobile apparatus and plants, e.g. mounted on a vehicle for biological treatment C02F2203/008
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2201/461 Electrolysis apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2201/4612 : Controlling or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2209/00 : Controlling or monitoring parameters in water treatment
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2209/006 : comprising a software program or a logic diagram
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2209/008 : comprising telecommunication features, e.g. modems or antennas
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 3/082 : Rotating biological contactors
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 9/00 : Multistage treatment of water, waste water or sewage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 10/10 : Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage

Abstract

A mobile station and methods are disclosed for diagnosing and modeling site specific effluent treatment facility requirements to arrive at a treatment regimen and/or proposed commercial plant model idealized for the particular water/site requirements. The station includes a mobile platform having power intake, effluent intake and fluid outflow facilities and first and second suites of selectably actuatable effluent pre-treatment apparatus. An effluent polishing treatment array is housed at the station and includes at least one of nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and ion-exchange stages. A suite of selectively actuatable post-treatment apparatus is housed at the station. Controls are connected at the station for process control, monitoring and data accumulation. A plurality of improved water treatment technologies is also disclosed. The modeling methods include steps for analyzing raw effluent to be treated, providing a field of raw effluent condition entry values and a field of treated effluent condition goals entry values, and utilizing said fields to determine an initial treatment model including a selection of, and use parameters for, treatment technologies from the plurality of down-scaled treatment technologies at the facility, the model dynamically and continuously modifiable during treatment modeling.

Claims

1. A mobile station for diagnosing and modeling site specific effluent treatment facility requirements to arrive at least at one proposed full-scale plant model optimized for the site and for achievement of full-scale plant effluent treatment goals comprising:

a mobile platform including power intake, effluent intake and fluid outflow facilities;

a plurality of available down-scaled treatment technologies including a first suite of selectably actuatable effluent pre-treatment apparatus housed by said mobile platform and connected with said effluent intake facility of said mobile platform, an effluent polishing treatment array housed by said mobile platform and connected with said suite of pre-treatment apparatus, and a suite of selectably actuatable effluent post-treatment apparatus housed by said mobile platform and connected with said effluent polishing treatment array and said fluid outflow facility of said mobile platform;

a plurality of evaluation instrumentation connectable with at least some of different ones of said power intake, said effluent intake, said fluid outflow facilities, and said plurality of available down-scaled treatment technologies for analyzing effluent treated at the site and providing evaluation data output; and

a controller connectable at said mobile platform for process control at said plurality of available down-scaled treatment technologies and data accumulation from said evaluation instrumentation to thereby optimize a site specific effluent treatment regimen and establish a site specific effluent treatment facility model, said controller including processing means for receiving indicia indicative of said evaluation data output from said evaluation instrumentation to provide a field of raw effluent condition entry values, for determining treatment goals for said raw effluent to provide a field of treated effluent condition entry values, for utilizing said fields to determine an initial treatment model including a selection of, and use parameters for, selected ones of said treatment technologies from said plurality of available down-scaled treatment technologies, for utilizing said fields to initially reject a selection of other said treatment technologies from said plurality of available down-scaled treatment technologies, and for evaluating efficacy of effluent treatment in accord with said treatment model at said station.

2. The mobile station of claim 1 wherein said indicia indicative of said evaluation data output from said evaluation instrumentation includes data input establishing site specific effluent quality parameters and output establishing treatment parameters.

3. The mobile station of claim 2 further comprising effluent testing means for initial and ongoing evaluation of effluent quality at selected treatment intervals connected with said control means.

4. The mobile station of claim 1 further comprising a second suite of selectably actuatable effluent pre-treatment apparatus housed by said mobile platform and operationally associated with said first suite of pre-treatment apparatus, said second suite of pre-treatment apparatus including chemical treatment apparatus, membrane aeration apparatus and electrocoagulation apparatus.

5. The mobile station of claim 1 wherein said first suite of pre-treatment apparatus includes membrane aeration apparatus, degassification apparatus and filtration apparatus.

6. The mobile station of claim 1 wherein said effluent polishing treatment array includes nanofiltration and reverse osmosis treatment stages.

7. The mobile station of claim 1 wherein said suite of post-treatment apparatus includes filtration apparatus, sodium absorption ratio compensation apparatus, UV treatment apparatus and aeration apparatus.

8. A temporary facility for water quality analysis, treatment modeling, selective contaminated water processing, and data accumulation at a particular treatment site to arrive at a site specific proposed commercial water treatment plant model idealized for the particular water/site requirements, said facility comprising:

a plurality of down-scaled treatment technologies including a first suite of selectably actuatable effluent pre-treatment apparatus connected with a feed water intake, a second suite of selectably actuatable effluent pre-treatment apparatus operationally associated with said first suite of pre-treatment apparatus, a water polishing treatment array connected to receive feed water after selected processing at said first and second suites of pre-treatment apparatus, said water polishing treatment array including at least one of a membrane treatment array and an ion-exchange treatment array, and a suite of selectably actuatable post-treatment apparatus connected to receive water processed through said water polishing treatment array and providing therefrom a treated water outflow;

a plurality of evaluation instrumentation connectable with at least some of different ones of said suites and said array for analyzing effluent treated at the site and providing evaluation data output indicia indicative of raw effluent to be treated at the site and treated effluent at the facility; and

a controller connectable for process control of said suites and said array and data accumulation from said evaluation instrumentation to thereby optimize a site specific effluent treatment regimen and establish the proposed commercial water treatment plant model, said controller including processing means for receiving said data output indicia from said evaluation instrumentation to establish analysis of raw effluent to be treated at the site to provide a field of raw effluent condition entry values, for determining treatment goals for said raw effluent to provide a field of treated effluent condition entry values, both of said fields including substantially the same entries, for utilizing said fields to determine an initial treatment model including a selection of, and use parameters for, said treatment technologies from said plurality of the down-scaled treatment technologies at the facility, and for continuously evaluating output indicia indicative of effluent treated at the facility in accord with said treatment model to provide data regarding effluent treatment related to a subset of said entry values of said fields to determine whether said treatment goals are met by said initial treatment model, and if not met to continuously establish revised treatment models during ongoing effluent treatment including another selection of, and use parameters for, said plurality of down-scaled treatment technologies at the facility, and if met by any one of said initial treatment model or revised treatment models to establish the site specific proposed commercial water treatment plant model.

9. The facility of claim 8 wherein said evaluation instrumentation includes feed water quality evaluation and process quality monitoring inputs for automated multi-stage water quality testing and reporting.

10. The facility of claim 8 wherein said first suite of pre-treatment apparatus includes membrane aeration apparatus, density reduction apparatus, degassification apparatus including venturi gas evacuation, fine filtration apparatus, clarification apparatus, and sludge concentration apparatus.

11. The facility of claim 8 wherein said second suite of pre-treatment apparatus includes chemical treatment apparatus, membrane aeration apparatus, ionization apparatus, electrocoagulation apparatus, cyclone separation apparatus, and degassing apparatus.

12. The facility of claim 8 wherein said water polishing treatment array includes said membrane treatment array, said membrane treatment array having nanofiltration and reverse osmosis treatment stages utilizing high speed crossflow pumping at both said stages and high frequency membrane separation at said nanofiltration stage.

13. The facility of claim 8 wherein said suite of post-treatment apparatus includes activated carbon filtration, sodium absorption ratio compensation apparatus, UV disinfection apparatus and membrane aeration apparatus.

14. A mobile temporary facility for diagnosing and modeling site specific water treatment requirements to arrive at a proposed commercial plant model idealized for particular water/site requirements comprising:

a mobile station for locating the temporary facility at the site, said station having a plurality of available treatment technologies located thereat;

feed water analyzing means at said station for obtaining an analysis of feed water to be treated at the site; and

control means at said station for establishing a preliminary treatment model at said facility based on said analysis and selected treatment goals, for selecting a treatment regimen utilizing selected ones of said plurality of available treatment technologies at said station and in accord with said treatment model, for monitoring treatment of the feed water at said station in accord with said regimen, compiling data related to feed water treatment and reporting treatment efficacy, for determining at said station when treatment goals are not met by said preliminary treatment model and establishing a revised treatment model and regimen utilizing selected ones of said plurality of available treatment technologies at said station and in accord with said revised treatment model, and, when treatment goals are determined to have been met by said preliminary treatment model or said revised treatment model, for establishing the proposed commercial plant model.

15. The facility of claim 14 wherein said control means establishes at least one of facility design, construction cost estimates and treatment cost estimates of the proposed commercial plant model.

16. The facility of claim 14 wherein said feed water analyzing means includes a plurality of water quality testing parameters.

17. The facility of claim 14 wherein the said plurality of available treatment technologies located at said mobile station includes pre-treatment, water polishing treatment and post-treatment stage technologies.

18. The facility of claim 17 wherein said pre-treatment stage includes a suite of selectably actuatable pre-treatment apparatus at said station.

19. The facility of claim 17 wherein said post-treatment stage includes a suite of selectably actuatable post-treatment apparatus at said station.

20. The facility of claim 17 wherein said water polishing treatment stage includes at least one of ion-exchange, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis treatments at said station.