Patent ID: 7018522

Claim:
A method of removing contaminants from a fluid column, comprising the steps of: providing a magnetic field generator; providing a housing defining an interior chamber established by a fluid impervious boundary wall with an inner surface and having inlet and outlet ports; providing a plurality of contaminant separation sectors, each contaminant separation sector comprising a pair of electrodes, each electrode comprising a plurality of parallel, spaced-apart plates coupled to a common buss bar and wherein the spacing between the plates is uniform, the plates of the electrodes interleaving and forming a series of cavities to define a flow path from the inlet port to the outlet port of the housing; placing said plurality of contaminant separation sectors within the interior chamber of the housing such that the electrodes of the contaminant separation sectors are arranged in substantially parallel planes and in distinct layers; passing a feed stream of contaminants carried within the fluid column through the magnetic field generator wherein the magnetic flux provided by the magnetic field generator is introduced to the contaminated fluid column; introducing the magnetically treated feed stream of contaminants carried within the fluid column to the inlet port of said housing to establish a flow of the fluid column carrying the contaminants through the housing along the defined flow path; applying electrical energy to the electrodes of the contaminant separation sectors to produce an electric field that causes contaminants carried within the magnetically treated feed stream to separate from the fluid column, said contaminants separated from the fluid column bonding into a stable flocculate to facilitate their separation from the fluid column; and discharging as a processed feed stream the fluid exiting from the outlet port of the interior chamber of the housing.