Vacuum Bioreactor Evaporation for Wastewater Solids Thickening
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Vacuum evaporators are not used in combination with biochemical processes to treat wastewater streams for purification or to remove contaminants, and they do not efficiently manage biosolids, leading to inefficient energy use and separate processes for dewatering and biochemical reactions.
Innovation Solution
A method that integrates biochemical transformation of biosolids with microbes under vacuum pressure, allowing for the simultaneous evaporation of soluble fractions and thickening of particulate fractions, with controlled retention times to enhance biodegradation and produce high-quality waste product streams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If vacuum evaporators are used for dewatering wastewater, then water removal efficiency is improved, but biochemical transformation of solids is not achieved and contaminant removal is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines vacuum evaporation and biochemical transformation processes into a single integrated system. The vacuum evaporator chamber serves dual functions: removing water through evaporation and enabling biochemical transformation of solids through controlled vacuum conditions. This merging resolves the contradiction by achieving both dewatering efficiency and purification effectiveness simultaneously in one process rather than requiring separate sequential processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum evaporator is designed to perform multiple functions: dewatering through evaporation, biochemical transformation of solids, contaminant removal, and potential product recovery. This multi-functionality allows the single device to address both the dewatering efficiency requirement and the purification effectiveness requirement, resolving the technical contradiction between these two opposing needs.
2Reliability
If residence time is extended for biodegradation, then transformation quality is improved, but treatment chamber volume increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies vacuum pressure as a critical parameter change that accelerates the biochemical transformation process. By reducing pressure in the treatment chamber, the rate of biodegradation and contaminant removal is enhanced, allowing high-quality transformation to occur in a shorter time frame. This parameter change resolves the contradiction by enabling extended residence time benefits without requiring proportionally larger chamber volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated vacuum evaporation-biochemical transformation system operates continuously with both processes occurring simultaneously. The vacuum condition maintains continuous water removal and continuous biochemical transformation, maximizing the utilization of chamber volume over time. This continuous operation allows shorter actual residence times to achieve the same transformation quality that would require longer intermittent processing in conventional systems.
3Productivity
If vacuum pressure is applied for evaporation, then water removal rate is improved, but energy efficiency is not optimized without heat recovery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates heat recovery mechanisms that capture thermal energy from the evaporation process and feed it back into the system. The vacuum evaporator is designed with heat exchange surfaces that recover latent heat from evaporating water and use it to preheat incoming wastewater or maintain chamber temperature. This feedback loop resolves the contradiction by maintaining high evaporation rates under vacuum while significantly reducing net energy consumption through internal heat recycling.
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 method enables longer retention times, reduced treatment chamber volumes, higher quality process streams, and recovery of valuable products, while minimizing waste and optimizing energy efficiency by decoupling the retention times of soluble and particulate fractions.
Implementation Method 1
biochemically transforming solids in the particulate fraction of the fluid with microbes
Implementation Method 2
evaporating off at least a portion of the soluble fraction of the fluid while subjecting the fluid to a vacuum pressure
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems are described for treating a fluid that includes a particulate fraction and a soluble fraction, such as wastewater fluid including biosolids. The treatment includes biochemically transforming solids in the particulate fraction of the fluid in a biochemical process while simultaneously subjecting the fluid to a vacuum pressure, and evaporating off at least a portion of the soluble fraction of the fluid and thereby thickening a remaining portion of the fluid. A residence time of the particulate fraction can be controlled to be at least 25% greater than a residence time of the soluble fraction, for example. A solids content of the particulate fraction can be controlled to be in a range of from 2% to 99%, for example.