Patent ID: 6569338
Filing Date: 2003-05-27
Classification: C02F,Y02W

Abstract:
An integrated vertical wastewater treatment apparatus for placement as a unit on a land site to treat influent wastewater, comprising:a vessel having a closed bottom and an open upper end; an inlet for communicating a flow of influent wastewater having suspended solids through a mixing chamber into a lower portion of the vessel therein for sanitary treatment; an aeration zone in the lower portion of the vessel for receiving the flow of the wastewater with the suspended solids for treatment; a plurality of nozzles disposed within the aeration zone and communicating with a supply of low-pressure air for injecting oxygen into the aeration zone to facilitate biological digestion of the suspended solids in the wastewater for sanitary treatment and the conversion of the suspended solids into activated sludge; an airlift having an inlet at a first end communicating with a portion of the aeration zone in which the activated sludge gathers in concentration, the airlift having an outlet at a second opposing end, the airlift communicating with a supply of pressurized air to create a flow of concentrated activated sludge by a plurality of air bubbles moving from an air inlet through an uplift tube of the airlift; the mixing chamber receiving the flow of the wastewater with the suspended solids and concentrated activated solids from the aeration zone from an outlet of the uplift tube; a secondary clarifier in a portion of the vessel superior to the aeration zone for receiving a flow of wastewater and sludge from the aeration zone by influence of the plurality of air bubbles introduced through the nozzles in the aeration zone, the secondary clarifier comprising a pair of opposing baffles and each baffle having a sludge receiving plate disposed at an oblique angle relative to the respective baffle and extending towards the opposing baffle to define a gap between lower distal end portions for the wastewater and sludge to flow into the secondary clarifier, with one of the receiving plates extending past the opposing receiving plate to define a threshold to the secondary clarifier, the baffles causing a stilling of the wastewater in the secondary clarifier while the flow of the wastewater induced by the air bubbles carries the wastewater and the suspended solids into the secondary clarifier with the sludge being deposited settlingly on the receiving plates where it accumulates and falls by mass into the aeration zone, resulting in treated water separated from sludge; a trough disposed in the secondary clarifier for receiving treated water separated from the sludge in the secondary clarifier; and a treated water outlet communicating with the trough for directing the treated water outwardly of the treatment apparatus.