Baker Hughes Corporation

Baker International Inc.

Frederick M Riser

David DiGregorio

Mark G Biesinger

Richard J Eismin

A thickener well is provided in one end of a digester orbital ditch having a pair of channels and an elongated center partition spaced from a pair of ditch endwalls, the overall ditch forming a basin for digestion of wasted sludge. A curved endwall of the ditch provides a common curved top outer peripheral wall of the thickener well. The remainder of the well has a cylindrical configuration integral with the orbital ditch bottom and extending downwardly therefrom to a position below the horizontal plane of the ditch bottom. A sludge raking structure is positioned at the bottom of the well for periodically raking settled sludge into a sludge outlet at the bottom of the well. A surface aerator is provided between and spaced from the other ditch endwall and a juxtaposed end of the partition or other aeration apparatus mounted in a channel(s) to aerate and propel a liquid-solids sludge mixture wasted from a secondary treatment apparatus and fed into the orbital ditch. The mixture is circulated in the ditch and across and through a top portion of the well. The orbital ditch may be decanted by turning off the aerator, allowing a clear liquid top layer to form in the ditch and decanting the clear liquid from the tank by lowering a weir or by adding additional activated sludge to the ditch to displace clear liquid over a fixed weir.

Aerobic waste sludge digester-thickener orbital system and method

An improved wastewater aeration and mixed liquor pumping arrangement for an orbital-type actuated sludge purification method includes the addition of a radial flow impeller on a shaft extension below the normal surface aerator. Both the combined radial flow impeller and surface aerator are positioned with respect to an end of a partition wall forming the flow channels of the orbital system such that both the impeller and the aerator pump the mixed liquor in the same direction, so that the mixed liquor is moved at a sufficient velocity through and around the various channels and returned. The radial flow impeller is positioned adjacent to the bottom of the orbital channel and enhances the propulsion of the mixed liquor along the bottom of the channel thus permitting deeper channels with attendant concrete and land area savings in constructing the system. The system may be operated at various wastewater levels so that when oxygenation levels are high or oxygenation needs are low, the level is lowered by a weir so that only the lower radial impeller functions to propel the mixed liquor. Auxiliary compressed or aspirated air may also be inputted through the lower radial impeller.

Growing community of inventors

Sandy, UT, United States of America

Frederick M Riser