Patent ID: 8685237

Claim:
A waste water treatment apparatus comprising: a vessel having a top and a bottom and containing photocatalyst particles; a waste water inlet positioned to introduce waste water to the vessel wherein the waste water passes through and is treated by the photocatalyst particles; a vertically extending conduit having an inlet in the vessel and an outlet; a fluid inlet in the bottom of the vessel, the fluid inlet directed toward the inlet of the vertically extending conduit wherein a pressurized fluid introduced through the fluid inlet produces a flow of at least some photocatalyst particles from the vessel and fluid through the vertically extending conduit; a treated waste water outlet from the vessel; and a control system that regulates flow of fluid through the fluid inlet, flow of fluid through the waste water outlet, and pressure drop across at least a portion of the vertically extending conduit to independently control photocatalyst particle velocity and solids fraction of flow through the vertically extending conduit.