Sanitizing wastewater

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10899644-B2
Application number	US-201816126609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2018
Priority date	Sep 10, 2018
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

Wastewater is received at an inlet of a nested coil of tubing. The nested coil of tubing includes an outer coil of tubing and at least one inner coil of tubing. The nested coil of tubing includes at least one of protrusions or filaments within an interior of the nested coil of tubing. The filaments or protrusions are radially arranged within an interior of the tubing, and microbial growth that is configured to treat the wastewater is disposed on at least portions of the interior. The wastewater is flowed through the nested coil of tubing. The microbial growth treats the wastewater to remove at least portions of sanitary waste in the wastewater. The treated wastewater is flowed through an outlet of the nested coil of tubing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
installing a wastewater treatment unit at a field site, the wastewater treatment unit comprising a nested coil of tubing with an inlet and an outlet, a recirculation line extending from the outlet to the inlet, and a circulation pump operable to circulate wastewater into the inlet, through the nested coil of tubing, out the outlet, and through the recirculation line to the inlet;
receiving wastewater at the inlet of a nested coil of tubing, wherein the nested coil of tubing comprises an outer coil of tubing and at least one inner coil of tubing fluidically coupled to the outer coil of tubing, the inner coil of tubing comprising a first radius defined from a central longitudinal axis of the nested coil of tubing to a center of the inner coil of tubing and the outer coil of tubing comprising a second radius defined from the central longitudinal axis to a center of the outer coil of tubing, the first radius smaller than the second radius, the outer coil of tubing and the inner coil of tubing together defining a continuous fluid conduit extending from and fluidically connecting the inlet to an outlet of the nested coil of tubing, the nested coil of tubing comprising a plurality of protrusions or a plurality of filaments or both within an interior of the nested coil of tubing, the filaments or protrusions radially arranged within an interior of the tubing and microbial growth configured to treat the wastewater is disposed on at least portions of the interior, wherein the plurality of protrusions extend integrally from an inner surface of the nested coil of tubing radially toward a center of the nested coil of tubing, and wherein the plurality of filaments extend radially from a center of the nested coil of tubing toward an inner surface of the nested coil of tubing;
filling the nested coil of tubing, the recirculation line, and the circulation pump with wastewater;
closing off the treatment unit;
circulating the wastewater through the nested coil of tubing and the recirculation line for a specified duration of time, wherein the microbial growth treats the wastewater to remove at least portions of sanitary waste in the wastewater;
opening the treatment unit; and
flowing the treated wastewater through the outlet of the nested coil of tubing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wastewater is flowed in a helical pattern through the nested coil of tubing.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of protrusions or filaments are arranged in the helical pattern along an inner surface of the nested coil of tubing.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising growing the microbial growth along an inner surface and the plurality of protrusions or filaments.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein growing the microbial growth comprises seeding biomass into the nested coil of tubing.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wastewater is flowed through the nested coil of tubing having a length determined based on at least one of 1) average water consumption per capita per day at an installation location of the nested coil of tubing, 2) time to circulate the wastewater, 3) inner diameter of the nested coil of tubing, and 4) a depth to which each of the protrusions or filaments extends into an inner volume of the nested coil of tubing.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nested coil of tubing is portable, and wherein the method further comprises transporting the nested coil of tubing to an installation location.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tubing is arranged in the nested coil, wherein the outlet to the nested coil is nearer a geometric center of the nested coil than the inlet to the nested coil.

9. A wastewater treatment apparatus comprising:
a batch reactor, the batch reactor comprising:
a nested coil of tubing configured to receive wastewater at an inlet of the tubing, wherein the nested coil of tubing comprises an outer coil of tubing and at least one inner coil of tubing fluidically coupled to the outer coil of tubing, the inner coil of tubing comprising a first radius defined from a central longitudinal axis of the nested coil of tubing to a center of the inner coil of tubing and the outer coil of tubing comprising a second radius defined from the central longitudinal axis to a center of the outer coil of tubing, the first radius smaller than the second radius, the outer coil of tubing and the inner coil of tubing together defining a continuous fluid conduit extending from and fluidically connecting the inlet of the tubing to an outlet of the tubing, the nested coil of tubing comprising a plurality of filaments or a plurality of protrusions or both within an inner portion of the tubing, the filaments or protrusions arranged radially within the inner portion of the tubing, wherein the plurality of protrusions extend integrally from an inner surface of the nested coil of tubing radially toward a center of the nested coil of tubing, and wherein the plurality of filaments extend radially from a center of the nested coil of tubing toward an inner surface of the nested coil of tubing, the tubing configured to flow treated water away from the tubing through the outlet of the tubing;
a recirculation line extending from the outlet to the inlet;
a circulation pump operable to circulate wastewater into the inlet, through the nested coil of tubing, out the outlet, and through the recirculation line to the inlet; and microbial growth on the plurality of at least one of filaments or protrusions, the microbial growth configured to treat the wastewater.

10. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:
a recirculation line fluidically connecting the inlet and the outlet, the recirculation line configured to direct all of the wastewater towards the inlet.

11. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the tubing comprises high-density polyethylene.

12. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the protrusions or filaments extend a length of the tubing helically around an interior of the tubing.

13. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein an outer diameter of the nested coil of tubing is reduced towards a central axis of the nested coil of tubing along a length of the nested coil of tubing parallel to the central axis, wherein the inlet is at an outer side of the nested coil diameter and the outlet is at an inner side of the nested coil diameter.

14. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the tubing is between 10 feet and 100 feet in length.

15. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein a tubing diameter of the tubing is between three and seven inches.

16. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the protrusions comprise a plurality of longitudinally continuous, wedge-shaped protrusions, the wedge-shaped protrusions forming continuous fluid channels between adjacent protrusions.

17. The wastewater treatment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is portable.

18. A wastewater treatment system comprising:
A wastewater treatment unit comprising:
a batch reactor, the batch reactor comprising:
a nested coil of continuous tubing configured to receive wastewater at an inlet of the tubing, wherein the nested coil of tubing comprises an outer coil of tubing and at least one inner coil of tubing fluidically coupled to the outer coil of tubing, the inner coil of tubing comprising a first radius defined from a central longitudinal axis of the nested coil of tubing to a center of the inner coil of tubing and the outer coi

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Gerçek Serhan

Classifications

• C02F3/348 Primary

  characterised by the way or the form in which the microorganisms are added or dosed · CPC title

• C02F2301/08

  Multistage treatments, e.g. repetition of the same process step under different conditions · CPC title

• C02F3/02

  Aerobic processes · CPC title

• C02F2301/026

  Spiral, helicoidal, radial · CPC title

• C02F2203/002

  comprising an initial buffer container · CPC title