Patent ID: 8632685

Claim:
A method for removing oil and other contaminants from contaminated water, comprising the steps of: in a first stage: pumping contaminated water into an oil recovery chamber, said oil recovery chamber comprising an anode plate and a cathode plate, ionizing a supply of atmospheric gas with an ionizing lamp, and injecting the ionized atmospheric gas into the contaminated water, the ionized atmospheric gas forming bubbles in the contaminated water upon release, and applying a voltage between the anode plate and the cathode plate to control a surface charge density in the contaminated water, thereby to cause oil in the contaminated water to float to a surface of the contaminated water, and heavy solids to settle to a bottom of the oil recovery chamber; in a second stage: removing the heavy solids and the oil that floated to the surface, and causing a remaining effluent to exit the oil recovery chamber to a coagulation zone, at the coagulation zone, adding coagulates to the effluent and injecting micro air bubbles to float light solids from the effluent to a surface of the effluent, and removing the light solids via a removal paddle mounted at a top of the coagulation zone, and flushing grit and solid particles that have settled on lamella plates at a bottom of the coagulation zone; in a third stage: causing the effluent to exit the coagulation zone of the second stage to enter an effluent chamber via an emulsion breaking box, adding hydrogen peroxide to the effluent entering the effluent chamber, and recovering emulsified oil rising to the surface of the effluent via a float at a top of the effluent chamber; causing clarified water to exit the effluent chamber; and in a fourth stage: flowing the clarified water in a serpentine manner through a disinfection chamber comprising UV lamps, recirculating water exiting the disinfection chamber back through the disinfection chamber via a DAF pump, at said DAF pump, injecting hydrogen peroxide, so that the recirculated water containing the hydrogen peroxide is exposed to energy from the UV lamps so that peroxide will break down into hydroxyl radicals.