IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Young of Kelly in the County of Renfrew North
Britain for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE
LETTERS PATENT to James Young of Kelly in the County of Renfrew North
Britain for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE
#5
AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Young at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th September 1882.
JAMES YOUNG of Kelly in the County of Renfrew North Britain "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR
This Invention which relates to Improvements in the treatment of sewage and
in apparatus to be used therefor is a development of the Invention for which
Letters Patent were granted to me the said James Young N° 3562 in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two
The present Improvements consist in expelling the ammonia and gaseous bodies
from sewage by admitting thereinto steam or steam and air but especially steam or
aqueous vapour whilst a partial vacuum is maintained in the apparatus under a
modification of working the apparatus described in the Specification of the said
James Young N° 9156 in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
forty one-Such modification may consist in causing the sewage to flow in a'thin
layer over the shelves of the said apparatus whilst the steam or steam and air passes
through it in the opposite direction or the sewage may fill the vessel in which case
the steam or steam and air is introduced at the bottom the shelves being inclined as
in the original apparatus-It is explained in the Specification describing the said
apparatus that it is therein employed for combining ammonia and other gases with
liquids whereas according to the present Invention the said apparatus is employed
or applied for expelling or separating ammonia and other gases from liquid sewage.
Instead of using the apparatus herein before mentioned for separating the
ammonia and other gases from sewage the apparatus known as a "Coffey Still'
may be substituted therefor or a tower containing coke twigs reeds straws or other
suitable material or fitted with shelves in such a manner as to expose a large
surface whilst allowing free passage for steam may be used as a modification of
Coffeys Still "-The sewage passing in at the top and taken out at the bottom
and the steam and air being sent in at the bottom and coming off at the top along
with the ammonia and other gases the partial vacuum being maintained in the
apparatus during the operation.
"
The steam or steam and air may in some cases be made to pass in the same
direction as the sewage.
..
.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
March 1883.
"IMPROVE-
JAMES YOUNG, of Kelly in the County of Renfrew, North Britain
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE AND IN APPARATUS TO BE
THEREFOR
USED
My said Invention which relates to improvements in the treatment of sewage
and in apparatus to be used therefor is a development of the Invention for which
Letters Patent were granted to me the said James Young N° 3562 A.D. 1882.
My original Invention consisted in boiling sewage or in submitting sewage to
the action of steam (either without treatment with lime or after treatment with
lime) by causing the steam to bubble through the sewage contained in a series of
vessels, a vacuum more or less complete being maintained in the apparatus and the
sewage operated upon at a temperature corresponding to its boiling point or
approximating thereto, which will be lowered to about 60° Fahrenheit if the
pressure be reduced to about half an inch of mercury.-If the pressure be greater
the working temperature is proportionally higher.
The present improvements consist in the first instance in using, instead of the
vessels described in the above mentioned Specification, an apparatus similar to that
described in an earlier Specification of the said James Young, namely the
Specification enrolled on the 11th day of May AD. 1841 in pursuance of a proviso.
contained in Letters Patent N° 9156, granted to me, the said James Young for an
invention entitled "Certain improvements in the manufacture of ammonia and the
salts of ammonia and in apparatus for combining ammonia, carbonic acid and other
gases with liquids." This apparatus consists of a vessel containing shelves of the
same width as the vessel but shorter than it and fixed at each end of the vessel
alternately so leaving a space at the other end of each shelf for the passage of liquid
and steam; each shelf being inclined upwards from the closed to the open end,
as shewn in the Drawing Figure 1, although if preferred the shelves may be
horizontal.
In the original Specification (N° 9156, AD. 1841) the apparatus is described as
for the purpose of impregnating liquids with ammonia or other soluble gases,
whereas in the present invention, the same or similar apparatus is employed for
separating ammonia from liquids.
In using the apparatus which may have any number of shelves although only
two are shewn in the drawing, it is charged with sewage to such a height that
when steam is admitted the liquid will cover the highest shelf as shewn at
Figure 1.-A sufficient vacuum having been obtained in the apparatus by a vacuum
pump communicating with the steam exit-pipe B.-Steam is admitted at A, and
following the direction of the arrows, it zig-zags through the apparatus and finally
is withdrawn at B, more or less saturated with ammonia. The process is made
continuous by introducing fresh quantities of sewage through the sewage inlet C,
and withdrawing an equal quantity of spent liquid at D, so as to keep the level of
liquid in the vessel constant.
The apparatus may be used singly, fresh sewage being run in at the top, while
exhausted sewage is withdrawn at the bottom; or two or more such vessels may be
connected together as shewn at Figures 2, and 3, (which represent the same
respectively in longitudinal section and plan) in such a manner that the liquid
withdrawn from one is caused to pass into the next and so on the same quantity of
steam passing through each of them consecutively as described in my former
Specification N° 3562, AD, 1882, and in the direction represented by the arrows at
Figure 2,

page_text: Another improvement consists in using an apparatus similar to the preceding,
but with the shelves horizontal or inclined in the opposite direction namely upwards
towards the closed end as shewn in Figure 4.-In this case the sewage does not fill
the vessel, but is allowed to flow in a thin layer over the shelves from top to bottom
of the apparatus, while steam passes from below upwards in the opposite direction,
the vacuum, temperature and other conditions being the same as in the previous
case.
Another form of apparatus is shewn in Figure 5.-The containing vessel in this
case is cylindrical, and is fitted with a number of shelves circular in form each
alternate shelf being cut away at the centre and the circumference respectively as
shewn more particularly at Figures 6, and 7, so as to cause the steam and liquid to,
circulate a number of times from centre to circumference of the apparatus and
vice versa in opposite directions.
Figure 5, is a perpendicular section of the apparatus the arrows indicating the
direction of the steam, while E, and F, represent the two different shapes of shelf,
which may either be flat or inclined downwards in the direction of flow of the
liquid as represented at Figure 8.
"
"
Another modification of the apparatus is shewn in Figure 5a, but any other
known arrangement of shelves in an air-tight casing, similar in principle though,
differing in construction, such as a Coffey's Still may be employed, instead of
any of the forms of apparatus above described in conjunction with a vacuum for
the purpose of eliminating ammonia from sewage.
Any of these forms of apparatus may also be modified by substituting for the
plain shelves above described perforated shelves with or without raised edges so
that the liquid instead of flowing from one end of each shelf to the other, shall pass
through it and fall to the next in drops.
Another improvement as shewn at Figure 8, consists in employing for the same
purpose, instead of any apparatus containing shelves as have been described, a
tower or "scrubber" containing pieces of coke, stone, brick, wood or other suitable
material preferably as uniform as possible in size and shape, a succession of
octahedra placed apex to apex being well suited to the purpose. As in the cases of
the other forms of apparatus herein previously described and illustrated by the
annexed Sheets of Drawings, the sewage, preferably heated to the temperature at
which it will boil at the diminished pressure under which the operation is
conducted, is admitted at the top and allowed to flow through the apparatus
downwards, while steam admitted at the bottom is caused to pass through the
apparatus upwards, the quantity of liquid being regulated so that it may not
impede the passage of the steam.-In its passage the steam eliminates the ammonia
from the sewage, the ammoniacal steam being drawn off at the top, and the
exhausted sewage from the bottom of the apparatus, the whole being kept at as
low a pressure as may be conveniently obtainable.
In one modification of the apparatus the tower may be of a considerable size
without any divisions in the interior as in Figure 9.-In another modification the
tower is split up by perpendicular divisions into a number of long narrow tubes,
square, round or hexagonal in section as shewn at Figures 10, and 11, which are
respectively vertical and transverse sections of the same, as may be found most
suitable. The pipes G, are open at both ends, and an equal quantity of sewage is
introduced at the top of each pipe by the branched sewage inlet pipe H, and after
passing through the pipes the collected spent sewage is drawn off at the bottom at
the sewage outlet I.-At the same time steam is admitted by the steam inlet J, and
if the resistance in each pipe the same (which it ought to be) an equal quantity
of steam will pass upwards through each pipe and the collected steam more or less
charged with ammonia by passing over the sewages leaves the apparatus at K.―
Two or more of these towers may be used in a series, the more or less exhausted
liquid after leaving one tower being made to pass through another the same
quantity of steam being passed through each successively or a number of towers
may be used in combination, fresh sewage being passed through each but the same

page_text: a
steam traversing the whole series and according to the Improvements described in
Specification of the said James Young N° 332 A.D. 1883, between each tower or
at any convenient point, the ammonia is extracted from the steam by bringing it in
contact with acid, the steam so being enabled to take up a further quantity of
ammonia. This purification of the steam with acid is also applicable in any of the
foregoing cases where a number of apparatus are used in combination, the same
quantity of steam passing through each.
Where the extraction of the ammonia is effected by the passage of steam over the
surface of the sewage, in any tower, or shelf arrangement, it may sometimes be
found adviseable to cause the steam and liquid to pass in the same direction instead
of in opposite directions as has been described.
.
I may also observe that in working the process it is preferred to add lime to the
sewage before treating it in the vessels in the manner hereinbefore described, and
when the tower apparatus is used, the precipitate is separated from the liquid
before the liquid is passed into the towers.
"
The presence of a certain quantity of air in the steam assists in the elimination
of the ammonia, but also depresses the vacuum.-Where however the pumping
appliances are sufficiently good as to maintain a fair vacuum under the
circumstances, an admixture of air with the steam may be advantageous.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and the system, mode or manner in or under which the same is or may
be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion in working
the Invention I do not limit myself to carrying it out in precisely the same
manner as here described, but what I consider to be novel and original and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited
Letters Patent is :-
First In the obtainment of ammonia from sewage, the use of an apparatus
fitted with shelves, and more or less filled with sewage and wherein steam is
passed through the sewage for the purpose of eliminating the ammonia; the
operation being conducted in a vacuum more or less complete, and at a temperature
approximating to the boiling point of the liquid at the low pressure employed
substantially as herein described.
Second-The process of eliminating ammonia from sewage by passing steam
over sewage flowing in thin layers or falling in drops through the apparatus and at
a greatly diminished pressure and at a temperature approximating to its boiling
point at that pressure substantially as herein described.
Third In the obtainment of ammonia from sewage the use of an apparatus
fitted with shelves with or without perforations for the purpose of exposing sewage
to the action of steain passing over it or through it in the manner herein described
in order to liberate ammonia under the conditions of pressure and temperature
herein mentioned substantially as herein described.
Fourth. In the obtainment of ammonia from sewage the employment of an
apparatus in the form of a tower containing coke or other suitable material for the
purpose in the manner and under the conditions herein mentioned, substantially as
herein described.
In Witness Whereof I the said James Young have hereunto set my hand and
seal this fourteenth day of March in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sighty three
JAMES YOUNG (L.S.)