Patent ID: 6884358

Claim:
A method of treating a liquid in a cylindrical liquid treatment tank that is devoid of solid liquid treatment media, said tank having a closed top, a closed bottom and a height that is greater than its diameter, said method comprising the following steps: flowing the liquid being treated into the center of said tank adjacent the bottom of said tank; dispersing the liquid that has flowed into the center of said tank radially outwardly from said center of said tank toward the periphery of said tank: flowing the dispersed liquid upwardly over essentially the entire cross section of said tank and treating the liquid while it flows upwardly; collecting the treated liquid at the center of said tank adjacent the top of said tank; isolating the collected treated liquid from the rest of the liquid in said tank in a conduit at the center of said tank; flowing the isolated treated liquid downwardly toward the bottom of said tank through said conduit at the center of said tank; and discharging the treated liquid from said tank adjacent the bottom of said tank.