Clean Water Services

Other

Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc.

Robert James Baur

Ram Prasad Melahalli Sathyanarayana

Chris Maher

Mike Gates

Matt Kuzma

A method of treating a mixture of microorganisms containing phosphorus and magnesium, by first inducing the mixture microorganisms to release phosphorus and magnesium. Next an emancipation or elutriation is performed. Phosphorus and magnesium-rich liquid is then tapped off as the mixture is thickened, to produce phosphorus and magnesium-rich liquid and phosphorus and magnesium-reduced treated mixture. This treated mixture is placed in an anaerobic digester where ammonia is formed but combines very little with phosphorus or magnesium as these elements have been reduced in concentration. Then the high-ammonia mixture is dewatered, to produce an ammonia-rich liquid, which is combined with the phosphorus and magnesium-rich liquid. In one preferred example a useable struvite product is harvested from this combination. Additionally, the production of nuisance struvite in the anaerobic digester is reduced, in comparison with prior art waste treatment methods.

Emancipative waste activated sludge stripping to remove internal phosphorus ('eWASSTRIP')

A method of treating a mixture of microorganisms with readily biodegradable carbon compounds (RBCs) in the form of one or more volatile fatty acids (VFAs), by first inducing the mixture microorganisms to release phosphorus and magnesium which is then tapped o as the mixture is thickened, to produce a phosphorus/magnesium-nch liquid and a phosphorus/magnesium-reduced treated mixture This treated mixture is placed in an anaerobic digester where ammonia is formed, but combines very little with phosphorus or magnesium Next the high-ammonia mixture is dewatered to produce an ammonia-rich liquid, which is combined with the phosphorus and magnesium-rich liquid and reacted to form struvite In one preferred embodiment, VFAs are formed in situ via an upstream unified fermentation and thickening (UFAT) process and added to the waste sidestream to strip phosphorus and magnesium found therein In another preferred embodiment a usable struvite product is harvested.

Waste activated sludge phosphorus and magnesium stripping process and struvite production system

A method of treating a mixture of microorganisms containing phosphorus and magnesium, by first inducing the mixture microorganisms to release phosphorus and magnesium which is then tapped off as the mixture is thickened, to produce phosphorus and magnesium-rich liquid and phosphorus and magnesium-reduced treated mixture. This treated mixture is placed in an anaerobic digester where ammonia is formed but combines very little with phosphorus or magnesium as these elements have been greatly reduced in concentration. Next the high-ammonia mixture is dewatered, to produce an ammonia-rich liquid, which is combined with the phosphorus and magnesium-rich liquid. In one preferred embodiment a useable struvite product is harvested from this combination. Additionally, the production of nuisance struvite in the anaerobic digester is greatly reduced, in comparison with prior art waste treatment methods.

Waste activated sludge stripping to remove internal phosphorus

A method for treating wastewater that generates a supernatant having a concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) that falls within a specified range and a sludge that has percent total solids. The method includes the steps of providing a fermentation tank and a gravity thickener, operatively connected to the fermentation tank. The wastewater is permitted to flow continually or intermittently into the fermentation tank and a portion of the wastewater overflows the fermentation tank, thereby defining an overflow rate. The fermentation tank is subjected to anaerobic conditions and the wastewater in the tank is permitted to stratify so that sludge forms at the bottom of the tank. In addition the sludge is continually pumped from the bottom of the fermentation tank so that each stratification level within the fermentation tank corresponds to a sludge residence time that in turn corresponds to a range of VFA concentrations. The overflow from the fermentation tank is combined with the sludge from the fermentation tank in the gravity thickener, permitting VFAs to be separated from the sludge and mixed into the overflow to form a supernatant rich in VFAs. The sludge is conditioned by elutriation to improve settling characteristics. The rate of the pumping of the sludge from the bottom of the gravity thickener tank to a proportion of the overflow rate, the proportion being set such that the sludge has the specified percent total solids independent of VFA production.

Growing community of inventors

Lake Oswego, OR, United States of America

Robert James Baur