Freeze-Separation Chamber for High-Concentration Wastewater Brines
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wastewater treatment technologies struggle to efficiently separate water from contaminants and minerals, particularly in high-concentration brine solutions, often requiring lengthy processes and being ineffective for complex mixtures like those from mining or fracking, which can contain multiple salts and other contaminants.
Innovation Solution
A wastewater processing system that utilizes a chamber where wastewater droplets are sprayed into a super-cold gas environment, forming a shell of freshwater ice that explosively separates into hemispherical shells, forcing contaminants into the liquid core, using cold gas temperatures below the eutectic point to facilitate rapid separation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional wastewater treatment methods are used to separate water from contaminants, then separation can be achieved, but the process is lengthy and inefficient particularly for high-concentration brine solutions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes rapid freezing of wastewater droplets to form ice shells, exploiting the phase transition from liquid to solid. This phase change occurs almost instantaneously when droplets are exposed to super-cold gas, enabling rapid separation of water from contaminants in less than a second, thereby resolving the contradiction between separation efficiency and process duration
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the temperature parameter dramatically by introducing super-cold gas at temperatures below the eutectic point of the wastewater solution. This extreme temperature change triggers rapid freezing and explosive shell formation, achieving fast separation that overcomes the slowness of conventional treatment methods
2Reliability
If conventional methods are used to treat complex mixtures from mining or fracking, then treatment can occur, but the methods are ineffective for multiple salts and contaminants
Solution Approach 1:
The rapid freezing process creates a solid ice shell that selectively encapsulates water molecules while excluding dissolved salts and contaminants. This phase transition mechanism is universally effective regardless of the specific composition of contaminants, making the method reliable for complex mixtures from mining or fracking operations that contain multiple salts and impurities
Solution Approach 2:
The ice shell formation process extracts and separates water from the liquid core containing contaminants. The explosive separation cleanly divides the mixture into a solid water-containing shell and a liquid contaminant-containing core, effectively removing water from complex mixtures regardless of their compositional complexity
3Productivity
If rapid freezing is used to separate water from contaminants, then separation speed increases, but the process requires super-cold gas temperatures below eutectic point
Solution Approach 1:
The patent exploits the phase transition that occurs at the eutectic temperature of the wastewater solution. By using super-cold gas at or below this eutectic point, the system achieves instantaneous freezing and explosive shell formation, making the extreme temperature requirement worthwhile by achieving separation in less than a second
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-cools the gas to super-cold temperatures below the eutectic point before introducing it to the wastewater droplets. This preliminary cooling action ensures that when the droplets contact the gas, freezing occurs immediately and explosively, achieving rapid separation that justifies the extreme temperature preparation
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
Achieves rapid and efficient separation of freshwater from contaminants, allowing for high-purity water recovery and mineral extraction from complex brines in less than a second, overcoming limitations of conventional methods by exploiting the brittle fracture of ice shells and molecular forces.
Implementation Method 1
Each spherical droplet may be frozen from the outside to inside such that a shell of freshwater ice forms and continuously extends inward against the yet to be frozen liquid spherical core
Implementation Method 2
exposure of the wastewater droplets to the cold gas causes separation of water from contaminants in the wastewater droplets
Implementation Method 3
The tensile stresses in the shell build as the ice thickens. At the critical tensile fracture stress the ice shell splits into two hemispheres
Implementation Method 4
The separation may cause the two hemispheres to quickly and cleanly move away from the remaining liquid core
Implementation Method 5
the ice crystal formation forces any contaminant within its cage-like structure from within itself and forces the contaminant to completely transfer into the liquid core
Implementation Method 6
the ice crystal formation forces any contaminant within its cage-like structure from within itself
Implementation Method 7
delays in solidification of saturated liquid solutions are minimized by using gaseous nitrogen temperatures at −140° F.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are systems and methods for wastewater processing using methods of separation by freezing. Wastewater is purified into ice by flowing a stream of gas at the eutectic temperature of the wastewater in either a counter-flow or co-flow configuration with a flowing liquid column of wastewater within an insulated chamber, forming particles of water ice from the wastewater flow.