Gas burial disposal capsules

Abstract

The water aeration capsules provide a quick and highly portable system for aerating polluted water. The capsules contain bubbles of air, oxygen, and/or other gas(es) surrounded by a water soluble membrane. The capsules are ballasted to sink. Magnetically attractive ballast elements may be provided, and a magnetic sheet may be placed on the bottom of a smaller body of water to enhance the settling of the capsules. The gas burial disposal capsules may be formed of non-degradable material for substantially permanent gas storage, or of degradable material to allow the gases to slowly permeate the surrounding earth for slow and relatively harmless release. The gas may be pressurized within the capsules to approximately the pressure of the surrounding earth.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a continuation of my prior application Ser. No. 13 / 297,080, filed Nov. 15, 2011 now pending, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 219,561, filed on Aug. 26, 2011.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates generally to water treatment and gas disposal systems, and particularly to various embodiments of water aeration capsules and gas burial disposal capsules and dispensing means therefor.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]The contamination of various bodies of water by various means is an increasingly serious problem worldwide. Perhaps the most widespread contaminants are organic materials that enter the water system due to pollution from human habitation either directly or indirectly, e.g., pollution from farms and the like. Such pollution can affect inland fresh water supplies (lakes and rivers), and can also be carried to the sea by in...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The present invention relates to capsules that may be used for water aeration and to capsules that may be used for gas burial disposal (disposal of the gas by burying capsules enclosing the gas). The water aeration capsules comprise several embodiments of water soluble capsules containing oxygen, air, and / or other gas(es) therein. The capsules may be formed to have any practicable shape or configuration. The gas impervious outer shell, skin, or membrane is formed of a water soluble material, such as various salts, sugars, and / or water soluble polymers, e.g., various polyvinyl alcohols, and numerous other conventional materials and substances. Regardless of the specific shape or configuration of the capsules and / or the material used to form the outer shell or skin, all of the capsules include some form of ballast material, resulting in the capsules having negative net buoyancy, i.e., a capsule specific gravity greater than one. The ballast material may comprise any of a number of different materials, so long as the specific gravity of the ballast material is greater than one. Examples of such ballast material are various non-toxic metals, sand, clay, and / or fish bait or other food for aquatic animals. The use of such aquatic animal food as ballast provides a twofold benefit for the capsules, in that (1) it causes the capsules to sink, and (2) provides nutrition for aquatic animal life in the treated body of water, once the capsules have dissolved.

Problems solved by technology

The contamination of various bodies of water by various means is an increasingly serious problem worldwide.

The biochemical processes that occur in water due to such organic pollution are well known to decrease the oxygen content of the water, thereby reducing or perhaps even destroying fish and other aquatic life in the contaminated body of water.

Even if some fish remain in the polluted water, they are almost certainly unfit for human consumption if caught.

However, such bacteria are aerobic, i.e., they require oxygen for their metabolism.

Such mechanical systems are relatively costly to operate and require relatively high energy and manpower costs.

Even if such systems were less costly to operate, a huge drawback is that they cannot be readily transported to a pollution site for operation at that site.

Rather, the water must be transported to the location of the aeration system, a process that is clearly unworkable on a very large scale and / or over very long distances.

In addition to the above problems relating primarily to the aquatic and marine environments, numerous gases are formed as a result of various industrial processes.

Many of these gases are released into the atmosphere where they create various environmental problems, e.g., respiratory difficulties for many people, damage to the natural and man-made environment, etc.

Neutralizing or destroying many of these unwanted and hazardous gases is often quite difficult, and in some cases {e.g., burning or oxidizing the gases) may result in even more hazardous and / or undesirable gases as an end result or as a byproduct.

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