Patent ID: 7306731

Claim:
A method for separating water from settleable solids and removal of a percentage of unsettleable solids from flush water in a dairy operation, the method comprising: a) retrieving a flush mixture from a diary to a first separator, placing a solids portion from the first separator to a first storage location, b) sending a fluid portion from the first separator to a process tank and inserting the fluid portion from the first separator into the processing tank where fluid is drawn from an upper portion of the process tank to flush a dairy where the vertical flow in the process tank is such that it does not exceed the mean settling rate of a settleable solids portion contained therein, where the fluid in the upper portion of the process tank is transferred back to the diary for the flushing in a partially closed loop system, c) intermittently ejecting the solids from the process tank in a bottom removal process and removing the settleable solids portion and an unsettleable solids portion therefrom the processing tank for transfer to a mix tank, d) a settleable solids portion and unsettleable solids portion from said mix tank is processed for further separation of the settleable solids in a second separator e) a thin fraction from the second separator is transferred to a settling tank intermittently ejecting the solids from the settling tank in a bottom removal process and removing a settleable solids portion and an unsettleable solids portion therefrom and transferring these portions to a second storage location.