Pressurized Wastewater Reclamation Module for Compact Footprint
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wastewater recycling methods are inadequate in removing ammonia, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, personal care products, enteric virus, and protozoan cysts/oocysts from municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent, requiring large spaces, high operational costs, and inefficient oxygen transfer, which limits the production of high-quality reclaimed water.
Innovation Solution
A completely pressurized water reclamation method that increases ozone and oxygen concentration, uses ultrafiltration or microfiltration, and incorporates a fluidized bed bioreactor with biofilm growth media, allowing for decentralized operation and data collection, while reducing chemical use and system footprint.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional biological oxidation and filtration processes are used to treat wastewater, then treatment capacity is maintained, but system footprint and land requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by operating the bioreactor at elevated pressures (1-10 atm) and temperatures (20-120°C) to intensify the biological oxidation process. This allows achieving the same treatment capacity in a much smaller reactor volume, directly resolving the contradiction between treatment capacity and system footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses pressurized oxygen (1-10 atm) as a strong oxidant to accelerate the biological oxidation process. This intensified oxidation enables faster contaminant removal rates, allowing compact reactor design while maintaining high treatment capacity, thus resolving the footprint-productivity contradiction.
2Ease of operation
If atmospheric pressure oxygen transfer is used in biological treatment, then operational simplicity is maintained, but oxygen transfer efficiency is insufficient requiring large reactor volumes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the pressure parameter from atmospheric to elevated pressures (1-10 atm) to dramatically increase oxygen transfer rates into the wastewater. This resolves the contradiction by achieving high productivity through pressurization while maintaining operational simplicity through automated pressure control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs pneumatic principles by using pressurized gas injection systems to deliver oxygen at elevated pressures directly into the bioreactor. This enhances oxygen transfer efficiency and rate, resolving the contradiction between operational simplicity and productivity.
3Productivity
If conventional filtration processes are used to remove contaminants, then contaminant removal is achieved, but removal efficiency for viruses and cysts is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite filtration media combining multiple filtration mechanisms (physical straining, adsorption, and biological degradation) in a single integrated system. This achieves high contaminant removal efficiency including viruses and cysts while managing device complexity through integrated design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses advanced oxidation processes with pressurized oxygen and ozone to chemically degrade and inactivate contaminants including viruses and cysts. This enhances removal efficiency for difficult-to-remove pathogens while avoiding the need for complex multi-stage filtration systems.
4Ease of operation
If conventional treatment processes are used for reclaimed water production, then operational simplicity is maintained, but data collection and remote operation capabilities are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback control systems with sensors that continuously monitor operational parameters (pressure, temperature, flow rates, contaminant concentrations) and automatically adjust process conditions. This enables remote operation and data collection while managing control system complexity through automated feedback loops.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs self-diagnostic and self-regulating control systems that automatically monitor system health, detect anomalies, and adjust operations without external intervention. This enables remote operation capabilities while minimizing the complexity of external monitoring infrastructure.
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 approach results in a high-rate treatment process that produces high-quality reclaimed water with reduced concentrations of contaminants, enabling a smaller, cost-effective system suitable for remote operation and meeting the demands of industrial cooling and potable reuse applications.
Implementation Method 1
uniformly super-oxygenating the pressurized influent wastewater stream so as to dissolve the ozone and/or oxygen
Implementation Method 2
increases ozone and/or oxygen concentration for oxidation
Implementation Method 3
fluidized bed bioreactor with biofilm growth media
Implementation Method 4
biological oxidation of wastewater followed by filtration and disinfection
Implementation Method 5
provides ultrafiltration or microfiltration of oxidized wastewater
Implementation Method 6
provides ultrafiltration or microfiltration of oxidized wastewater
Implementation Method 7
A completely pressurized water reclamation method that increases ozone and/or oxygen concentration
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for the reclamation of secondary or tertiary municipal wastewater contaminated with ammonia and pharmaceuticals and wherein the systemic output is explicitly for use in industrial cooling, as feed to reverse osmosis, and as feed to advanced oxidation processes. A module having a footprint substantially less than current wastewater reclamation facilities entirely the gas transfer device, the upflow bioreactor, the media separator and a strainer that facilitates the method and system. Throughout the reclamation process, the streams interconnecting the systemic influent and the systemic output or effluent is under various pressures about standard atmospheric pressure to enable the smaller footprint of the module.