Anaerobic Reactor Settler with Nested Plates and Gas Hoods
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing anaerobic wastewater treatment systems face challenges in efficiently separating biogas, liquids, and solids due to biogas attachment to biomass, leading to reduced biomass retention and reactor performance, necessitating a more effective three-phase separation method.
Innovation Solution
The design of a reactor with a sludge section, nested plate settler, and separator section featuring overlapped, sloped gas hoods or baffles, which allows upward movement of the biogas-liquids-solid mixture, driven by influent and recycled water, to separate biogas and solids from liquids, enhancing settling efficiency and preventing biogas from carrying solids into the settler.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If existing high rate upflow anaerobic reactors are designed to allow upward flow of biogas-liquids-solids mixture, then biomass concentration can be maintained, but biogas attaches to biomass and causes it to float to effluent, reducing biomass retention and reactor performance
Solution Approach 1:
The reactor is divided into distinct functional sections: a sludge section for biomass concentration, a separator section with gas hoods to capture biogas, and a settler section for solids-liquid separation. This segmentation prevents biogas from carrying biomass to the effluent by intercepting gas in the separator section, while maintaining high biomass concentration in the sludge section.
Solution Approach 2:
Gas hoods or baffles are introduced as intermediary elements in the separator section. These structures capture biogas bubbles before they can attach to and carry biomass particles to the effluent, acting as a mediator between the upward flow and the biomass retention requirement.
2Reliability
If a settler is designed with larger diameter than sludge section, then channeling of biogas along walls can be limited, but reactor space utilization may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing the horizontal diameter of the settler, the patent uses vertical gas hoods or baffles in the separator section to address biogas channeling. This dimensional approach captures biogas in the vertical flow path before it reaches the settler, maintaining compact reactor geometry while ensuring uniform biogas distribution.
3Productivity
If nested plates are used in the settler to maximize surface settling area, then settling efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Nested plates are arranged concentrically within the settler, with each plate containing the previous one. This nesting configuration maximizes the surface settling area within a compact footprint, improving settling efficiency without proportionally increasing device complexity. The nested structure is space-efficient and can be manufactured as an integrated assembly.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration achieves a high settling efficiency of up to 90% at specific surface loading rates, effectively removing biogas and reactor solids, resulting in a substantially pure effluent and improved reactor performance.
Implementation Method 1
a settler configured as a multi-layered settler to maximize a surface settling area and improve a settling efficiency
Implementation Method 2
a separator section configured between the settler and the sludge section comprising a plurality of overlapped, sloped gas hoods or baffles
Implementation Method 3
allow a biogas-liquids-solid mixture to move upwards, driven by influent and recycled water
Data Source
AI summary
Anaerobic wastewater treatment systems, devices and methods complete three-phase separation of biogas, liquids and solids (e.g., biomass) using overlapped gas hoods or baffles and one or more conically-shaped settlers having a varying cross-sectional area.