Patent ID: 11891319
Assignee: nan
Field: Environmental technology (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  Y | IPC C

Claim 6:
7. A method for treating wastewater comprising:
applying a biological process to reduce dissolved contaminants in the wastewater including at least one of organic matter and nitrogenous matter, wherein the biological process comprises growing unicellular organisms adapted to digest the dissolved contaminants;
after applying the biological process, substantially removing the unicellular organisms from the wastewater;
substantially removing undissolved solid contaminants from the wastewater;
whereby treated wastewater is formed;
forming majority and minority flows of the treated wastewater essentially consisting of majority and minority volumes thereof;
transferring heat from the majority flow to the minority flow to increase temperature of the minority flow with a heat transfer assembly comprising a first heat exchanger fluidically coupled to the majority flow of the treated wastewater, a second heat exchanger fluidically coupled to the minority flow of the treated wastewater and an intervening heat pump fluidically coupled between the first and second heat exchangers, so that heat is transferred from the majority flow of the treated wastewater to heat transfer fluid, and therefrom to the minority flow of the treated wastewater;
mixing the heated minority flow of the treated wastewater with wastewater before applying the biological process to increase temperature of wastewater for treatment; and
after transferring heat from the majority flow to the minority flow, discharging the majority flow of the treated wastewater.