DE29621643U1 - Water treatment plant - Google Patents

Description

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PFlSTER & PFISTER PATENT ACTOR^" DipL-ln^ Helmut Pfister

European Patent Attorney

Dipl.-Phys. Stefan Pfister

D-87700 Memmingen/Bavaria Office 1: Herrenstraße 11

17/8 Telephone 083 31/2412

Fax 083 31/2407 Office 2: Buxacher Straße 9

Telephone 08331/65183 Fax 08331/65185 Postgiroamt München 134339-805 (bank code 700100 80) Bayer. Vereinsbank Memmingen 2 303 396 (bank code 731 200 75) VAT ID No. · VAT Reg. No. · N° CEE DE 129066 032

11 REF. 1996

Company Franz Cleaning and Machine Technology GmbH, Freier Blick 41, 06618 Naumburg

"Water treatment plant'

The invention relates to a water treatment plant with a reactor in which preferably biological processes for water treatment and purification take place, wherein the reactor has a waste water inflow, a service water outflow[3 and a waste water overflow.

It is known to provide water treatment plants in conjunction with larger devices, for example car washes or the like, in order to significantly reduce the fresh water consumption of such larger devices. The water treatment plant has the task of treating the waste water from the

device to such a quality that it is available again as process water in addition to the use of fresh water in the device.

It is known from sewage treatment plant technology that, in addition to a large number of settling tanks in which suspended matter and the like settle by gravity, sedimentation, etc., a biological reactor can also be used. This biological reactor processes the water with the help of microorganisms, for example bacteria.

The present invention is based on the object of improving the efficiency of the water treatment plants described above with a reactor in which biological processes for water treatment take place.

To solve this invention, it is proposed that growth bodies are provided in the reactor, on the surface of which a biological lawn grows.

By using the growth body in the reactor, the available surface area within the reactor is significantly increased. The microorganisms prefer to settle on these surfaces and form a biological lawn there. The use of microorganisms to treat water is well known; the microorganisms are particularly successful in filtering suspended matter out of the water, which cannot in principle be removed from the waste water due to mechanical properties (settlement). The microorganisms create a biological lawn on the surfaces of the growth body, which means that the suspended matter that has been released is bound to a flat body with the help of the microorganisms, which is then removed from the reactor, for example when the reactor is cleaned or by normal flushing out through the waste water overflow. The

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The bio-grass detached from the surface then floats back into the wastewater cycle as bio-flocs, for example, and then settles in one of the settling tanks.

The reactor is supplied with waste water through a waste water inlet and has a service water outlet for the return of the service water to the water-consuming device directly or indirectly. Dissolved suspended matter, etc. are drained into a settling tank via a waste water overflow.

It is advantageous if the reactor is divided into two parts by a filter and the filter is provided between the waste water inflow and the service water outflow. The filter, which can be a stainless steel filter, for example, provides an additional filtering option for the service water. In particular, dirt particles that are too large mechanically or bio-flocs that have detached from the surface of the growth body do not get into the service water circuit through the filter.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that floating growth bodies are used. The use of floating growth bodies is advantageous because they can be easily exchanged for other, unused growth bodies if the existing ones are dirty, for example.

It is also possible to control the quality of water treatment in the biological reactor by the concentration or number of growth bodies in the reactor.

Furthermore, it is intended that the growth body in the reactor moves against the filter at least in sections due to the circulation of the waste water. The circulation movement can be caused, for example, by the inflowing or outflowing waste or service water. Due to the movement of the growth body

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against the filter, a mechanical cleaning effect of the filter is achieved. For example, it is planned to use relatively fine-meshed filters that retain even smaller suspended particles. The suspended particles resting on the filter openings can clog them and lead to a deterioration in the efficiency of the reactor.

The mechanical movement of the growth bodies against the filters cleans them by absorbing suspended matter or other contaminants, for example textile fibers or the like, into the growth bodies. Due to the increasing use of textile brushes, for example in car washes, this design offers the surprising effect that the textile fibers washed away in the wastewater do not lead to a complete blockage of the filter in the bioreactor.

The waste water overflow is located on the same side of the filter as the waste water inlet. The detached dirt or fiber particles are removed from the filter by the growth bodies, whereby the detached particles, as long as they do not adhere to the growth body, are washed out of the reactor via the waste water overflow. The filter is cleaned independently and automatically, which leads to a higher level of maintenance-free operation and usability of the water treatment system.

It is advantageous if a pump is provided in the wastewater inflow and pumps the wastewater into the reactor against the filter. This type of design, for example, achieves circulation of the wastewater and the growth bodies are transported against the filter. At the same time, the pump pumps the wastewater into the reactor.

It is advantageous if oxygen is introduced into the waste water in or before the reactor.

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Introduction of oxygen increases the biological effectiveness of microorganisms.

It has been found that it is advantageous if the growth body is made of material that is inert to waste water, in particular polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyamides (PA) or polyethylene (PE). This type of design creates a reliable, long-lasting, low-maintenance growth body. It is advantageous if the growth body has a porous, rough surface, which on the one hand increases the effective surface and on the other hand prevents premature detachment of the biological turf from the growth body surface, thus producing larger bio flakes.

In particular, the use of the materials described as fiber material is advantageous because it provides a net-like structure for the growth of the biological flakes, to which they adhere, while at the same time the production of the growth body is very simple.

It is also possible to draw films or similar from the aforementioned materials, which are then processed into growth bodies.

It has been found that it is advantageous if the growth body is designed as a cube. This design achieves a favorable surface/volume ratio.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the cube has an edge length of 10 to 40 millimeters. Such dimensions make relatively handy cubes available. It is intended that the waste water overflow is dimensioned according to the edge length of the cube.

so that the cubes are not washed out of the water treatment plant through the waste water overflow pipes.

It is also advantageous to design the growth body in the reactor as fixed. The fixed growth body also has, for example, a rough, porous surface and is made of the same materials as described above. It is also possible to provide a combination of floating and fixed growth bodies.

The invention is shown schematically in the drawing. It shows:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a

inventive water treatment plant,

Fig. 2 in a sectional view the

basic design of a reactor of a water treatment plant according to the invention and

Fig. 3 in a spatial representation

a growth body of the water treatment plant according to the invention.

In Fig. 1, the functioning of a water treatment system 1 according to the invention is shown schematically. The water treatment system 1 consists of a large number of components and serves to treat the dirty water produced by the device 3, for example a car wash system, in such a way that it can be recirculated as service water.

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can be used and thus reduces the need for fresh water.

The waste water produced by the device 3 is collected in a collecting channel 10 via waste water drains 30. The collecting channel 10 is connected to a distributor tap 19 via the line 14. In the distributor tap 19 it is possible to direct the waste water flow either into the first settling tank 11 or, if necessary, directly into the sewer 5 via the waste water line 9. This is advantageous, for example, when servicing the water treatment plant. The waste water flowing into the first settling tank 11 is collected here and kept for a certain time until the corresponding heavy components settle here. In the lower area of the settling tank 11, as well as in the subsequent settling tanks 12 and 13, the deposited sediments are therefore marked with 7 in the lower area. The channel 5 is connected to a public sewer, for example, via separator systems and the like.

For easy emptying of the settling tanks 11, 12, 13, drainage lines 60 are provided, which can be connected to a drain channel 6. The drain line 60 can of course be disconnected using appropriate gate valves or the like. Emptying of the settling tanks 11, 12, 13 is also possible from above.

Sewer connection lines 51 are also provided on the settling tanks 11, 12, 13, which enable the settling tanks 11, 12, 13 to be emptied into the sewer 5. Shut-off valves 50 decouple the settling tanks 11, 12, 13 from the sewer 5.

In the embodiment shown here, three settling tanks 11, 12, 13 are arranged one behind the other. However, it is also possible to arrange a plurality of such settling tanks with different functions and modes of operation.

The first settling tank 11 and second settling tank 12 are connected by the pipe 15, the second settling tank 12 and third settling tank 13 are connected by the pipe 16. The flow direction of the water or the treated or untreated waste water is marked with the arrows 8.

A pump 18 serves to pump the waste water from the settling tank 13 through the waste water inlet 17 into the reactor 2.

Biologically supported processes preferably take place in the reactor 2, whereby the reactor 2 is also referred to as bioreactor 2. The bioreactor 2 is divided into two parts by a filter 20.

Behind the filter 20, the service water outlet 21 is provided, which feeds the treated waste water back to the device 3. Furthermore, a fresh water line 91 is provided, through which fresh water or industrial water can be fed to the device 3 if required, in the event that the consumption in the device 3 is higher than the amount of water made available from the bioreactor 2.

The bioflocs produced in the bioreactor 2 pass from the bioreactor 2 into the collecting channel 10 via the wastewater overflow 22 and are transported there with the other wastewater into the settling tanks 11, 12, 13 as described above, where they are sedimented or deposited and disposed of.

An enlarged view of the bioreactor 2 is shown in Fig. 2. Growth bodies 70 are provided in the bioreactor 2. These growth bodies 70 float in the waste water introduced through the waste water inflow 17. The growth bodies 70 serve to promote the growth of a biological lawn by bacteria or other microorganisms and thereby

to improve the water quality of the process water. The microorganisms or bacteria introduced serve for the biological treatment of the waste water flowing into the bioreactor 2. By using the growth bodies 70, the available growth area for the microorganisms or bacteria is increased. By using bacteria, physical effects are also used in the bioreactor for water treatment. For example, it is intended to convey suspended particles or flakes present in the water to the water surface by introducing oxygen or other aeration and then to remove them from the reactor, for example, through an overflow pipe or the waste water overflow 22 shown in the drawing.

The introduction of oxygen or gas 4 also has the advantage that the biological activity of the microorganisms or bacteria used is increased. To this end, it is intended to either introduce oxygen or air or other gas mixtures into the bioreactor directly via line 40 or to do this upstream of the bioreactor using the supply line 41. The biological activity is increased by an excess of oxygen. Furthermore, the introduction of air bubbles provides additional cleaning of the filter 20.

The design of the bioreactor 2 is chosen so that, for example, the incoming waste water is optimally circulated by arranging suitable guide plates 23 in the bioreactor. The circulation movement is indicated by the arrow 24. The design of the bioreactor is optimized so that no dead areas arise in which the growth bodies 70 are washed up but not transported away. Such a design ensures that all growth bodies 70 are regularly transported to the filter 20 due to the circulation movement 24 in order to be collected there.

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to regularly remove bio-flocs, fibers or other contaminants and thereby achieve, for example, a high cleaning efficiency on the filter.

The growth body 70 is shown in Fig. 3. This is, for example, designed in the shape of a cube with an edge length of 30 millimeters. The size of the growth body is variable. The growth body 70 consists, for example, of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyamide (PA) and/or polyethylene (PE). In general, it is also possible to use foams, provided that the foam is inert to the introduced water. The same applies to the use of the aforementioned fibers. The fibers or plastics are processed into cube-like bodies, whereby the cube made of fibers, for example, results in a 3-dimensional network with a pore size of 1 to 2 millimeters. By coloring the plastic, it is possible to easily distinguish the growth bodies from the wastewater. This is particularly advantageous when maintaining the system, for example when the used growth bodies are to be replaced with new, unused growth bodies. Since the growth bodies have a lower density than water, they actually float on the surface. The porous, net-like structure of the growth bodies causes a preferential formation of biograss on their surface or in their interior. Nevertheless, the growth bodies will generally not sink. The growth bodies float in the waste water. Another effect of the growth bodies 70 is that they cause a mechanical cleaning of the filter 20. For this purpose, the growth bodies are regularly circulated with the waste water in the bioreactor by the pump 18. The arrangement of the waste water inflow 17 into the bioreactor is selected in such a way that a direct flow of the growth bodies 70 against the filter surface 20 is achieved. This achieves an automatic cleaning of the filter 20, which means that maintenance is low or even

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maintenance-free design of the filter is possible.

The biological turf grown on the growth body 70 will detach from the growth body 70 when it reaches a certain size and then, due to the previously described stirring up, will collect preferentially on the surface, i.e. at the top of the bioreactor. There, the biomass is washed out via the waste water overflow 22 into the collection channel 10 and the settling tanks 11, 12, 13 connected thereto.

The claims filed now with the application and subsequently are attempts to formulate without prejudice to obtain more extensive protection.

The references cited in the dependent claims indicate the further development of the subject matter of the main claim through the features of the respective subclaim. However, these are not to be understood as a waiver of achieving independent, objective protection for the features of the referenced subclaims.

Features that were previously only disclosed in the description can be claimed in the course of the procedure as being of essential importance to the invention, for example to distinguish it from the prior art.

Claims (1)

Protection claims Water treatment plant with a reactor in which preferably biological processes for water treatment and purification take place, the reactor having a waste water inflow, a service water outflow and a waste water overflow, characterized in that growth bodies are provided in the reactor (2), on the surface of which a biological lawn grows. Water treatment plant according to claim 1, characterized in that the reactor (2) is divided into two parts by a filter (20) and the filter (20) is provided between the waste water inflow (IV) and the service water outflow (21). Water treatment plant according to one or both of the preceding claims, characterized by floating growth bodies (70). Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the growth body (70) in the reactor (2) is ♦&dgr;♦· · · Circulation of the waste water at least partially against the filter (20). 5. Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that a pump (18) is provided in the waste water inlet (17) and pumps the waste water into the reactor (2) against the filter (20). 6. Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by a gas introduction (4), in particular an oxygen introduction into the waste water in or before the reactor (2). 7. Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the growth body (70) consists of material which is inert towards waste water, in particular of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyamides (PA) or polyethylene (PE). 8. Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the growth body (70) is designed as a cube. 9. Water treatment layer according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cube has an edge length of 10 - 40 mm. 10. Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the growth body is fixed in the reactor (2). 11. Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the Growth body (70) has a porous, rough surface. 12. Water treatment plant according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the growth body consists of fiber, mesh material or foam. /~\ j