TWM581105U - Eutectic freeze crystallization spray chamber - Google Patents

Abstract

A eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber having a chamber, one or more wastewater nozzles, a refrigerated air inlet, a perforated reservoir, a drain below the reservoir, and a discharge port for the chilled air Wherein the chamber has an upper inlet end and a lower drain end, the one or more waste water nozzles being connected to a source of wastewater near the inlet end to produce wastewater droplets, the freezer inlet being located adjacent the inlet end And connected to a source of chilled air to allow chilled air to be mixed with the effluent droplets, the perforated reservoir being adjacent to the drain end for collecting frozen droplets that are adjacent to the drain end. A eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber having an elongated flow chamber, one or more wastewater nozzles, one or more exhaust ports, a perforated reservoir, one or more exhaust ports, and a chilled air An inlet, wherein the flow chamber has an upper portion and a lower portion, the one or more waste water nozzles are located near the upper portion, the one or more exhaust ports are located near the upper portion, and the perforated water reservoir is attached to the flow chamber At the bottom, the chilled air inlet is connected between the upper portion and the lower portion.

Description

Eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber

The present invention relates to the field of crystal spray chamber equipment for separating pollutants and waste water.

Industrial wastewater waste applied to natural water bodies has begun to exceed the natural capacity of receiving water bodies to absorb pollutants. Natural purification, such as deposition, sunlight, oxygen aeration, has been replaced by chemical purification, deposition, ozonolysis, chlorination, and physical processes such as ion exchange, activated carbon adsorption, reverse osmosis, and electrodialysis. Freezing crystallization is a possibility to separate pollutants and wastewater, and it is receiving increasing attention.

The waste applied by fracturing and mining waste is particularly difficult to handle due to the high concentration required to treat the toxic portion of the wastewater, the large amount of total deposited solids, the large hydraulic diameter of the particulate matter, and the large separation efficiency. Freeze crystallization has particularly shown promise in the treatment of such wastewater.

The chilled air provides the opportunity for the droplets of the sprayed water to freeze and crystallize. (1) The outdoor northern climate, which is very cold winter (temperature below -10 °F), provides a large amount of wastewater for a long season of freezing, and is long The long spring and summer months are thawed to separate the pollutants from the wastewater. The temperature of each droplet is lower than -10 °F by (2) indoor, any climate, spray chamber sprayed with liquid chlorofluorocarbon and liquid waste water. The separation of contaminants from the wastewater requires only a residence time of 0.5 seconds, rather than the residence time required for the crystallization and phase separation of the total volume of the field volume and the agitation tank.

The first study of eutectic frozen crystallization (EFC) was published in 1974 by Stepakoff in the 1970s. He uses direct cooling, which is accomplished by adding a coolant directly to the brine. Since another chemical is introduced into the system, it causes some disadvantages.

In 1999, Van der Ham was the first to use indirect cooling and built a working crystallizer called a cooling disc tower crystallizer. He proved that it is possible to use EFC for the separation of ice and salt crystals. The study was continued in 2003 by Vaesen and the process was scaled up to 100L in a scraped wall cooling crystallizer.

In 2008, Genceli scaled the process to 220L in a slide-type third-generation cooled disc tower crystallizer; Rodriquez Pascual was in 2009 to pay attention to some of the physical views of the heat transfer of the crystallizer.

The next generation of crystallizers handles program flow on an industrial scale. De Graaff studied the problem of removing scale from heat exchangers and removing ice from brine in 2012.

Compared with thermal de-salting, the main advantages of the freeze crystallization process are the need for low energy consumption and low temperature operation. Other advantages are less fouling or dirt and less corrosion problems, the ability to use inexpensive plastic or low cost materials, and no pretreatment. The three major types of freeze crystallization treatment are (1) direct contact with freezing, (2) no direct contact with freezing, and (3) vacuum freezing. In addition, large-volume freezes have been studied for large volumes of solutions, which require several hours of millisecond-sized droplet freezing, which takes only a few seconds to freeze. The freeze-crystallization process discussed here uses wastewater droplets and ultra-cold air. direct contact.

Large capacity freezing (mixing tank)

The Freeze Crystallization (FC) is a survey and shows a water treatment method with environmentally friendly and sustainable potential, by producing water and salt suitable for drinking from high salt brines (in some cases) For pure salt) complete near zero waste. Randall and Nathoo studied the history and current status of FC technology for reverse osmosis (RO) salt treatment. Although FC can be applied to the treatment of brine produced by a membrane separation process such as RO, the use of this technique in the mainstream brine desalination process is negligible. This review also found that a hybrid approach, such as an integrated RO-FC process, provides the best solution from the perspective of equipment capital and operating costs. For example, NIRO has built an industrial water desalination plant for Shell in the Netherlands that processes 1.4 billion tons of wastewater per year. It achieves a TDS (total dissolved solids content) purity of less than 50 ppm.

Outdoor spray freezing

The technique of spray freezing relies on the physics of frozen droplets and ice crystal structures at the core, and the contaminants in the unfrozen liquid are concentrated on the surface of the solid core. Properly completed, spray freezing can be an economical, efficient, and environmentally friendly component of larger water treatment systems. Generally, when one of the impure water droplets freezes, the impurities are pushed away by the ice before crystallization, which usually starts from the inside of the droplet, causing the liquid on the surface to have a higher pollutant concentration than the core. Its core is usually almost pure ice.

As this process continues, the freezing point of the remaining impure water occurs at a lower temperature, and as time passes, more ice is formed and the contaminants are more concentrated in the remaining unfrozen liquid. Unfrozen liquids containing larger concentrations of contaminants are discharged from the sprayed ice deposits, resulting in the removal of contaminants immediately after spraying.

When the surrounding air is too cold or the droplets are too small, if exposed to the air for a long time, the droplets may be completely frozen, rendering many of the benefits of spray freezing technology ineffective.

In addition, during warm spring thawing, as the ice melts, the dissolved contaminants are preferentially flushed by the initially melted water to increase the purity of the remaining water.

Field applications of this technology include extracting contaminated water through a nozzle and spraying it into cold air. Nozzle adjustments are used to adjust the orbit, extraction rate, and droplet size of the injected water to control how the water is completely frozen for a given air temperature and wind speed.

On-site pilot-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficiency of spray-frozen removal of dissolved chemicals from tailings lake water in the Kolomak mine area in the northwest. For pilot-scale projects, approximately 30% of the extracted water is frozen and the remaining water is returned as runoff to the tailings pond. Analysis of the water collected by one of the self-melting ice cores under controlled laboratory conditions showed that 87% to 99% of the dissolved chemicals (depending on the type of chemical) were removed after 39% of the sprayed icicles were melted. .

Laboratory testing provides some indication of the usefulness of the method. The arsenic concentration was reduced from approximately 19 micrograms per liter to 5 micrograms per liter (1 microgram per liter = 1 billion fraction). Cyanide can be removed by 99.2%, but still has a concentration of about 350 micrograms per liter. About 60% of the treated water released from the end of the melt contains only 1 to 17% of dissolved species. This thawed melted water requires less further processing, which can significantly reduce overall processing costs. Spray freezing technology has been used in ice building structures and artificial snow manufacturing in cold regions. The spray freezing process includes thermal mass transfer and ice nucleation. The freezing temperature of the water spray is affected by many factors such as droplet size (volume), ambient air temperature, and the impurity content of the water. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of droplet size (volume) and ambient air temperature on the ice nucleation temperature of different masses of free-suspended droplets (pighouse wastewater, pulp mill wastewater, oil sand tailings pond water). Imaging techniques were used to measure the time required to begin freezing in the droplets of free suspension wastewater under various experimental conditions. The ice nucleation temperature of the droplets is predicted based on the desired ratio of freezing time to thermal mass transfer.

Indoor spray freezing (spray freezer)

In the case of indoor spray freezing, AVCO is impacted with a jet of chlorofluorocarbon and 20% sodium chloride salt solution. The intense mixing of the liquid jets causes a large mass of droplets, each of which contains wastewater in the core and contains chlorofluorocarbons outside the core. Each droplet flies down through a vertical chamber having a radius of 450 microns. The evaporated chlorofluorocarbon gradually freezes the droplets. Within 0.5 seconds of the drop falling through the 18 吋 or 36 吋 high glass chamber, a 120 μm clear water borneol was deposited in the porous material at the bottom of the chamber. In light of the above, the present technology requires a refrigerated spray system that ensures consistency in the freezing process that separates contaminants from water, wherein droplet size and temperature are controlled to maintain contaminated water in a liquid or semi-liquid state.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber having a chamber, one or more waste water nozzles, a refrigerating air inlet, a perforated water reservoir, and a drain pipe below the water reservoir, And a discharge port of the chilled air, wherein the chamber has an upper inlet end and a lower drain end, the one or more waste water nozzles being connected to a wastewater source near the inlet end to generate waste water droplets, the chilled air An inlet system is located adjacent the inlet end and is coupled to a source of chilled air to allow chilled air to be mixed with the wastewater droplets, the perforated reservoir being adjacent to the drain end for collecting frozen droplets, the venting port being adjacent to the drain end.

The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber has an outer casing surrounding the chamber, which is comprised of at least a portion of a double wall surrounding the chamber, the double wall defining a discharge path, wherein the discharge path is connected to the discharge port . The nozzle can be used to provide a droplet of a fixed size. There may be a fresh water nozzle directed to the interior of the reservoir for spraying fresh water onto the frozen droplets collected in the reservoir.

The source of chilled air may be selected from the group consisting of a T-CAES turboexpander, a TL-CAES turboexpander, an expander, and a liquid nitrogen (LN2) tank truck. In one embodiment, the time of flight of the wastewater droplets from the nozzle to the drop container is 3.75 to 7.05 seconds, and there may be a salt between the reservoir and the drain.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber having an elongated flow chamber, one or more wastewater nozzles, one or more exhaust ports, a perforated reservoir, and one or more rows. a gas port, and a freezing air inlet, wherein the flow chamber has an upper portion and a lower portion, the one or more wastewater nozzles are located near the upper portion, and the one or more exhaust ports are located near the upper portion The water is attached to the bottom of the flow chamber, and the freezing air inlet is connected between the upper portion and the lower portion.

The one or more nozzles can produce a droplet of a fixed size and eject the droplets downward. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber may also include a sump located below the reservoir, wherein brine from the reservoir is collected in the sump. A fresh water nozzle can be directed to the interior of the reservoir, which is used to spray clean water onto the frozen droplets collected in the reservoir.

The time taken for the droplets of wastewater to exit the nozzle to drop into the container is as short as 4.35 seconds for the large radius droplets. There may be a salt between the reservoir and the sump. The sump may be connected to a drain, which may be selected from the group consisting of a T-CAES turboexpander, a TL-CAES turboexpander, an expander, and a liquid nitrogen (LN2) tank truck.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the description of the preferred embodiments of the invention.

2‧‧‧ Shell

4‧‧‧Drainage path

5‧‧‧ Room

6‧‧‧ basket

7‧‧‧ entrance end

8‧‧‧Drainage end

10‧‧‧Waste water nozzle

11‧‧‧Connecting Department

12‧‧‧Air inlet

13‧‧‧ droplets

14‧‧‧Clear water nozzle

15‧‧‧Clear water

17‧‧‧Drainage pipe

19‧‧‧ Ice cone

20‧‧‧ Waste pipe

30‧‧‧Shell

31‧‧ ‧ room

32‧‧‧ upper

33‧‧‧ lower

34‧‧‧ venting holes

35‧‧‧Nozzles

37‧‧‧Water reservoir

38‧‧‧ grille

40‧‧‧Water Collector

41‧‧‧Brine

42‧‧‧Air inlet

44‧‧‧Cellular Air Straightener

45‧‧‧ droplets

46‧‧‧fine grille

102‧‧ ‧ room

102a‧‧‧ top

102b‧‧‧ bottom

Opposite 102c‧‧

104‧‧‧Waste water nozzle

106‧‧‧Water reservoir

108‧‧‧Refrigerated air inlet

112‧‧‧Liquid nitrogen source

114‧‧‧Liquid nitrogen dewar

116‧‧‧Gaseous nitrogen

118‧‧‧ venting holes

120‧‧ ‧ water collector

122‧‧‧fine grille

124‧‧‧Salt

126‧‧‧ Waste water droplets

129‧‧‧Brine

130‧‧‧Video recorder

132‧‧‧Light projector

134‧‧‧ camera

136‧‧‧Light polarizer

138‧‧‧ window lens

139‧‧‧Dry nitrogen source

140‧‧‧ window lens

142‧‧‧Light polarizer

144‧‧‧Dry nitrogen source

A‧‧‧ area

B‧‧‧Area

C‧‧‧ area

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, its objects and advantages, reference should be made to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a co-flowing crystal spray chamber of an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a countercurrent crystal spray chamber of an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the laboratory setup of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention and its advantages can be understood by referring to Figures 1 through 3, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Preferably, the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) apparatus uses an air temperature of -175 °F and a residence time of more than 3 seconds in a closed apparatus, which is a useful hot or cold climate. Therefore, compared to the previous study at 0.5 seconds, using warmer air temperatures (~-10 °F) and shorter residence times for nucleation, crystallization and separation, the separation of contaminants from wastewater droplets has improved. .

In particular, in Figure 1 and Annex 7, this disclosure describes a co-current eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) device designed for more permanent installations, located near a utility or by a TL-CAES system. Or the T-CAES system is available effectively. Particularly in FIG. 2 and Annex 9, the disclosure also illustrates a countercurrent eutectic freeze crystallizing spray chamber (EFCSC) apparatus for a medium-sized apparatus that can be coupled by a utility or by a two-stage free-wound coupled turbo compressor and The turbo expander is driven by one of its ultra-cold air generators. The main advantages of eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment are low capital cost for construction, operation and maintenance, small footprint, low height, transport by truck or train, and high separation efficiency.

In Fig. 3, a universal test apparatus is shown which is desktop sized and driven by liquid nitrogen vapor at -320 °F to evaluate the isolation efficiency of various new contaminants at various new concentrations. The test data accumulated in this device will provide full scale design parameters. Since we are processing the spray from the nozzle, the test module is linearly scaled up to full scale (Figure 3).

There are two ways to get the ultra-cold air of the required high quality flow at -175 °F: (1) TL-CAES system, or T-CAES system (Attachment 7), or (2) Expander (Attachment 9). A low mass flow of ultra-cold gas can be obtained using a low temperature dewar such as liquid nitrogen. In one example, the latent heat of the liquid nitrogen vapor is 86 Btu/lb, and the evaporation temperature of -320 F can be combined with room temperature gaseous nitrogen from a nitrogen bottle in a mixing chamber, such as shown in FIG. To produce a specified gas temperature to contact the wastewater droplets.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing one of the examples of eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment designed for 95,000 gallons of wastewater purification per day. An outer casing 2 comprises a chamber 5 for mixing a spray of wastewater and chilled air, and a double wall defining an outer discharge path 4 which surrounds but is separated from the chamber 5. The discharge path 4 may exist around the entire chamber 5 such that the outer casing 2 is a double-walled cylinder or vessel, or the discharge path 4 may exist only around a portion of the chamber 5. The discharge path 4 communicates with the chamber 5 at the drain end 8 of the chamber, wherein a perforated movable basket 6 separates them but allows liquid to circulate.

The chamber 5 has a top (inlet end 7), a bottom (drain end 8) and contains the waste water spray. The outer casing 2 has an inlet end 7 and a drain end 8. One or more waste water nozzles 10 are located adjacent the inlet end 7 of the outer casing and are connected to a source of pressurized wastewater (not shown) by a connection portion 11. An air inlet 12 located near the inlet end 7 is used to introduce chilled air into the volume In room 5. The nozzles 10 and the air inlet are in close proximity to mix the wastewater with the chilled air. At the bottom of the chamber 5 is a perforated basket 6 for collecting ice droplets. The discharge path 4 is surrounded by the chamber to discharge the chilled air from the outer casing. The discharge path 4 is connected to a HVAC or a cold storage in one embodiment. On the side of the basket, one or more clear water nozzles 14 for spraying clean water on the frozen droplets (not shown) collected in the basket are configured to be sprayed into the basket. A drain 17 below the basket 6 collects liquid contaminated wastewater, as well as a wastewater/fresh water mixture. An ice cone 19 is formed above the drain pipe to guide waste water into the drain pipe, and a waste pipe is disposed under the drain pipe for collecting concentrated waste water.

In one embodiment, the air inlet is located on one side of the inlet end in a tangential direction with the inlet end 7 to provide a swirling force of incoming air to mix air and water. In another embodiment, the air inlet is directed downward.

In one embodiment, the chamber 5 is a cylinder having a rectangular cross section, wherein each end 7, 8 is flat, conical, or pyramidal to promote uniform mixing of the chilled air and waste water at the inlet end, and The collection of contaminants at the drain end. If it is most important to build easily, the chamber can be made of existing building materials, with a rectangular cross section, the four plane walls are connected to each other at the corners and terminate at a simple end, wherein the nozzle protrudes through the top end and the bottom end contains a drain pipe .

In one embodiment, the source of chilled air is preferably from one of four sources. T-CAES turboexpander, TL-CAES turboexpander, expander, or liquid nitrogen (LN2) tank truck. The LN2 tanker is the least economical drive, but is useful on a laboratory scale.

In one embodiment, the composition of the nozzle 10 controls the size of the droplet 13, wherein the smaller droplets have a longer residence time in the chamber 5, as exemplified in the following figures. Full-cone nozzles offer medium to large sizes due to their large blade flow and control characteristics One of the droplets is evenly sprayed and is the most widely used species in the industry.

Among the various spray profiles, the smallest volume produces the smallest spray droplets and the largest capacity produces the largest spray droplets. The shape of each nozzle will give a given distribution of droplet sizes, with many droplets smaller than the average size and fewer droplets of larger size. The volume median diameter (VMD) is based on the volume of liquid sprayed and is therefore a widely accepted metric. The table below shows the range of droplet sizes.

In use, pressurized wastewater is sprayed through the nozzle 10 into the container 5 as one of droplets having a predetermined size.

The wastewater spray 13 emerging from the nozzle (above 32F) passes through the chilled air introduced into the vessel from the air inlet, which combines with the chilled air to create a combination wherein the spray droplets are cooled by the chilled air. The chilled air can be produced by a turboexpander and can be introduced at -175 °F at a flow rate of 44,000 cubic feet per minute. This combination occurs in zone A and moves through the chamber 5 (in one embodiment, about 5 呎/sec). In zone B, due to prolonged contact with the chilled air, the droplets partially or completely freeze and move faster (in one embodiment, about 7.8 Å/sec), alternatively, the clear water 15 is The fresh water nozzles 14 are sprayed onto the frozen liquid droplets as wash water to replace the pool liquid with the ice particles of the deposited layer. In one embodiment, the fresh water comes from thawed ice. In zone C, frozen droplets have been collected in the basket 6, from which the freezer air exits. The combined wastewater droplet mixture moves down the chamber 5 to the drain end 8. In region D, chilled air is discharged from the outer casing 2.

In one example, the equipment is designed to process 95,000 gallons of wastewater per day, where the wastewater must be from 100 °F to -10 °F with a heat of fusion of 144 Btu/lb, using 127,531 BTU/min. Using a two-stage turboexpander and generator set, the system will generate approximately 4021.45 horsepower (3000 kilowatts) of electricity. As a by-product of the turboexpansion process, with an efficiency of 11 SCFM/hp, we get 131,381 BTU/min when the 44,236 SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute) air is from -175°F to -10°F.

When we compare 131381 BTU/min and 127531 BTU/min, we know that the cooling power obtained is slightly higher than the required cooling power. This system is designed to take into account the cooling of the equipment to begin the purification process and to continue the purification process in consideration of heat transfer losses. The total time to use cooling power is reduced by using lightweight structural components with low heat capacity. Heat transfer losses are minimized by using cold exhaust air through the exterior of the outer casing of the device.

Consider the sprayer on top of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) unit. Prior art AVCO spray chambers using liquid chlorofluorocarbon vapor as a coolant produced droplets of 200 to 360 micron diameter wastewater which were capable of producing 134 micron sized water borneol in 0.5 seconds. In addition, the deposited small borneol forms an accumulator that is porous and highly permeable (=0.453).

There is a greater temperature difference between the air and wastewater droplets and a longer residence time. The 400 micron diameter wastewater will have a residence time of 7.05 seconds compared to 0.5 seconds for AVCO, thus ensuring ice formation and separation. However, we are more interested in the 1200 micron diameter wastewater droplet size, even though the residence time is as short as 3.75 seconds, as we can generate larger small pieces of ice and more holes floating on a mesh support baffle. The ice builds up so that the concentrated brine will be drained through the accumulation of snow and reduce the need for washing.

For example, 12 gallons of high volume flow of water per minute passes through a full cone nozzle with a pressure drop of 10 pounds per square inch (psi) on the nozzle face, with a droplet size volume median diameter = 4300 microns; A low volume flow of 0.16 gallons per minute of water through a hollow cone nozzle with a 100 psi pressure drop across the nozzle face, the droplet size volume median diameter = 200 microns. We are interested in diameters between 400 and 1200 microns.

The velocity of the droplet on a nozzle having a pressure differential of 10 psid will be 22.8 呎 / sec; it will be 45.7 呎 / sec at 40 psid and 72 呎 / sec at 100 psid.

Considering that the air moving down through the crystallization chamber averaged 6.35 Å/sec, the 400 micron droplets had an additional terminal speed of 5 Å/sec for a total of 11.35 Å/sec. Thus the spray will enter the top of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber apparatus at a higher rate than the air flow, so these droplets will decelerate rapidly under intense heat transfer.

In another range, it is contemplated that the air moving down through the crystallization chamber averages 6.35 Å/sec, and the 1200 micron droplets have an additional terminal speed of 15 Å/sec for a total of 21.35 Å/sec. Therefore, in order for the spray to enter the top of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber apparatus at a higher rate than the air flow, these droplets will decelerate rapidly under intense heat transfer, using a higher overpressure on the nozzle. necessary.

Importantly, the droplet core temperature reaches the eutectic freezing temperature, just as the coated ice particles reach the bottom of the chamber and stay on the mesh. Therefore, three phases of the frozen wastewater will appear.

All calculations show that one flight time of 3.75 to 7.05 seconds in the crystallization chamber should allow complete mixing of air and droplets, so that the final equilibrium temperature of the air will be slightly lower than -6 °F, and the droplets will be deposited on When the bottom of the crystallization chamber is on, it is slightly warmer than -6 °F.

As the discharged snow mass accumulates in the porous basket, the continuous small volume flow clears The water spray continues on the stacked porous snow mass. Therefore, in addition to the natural discharge of the concentrated brine liquid from the top of the snow block to the bottom, the cold water spray is accumulated on any remaining film of each snow crystal and is washed down. This step is necessary to achieve extremely high water purity.

The ice floats on the mesh support baffle so that the concentrated brine will be discharged through the accumulated snow masses to reduce the need for washing. The removal of the snow mass can be accomplished by periodically moving the entire porous basket batch through the conveyor belt. Or it can be achieved continuously by using a continuous moving snow block to one of the screws on the conveyor belt.

It is important to treat it appropriately after collecting the concentrated brine. It should not enter the environment again. In many applications, concentrated liquid brine can be further processed to recover useful products and additional drinking water.

Figure 2 shows a countercurrent eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber apparatus in which the frozen input air is injected upward into the flow chamber through the droplets of wastewater moving downward. A housing 30 defines a chamber 31 having an upper portion 32 and a lower portion 33 and having one or more wastewater nozzles 35 connected to a waste water source 36 located on or near the upper portion, wherein the nozzles 35 are generated A relatively uniform size of the wastewater droplet 45 and the droplet spray is directed downward. The upper portion also has one or more venting holes 34 for venting the chilled air, which enters via a lower air inlet 42. A mobile reservoir 37 is located at the lower portion to intercept the discharged ice, and the reservoir 37 can be emptied and replaced when it is full. The perforated reservoir 37 is discharged into a sump 40 to collect the concentrated brine 41.

In some embodiments, the lower portion has no air outlet for air flow out, and only one of the brines 41 drains. There is an air inlet 42 between the upper tube 32 and the lower tube 33 that is coupled to a source of refrigerated air that carries chilled air into the housing toward the upper portion. In one embodiment, the source of chilled air is a turboexpander that discharges air at a temperature of about -175 °F. In one embodiment, the chilled air passes through a cellular flow straightener 44.

The spray of wastewater is typically introduced into the upper portion by the nozzles 35 which are moved downwardly to the lower portion 33 by gravity and the velocity imparted by the injection nozzle. At the time of launch, the droplet system is above 32 °F, but the chilled air is introduced from the air inlet 42 of A and moves upwardly toward the upper portion 32 in the outer casing of B through which the chilled air is discharged. Because there is no air outlet, the chilled air does not advance downward in the outer casing 30. As the air rises, it passes through the falling droplet 35 and cools the droplet 35 such that the droplet is partially or completely frozen as it enters the lower portion 33. The frozen droplets 35 are accumulated in the reservoir 37, and the outer surface thereof has brine which exhibits a relatively high concentration of contaminants. Therefore, the outer surface has a higher melting temperature, and thus may be liquid when the droplet 35 reaches the accumulator 37, in which case the brine containing the contaminant is collected in the sump 40 and can be concentrated. The treatment system (not shown) is discharged. In one embodiment, below the reservoir is a grid 38 that retains larger ice particles, but small ice particles and brine can pass. The water collector has a finer grille 46 on the entire top, only the brine can pass, and the ice particles do not. Salt is sandwiched between the larger grid 38 and the finer grid 46, which is combined with smaller ice particles that pass through the larger grid 38, wherein the brine mixes the salt with the ice to improve separation efficiency through the washing procedure.

The washing procedure will start with a small amount of fresh water close to +32 °F. Once the washing process begins, a portion of the thawed ice will be recovered in the chamber to spray the stacked porous ice pieces. The clear water spray impacts only a small borneol pile with a very thin brine film, which will cause the film to be discharged as liquid brine, which will make the original small borneol larger in size. For particularly toxic contaminants that require strong separation efficiency, one or two such washes are required.

In an embodiment, the outer casing is cylindrical and sealingly engages the air inlet 42. In another embodiment, the outer casing has a square section that is easy to construct, with Not much wall material.

In one embodiment, the nozzles are full-conical nozzles that provide a uniform spray distribution of one of the medium to large size droplets due to the large flow passage and control characteristics of the blade design, which is the most widely used in the industry. The type used. Among the various spray profiles, the smallest volume produces the smallest spray droplets and the largest capacity produces the largest spray droplets. The volume median diameter (VMD) is based on the volume of liquid sprayed and is therefore a widely accepted metric. The upper table shows the range of droplet sizes by nozzle type.

Even though it is technically more complicated than shown in Figure 1, this embodiment has several advantages.

Although the residence time of the wastewater droplets can be as long as 4.35 seconds, even for 1200 micron diameter wastewater droplets, the overall height of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber equipment is much smaller. The ascending gas flow rate is approximately 15 呎 / sec.

Basically, as the droplets freeze, the droplets are held by the updraft near the top of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber apparatus. The very slow rate of descent drops frozen droplets of the surface covered with concentrated brine (e.g., at -10 °F) into the static volume at the bottom of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) apparatus. The downward injection velocity of the warm wastewater droplets entering the upward movement of one of the cold air streams enhances the heat exchange at the top of the warmest eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment. When the frozen wastewater droplet reaches the top of the still water zone, the frozen droplet moves slowly, but the surface has the highest temperature difference applied. The air entering here is -175 °F and the frozen droplets are -10 °F. The temperature of the still air chamber at the bottom of the chamber can be controlled more preferably to ensure that the eutectic temperature is maintained during the introduction of the drainage and wash cycles.

Annex 1 shows the phase diagram of the salt (NaCl) solution with temperature and concentration as coordinates. Consider a 6% saline solution. When the temperature drops from room temperature to below 32 °F, the entire solution remains Liquid.

As the temperature drops again, the phase boundary is encountered and the ice core forms and increases in the cold liquid. Since each ice particle has a lower density than the surrounding brine, it floats on top of the concentrated liquid brine. This process continues until the ice crystals appear on top of the brine.

When the liquid volume temperature of the brine is lowered to its eutectic temperature, the ice floe layer has increased to its maximum thickness. But additional events will also happen. Individual concentrated brine crystals appear and precipitate to the bottom of the liquid brine. The remaining brine reaches a concentration called one of the eutectic concentrations. The lower right panel depicts one of the brine solutions at eutectic temperature and eutectic concentration.

Annex 1 shows the energy balance used to achieve the desired air mass flow in order to achieve 90,000 gallons of wastewater per day at -20 °F and 95,000 gallons of wastewater per day to reach -10 °F. The former case is used if a generator is used to deliver power to the desired air compressor. This is an energy balance that assumes that the process is available for an infinite amount of time and that all of the water is in the agitation tank to ensure perfect mixing. Therefore, this is an approximate calculation.

The rate of heat transfer between cold air and warm wastewater droplets is a consideration. In order to ensure energy balance, a high relative velocity between the droplets and the air (i.e., a high Reynolds number), and a high ratio of surface area to volume are necessary. Experimental data with similar environmental conditions show that for some wastewater solutions, 0.5 seconds is enough for a wastewater droplet to form an ice core, increase each ice core, and move the brine to the outer surface of the falling ice particles.

Annex 3 shows the terminal speed of a droplet. The terminal speed is the speed at which a falling droplet reaches within our gravitational field and is impeded by aerodynamic drag caused by the rate of descent.

Initially, at the top of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) plant, the wastewater system As a liquid column, there is a pressure difference across the diameter of the nozzle which produces a velocity and the liquid column is dispersed into droplets of a fixed diameter. However, during the downward flight of the droplets, it encounters a downward wind in the cocurrent device or an upward wind in the counterflow device. Thus, the terminal speed is combined with the device wind speed to produce a relative value in a fixed length chamber.

In co-current equipment, the facility is limited to a height (or 90 呎) that can be transported by rail or truck. In counterflow equipment, the height requirement can be reduced by one size class. The result of dividing the chamber height by the relative velocity of the droplets is the residence time of the droplets.

The air velocity in the chamber is determined by the air flow, which is calculated in cubic meters per minute or pounds per minute. If we assume a cross-sectional area of the chamber and the air temperature at the top and bottom of the chamber and combine it with the mass flow, we obtain the local velocity at the top and bottom of the chamber.

This series of calculations produces the height and cross-sectional area of the co-flow and counter-flow chambers. It is important to note that it is necessary to choose daily gallon wastewater as a starting point.

Annex 4 shows that the energy consumption of the freeze crystallization process is not as low as in the membrane process, which has other advantages. The first advantage is that crystallization is usually a single equilibrium stage process. Since it operates at a lower temperature and the latent heat of crystallization is always less than evaporation, the entropy change of this process is smaller than that of an evaporation process. Lower temperatures also reduce the effects of corrosion, so less expensive structural materials are necessary. A very high separation factor is a rule of the crystallization process, so the purity of the product is excellent.

Crystallization can produce clean water from saturated brines with a total dissolved solids concentration of up to 650,000 mg/l. Crystallization is usually paired with other treatments, which are more energy efficient in removing low total dissolved solids concentrations in water. Crystallizers are rarely used in low total dissolved solids water Source because of its high operating energy input requirements and subsequent processing costs.

Annex 5 shows that although frozen crystallization consumes more energy, frozen crystallization is used where it is necessary to strongly separate contaminants. By using the reverse osmosis countercurrent of the freeze crystallization process, significant energy shortcomings can be overcome, such as reverse osmosis brine by freeze crystallization treatment.

Annex 6 shows two methods for obtaining high quality flow of ultra-cold air at -175 °F, namely TL-CAES and compression dilator method. The TL-CAES system not only stores energy but also transfers energy so that no unsightly high-voltage power lines are required between the power source and the end-use power. The use of a wind farm or a solar electric field as a power source makes the system completely environmentally friendly and has no burning fuel. The TL-CAES system not only provides power to end users, but also has high air mass flow at -175°F. This system is practicable for a few days from 1 to 10 megawatts of power. This condition includes one or more power sources approximately three miles from the user, such a high pressure line for supplying compressed air to the turboexpander/generator configuration.

The T-CAES system only stores energy but does not transfer energy. The use of a wind farm or a solar electric field as a power source makes the system completely environmentally friendly and has no burning fuel. The T-CAES system not only supplies power to the end user, but also has a high air mass flow rate at -175 °F. This system is practicable for 1 hour at 1 to 10 MW. This situation includes having one of the power users of the field, such multiple high air pressure vessels being used to supply compressed air to the user's turboexpander/generator configuration.

The compression expander is one that is driven by approximately 90 psia of compressed air from a low pressure commercial compressor. The compression expander is a secondary configuration of one of a turbo compressor and a turbo expander on a common shaft, and another turbo compressor and a turbo expander on a coaxial axis. The input pressurized air (90 psia and 70 °F) is delivered to the first turbo compressor and heat exchanger, and then Delivery to the second turbo compressor and heat exchanger. The initial air flow through the turbo compressor is also input through a respective turboexpander. It takes a few seconds for all rotating machines to accelerate to free winding speed. At this time, only high-quality ultra-cold air of -175 °F is produced. No electricity is generated. The only drive in the system is the utility or generator power that drives a low pressure air compressor with a 90 psia pressure output.

The above two systems are capable of maintaining at least 95,000 gallons of wastewater per day. The deuterium size and trailer size liquid nitrogen drive system is intended to maintain a small but highly engineered eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) unit. The purpose of this permanent device is to determine the design of the full-scale equipment needed to maintain each new customer. Each new customer is expected to have its own contaminant and initial contaminant concentration that must be removed to achieve a specific water purity.

Annex 7 shows the T-CAES system and the TL-CAES system, where the power from the wind farm or solar electric field is supplied to an air compressor that is tied to multiple slots of the T-CAES system when wind or sun is shining. Or a long pressurized line is pressurized to 1200 psig.

The pressure vessel provides a stable 200 psig to the turboexpander/generator when there is no wind and no sun but power is needed. The generator (driven by the turbo expander) provides the required power and the turbo expander exhaust produces -175 °F high quality ultra-cold air.

Recent developments in the T-CAES system and the TL-CAES system have provided such high quality flow of extremely cold air. It is this by-product that drives the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment. So far, for example, those cold temperatures close to -10 °F are associated with the cold temperatures of traditional refrigerators or Canadian winters, rather than the -175 °F now available.

When the exhaust air from the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment is -20 °F, in order to reduce the natural gas consumption by 30% for the same power output, ice particles The air that is removed is sent to the generator as the intake air.

In a system configuration, the generator operates with normal consumption of natural gas. On the other hand, natural gas consumption is reduced by 30% when -20 °F intake is supplied. The generator power is used to provide electrical energy to drive a compression expander that provides cold air to a eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) device for purifying water.

Annex 8 shows the correlation between power output and intake air temperature for the MARS 100 generator manufactured by Caterpillar Solar. When the intake density of the turbo compressor is low (high temperature), the energy required to deliver a given air mass flow to the combustion chamber increases. The turbo compressor operates on a volumetric flow basis, but the combustion chamber operates on a mass flow basis.

A typical large generator system operates in a closed power building with an indoor temperature of 100 °F, so the MARS 100 generator will generate 9,700 watts of electricity. Power system engineers know this power loss, so they cool the intake air through several types of chiller units and chillers, so the intake system is reduced to 47°F instead of using the 100°F to 11700kW power output for the same natural gas consumption. . This represents the state of the art. However, the MilStd 810G requires generators for the Arctic Circle to operate at -25°F. Therefore, there is no reason that the generator should be driven by the intake air at 47 °F. This operation has not been done commercially, but is described here. Operation at -20 °F will result in 13,000 watts of power output under the same natural gas consumption.

Annex 9 shows the use of a compression expander to produce high quality flow of ultra-cold air at -175 °F. The secondary free-wound compression expander is driven by a conventional air compressor that typically provides 90 psia of indoor air to the pneumatic tool. When there is no utility power nearby, the power of the conventional air compressor is provided by the generator.

It should be noted that, as shown in Annex 7, at -20 °F, from eutectic freezing The high quality flow air of the Crystallization Spray Chamber (EFCSC) equipment is used to achieve the high efficiency operation of the generators seen in Annex 7.

In this example, the output air filled with ice particles is centrifuged before the air is delivered to the high speed impeller blades of the input air of the turbine driven compressor.

Ice particles larger than 10 microns in diameter are centrifuged in a delivery tube using a 135 degree rotation, while ice particles smaller than 10 microns in diameter are transported by an airflow stream through the open channels between the blades so that the ice particles do not collide on the blades.

It is important that all ice particles are centrifuged from -20 °F, air filled with ice particles having a diameter of 10 microns or more before feeding the intake air to the turbo compressor. The high speed impeller blades of the turbine will be worn by the continuous collision of these ice particles.

Despite the curved flight path between the blades, ice particles less than 10 microns in diameter will advance along the flow line of the intake. As the air is heated by compression, these ice particles will melt and evaporate during the sweep of the turbine blades. This further cooling is helpful in the efficiency of the compression process.

Figure 3 shows a laboratory equipment that is height monitored to observe the behavior of the crystallization chamber, ie monitoring: (1) the spray zone at the top of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment to pay attention to the droplet size of the wastewater Growth and distance to reach the terminal velocity of the droplet, (2) the mid-high region of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment to provide a photomicrograph of the falling particles during freezing, paying attention to the brine from the inside of the core of the frozen water borneol Moving, (3) the bottom area of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment to provide a picture of the accumulated snow mass and the brine discharged through the porous snow block, (4) the snow mass collected on the mesh of the porous basket, (5) Salt crystals collected on a fine mesh below the snow block, and (6) measuring the conductivity of the brine collected at the very bottom of the eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber (EFCSC) equipment.

Referring also to Figure 3, there is an elongated chamber 102 having a top portion 102a and a bottom portion 102b having a nozzle 104 on the top portion 102a and a perforated basket type reservoir 106 on the bottom portion 102b for accumulating Ice grain. One or more nitrogen vents 118 are located on or near the top 102a of the chamber to allow nitrogen to flow out. A sump 120 for draining brine is attached to the bottom 102b below the reservoir 106, wherein the sump 120 is overlaid with a fine grid 122. In an embodiment, a salt 124 can be placed between the reservoir 106 and the sump 120 at the top of the header 122 of the sump. A cold air inlet 108 is located between the top portion 102a of the chamber 102 and the bottom portion 102b. The source of chilled air (gaseous nitrogen) can be a liquid nitrogen source 112 comprising a liquid nitrogen dewar 114 and/or gaseous nitrogen 116 at room temperature. In use, chilled air or nitrogen enters the chamber 102 and is directed upwardly in the opposite direction from the droplets 126 being directed downward from the nozzle 104. As the chilled air passes through the droplets, it lowers the temperature of the droplets to partially or completely freeze it, and then drops into the reservoir 106. The brine leaves the reservoir via the bottom of the perforation and is dropped into the salt 124 where it becomes more salty. The brine 129 is retained in the sump 120.

To monitor the operation and effectiveness of the system, a video recorder 130 is positioned to view the reservoir 106 to view details of the appearance of the frozen droplets. On or near the top portion 102a, below the nozzle 104, is a light projector and a digital image or camera 134, wherein the field of view of the camera 134 is illuminated by the light projector 132. In one embodiment, the chamber is painted black on the opposite side of the camera 102c to create a large contrast on the image. The inner surface of the camera and light projector can also be painted black. A window lens 138 separates the light projector 132 from the interior of the chamber 102. An optical polarizer 136 is positioned between the light projector 132 and the window lens 138 for filtering all scattered light, reflections, and glare from sources other than the target of interest. In an embodiment A dry nitrogen source 139 is located between the window lens and the interior of the chamber to prevent any humid air from entering the window or lens and preventing fogging of the window and lens, obstructing the viewing of the target. A window lens 140 also separates the camera 134 from the chamber 102. A light polarizer 142 is positioned between the camera 134 and the window lens 140 for filtering all scattered light, reflections, and glare from sources other than the target of interest. In one embodiment, a dry nitrogen source 144 is positioned between the window lens and the interior of the chamber 102 to dry air entering the window or lens.

Light projector 132 has a variety of modes in which it can be illuminated by a series of flashes, periodically displaying a series of still photos, or periodically displaying ice formation, or periodically displaying salt crystals. Camera 134 can also have a number of photo settings to allow for accurate viewing of droplets in flight. In order to determine the upward velocity of nitrogen, plastic beads can be dropped in the chamber 102 and observed.

If the conductivity of the concentrated brine indicates complete separation of the contaminants from the wastewater, a series of washing procedures will be performed and fine-tuned to develop an optimal washing procedure.

It is thought that this equipment will use a predetermined concentration of pollutants in the wastewater and will measure the concentration of the final brine so that the separation efficiency can be measured. For simple salts, a starting solution with a concentration of 10% to 20% would require a simple instrument to determine if the final concentration of the solution is about 100 ppm. For more toxic contaminants, the initial range can be in parts per million (ppm) and needs to reach parts per billion (ppb), which is more complicated. In addition, safe handling and disposal rules must be observed.

The present invention has been described using specific embodiments thereof for illustrative purposes only. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the principles of the present invention can be implemented in other ways. Therefore, the present invention should not be considered as limited to the scope of the specific embodiments disclosed herein. Rather, it corresponds exactly to the scope of the following patent application.

Claims (20)

A eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber comprising: a chamber having an upper inlet end and a lower drain end; one or more wastewater nozzles connected to a wastewater source near the inlet end to produce wastewater liquid a freezing air inlet located adjacent the inlet end and connected to a source of refrigerated air such that the chilled air can be mixed with the wastewater droplets; a perforated reservoir adjacent the drain end for collecting the freezing a droplet; a drain pipe located below the water reservoir for providing an outlet for liquid waste water; and a discharge port for the chilled air adjacent to the drain end. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 1, further comprising an outer casing surrounding the chamber, comprising at least a portion of a double wall surrounding the chamber, the double wall defining a discharge path, Wherein the discharge path is connected to the discharge port. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 1, wherein the nozzle is for providing a droplet of a predetermined size. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber according to claim 1, further comprising a clean water nozzle directed to the inside of the water reservoir, the fresh water nozzle for collecting the frozen liquid droplets in the water reservoir Spray water on it. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber according to claim 1, wherein the source of the refrigerating air is selected from the group consisting of a T-CAES turboexpander, a TL-CAES turboexpander, an expander, or a liquid nitrogen (LN2) tank truck. . The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 1, wherein the droplets of the wastewater are ejected from the nozzle to a time of flight of 3.75 to 7.05 seconds. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 1, further comprising a salt between the water reservoir and the drain. A eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber comprising: an elongated flow chamber having an upper portion and a lower portion; one or more wastewater nozzles located adjacent the upper portion; one or more exhaust ports located adjacent the upper portion a perforated reservoir is attached to the bottom of the flow chamber; and a refrigerated air inlet is coupled between the upper portion and the lower portion, and the inlet is coupled to a source of refrigerated air. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, wherein the one or more nozzles produce droplets of a predetermined size and eject the droplets downward. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, further comprising a water sump located below the water reservoir, wherein brine from the water reservoir is collected in the water collector. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, further comprising a clear water nozzle directed to the interior of the water reservoir, the fresh water nozzle for spraying clean water in the water reservoir Freeze the droplets. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, wherein a flow of chilled air is from the chilled air inlet, up to the flow chamber, and exits the one or more vents. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, further comprising a salt between the water reservoir and a water collector. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, wherein the water collector is connected to a drain. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber according to claim 8, wherein the source of the refrigerating air is selected from the group consisting of a T-CAES turboexpander, a TL-CAES turboexpander, an expander, or a liquid nitrogen (LN2) tank truck. . The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, further comprising a video recorder positioned to view the water reservoir. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8 further comprising a light projector and a camera, the light projector being directed to the elongated flow chamber to illuminate a portion of the interior of the flow chamber, the camera system Pointing to the illuminated portion of the interior of the flow chamber to capture an image of the frozen droplets. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, wherein the light projector and the camera further comprise a lens, wherein the light projector and the camera system respectively pass the lens and the flow chamber Internal separation. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8 further comprising a dry nitrogen source between the plurality of lenses and the interior of the flow chamber to prevent moisture from accumulating on the lenses. The eutectic frozen crystal spray chamber of claim 8, further comprising an optical polarizer between a camera and a plurality of lenses for filtering out other sources from the light projector Scattered light and reflection.