Patent ID: 7909992

Claim:
A separation apparatus comprising, a series of compartments for holding particulate separation material arranged so as to allow fluid to flow through the compartments in a primary direction from a first compartment in the series to a last compartment in the series the series of compartments being arranged as a vertical column with the first of the series of compartments being located at the top of the column, a feed line for directing a flow of the fluid into the first of the series of compartments in the primary direction, barriers for preventing flow of particulate separation material between compartments in the primary direction, a ram arranged to apply pulses to the column to agitate the particulate separation material wherein the ram is a hydraulic ram arranged to apply pulses through a diaphragm to a compartment located at a base of the column; and, a pumping assembly arranged to pump a mixture of the particulate separation material and the fluid from the first compartment into a recovery stage, and to pump the particulate separation material between compartments in a flow direction opposite to the primary direction.