Abstract: A plastic granulator apparatus stationary cutting segment includes a segment rail having multiple arcuate spaced teeth. Each tooth of the plurality of arcuate spaced teeth has a tooth surface and is spaced to be complementary to a rotary cutter segments as a rotary cutter is rotated. The segment rail is adapted to be mounted to a granulator housing. The rail segment has a shoulder with a shoulder surface, the shoulder is adjacent to each of a set of arcuate spaced teeth. The shoulder has a shoulder surface height of between 0 and 10 mm, and a stepback distance of between 0 and 2 mm between the shoulder surface and the arcuate tooth surface. The shoulder and the arcuate tooth surface define an angle therebetween of 90° and 130°, and the shoulder surface defines an angle between 90° and 130°.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for selecting, retaining or bioaugmenting solids in an activated sludge process for improving wastewater treatment using screens. The screens can be used to separate and retain solids based on size, compressibility or shear resistance. The screens are used to separate and select slow growing organisms, faster settling organisms, or materials added to absorb, treat or remove constituents in the activated sludge process. A swapping screen arrangement provides another means of selecting various particles. The exposed shear rate or time, particle compression, or SRTs can be adjusted manually and/or automatically in response to detected readings from an instrument such as a spectrophotometer or other optical approaches to optimize selection of organisms.

Abstract: A spin column device, which contains a rigid porous filter that retains its shape during centrifugation, chromatography methods using the device to isolate a desired substance, e.g., a biological molecule, from other substances in a mixture, and kits containing the device with one or more reagents for use in the method.

Abstract: A spin column device, which contains a rigid porous filter that retains its shape during centrifugation, chromatography methods using the device to isolate a desired substance, e.g., a biological molecule, from other substances in a mixture, and kits containing the device with one or more reagents for use in the method.

Abstract: A wastewater treatment system for treating wastewater by processes which include aeration. The system includes an influent conduit for delivery of wastewater to be processed and a treatment tank for processing of the wastewater. Also included is an air conduit for providing compressed air for aeration of the wastewater and a particle size regulation device disposed between the conduit and the tank, wherein the particle size regulation device regulates a size of particles present in the wastewater to provide particle size regulated wastewater. The system also includes at least one aeration jet having a nozzle diameter sized to allow the particle size regulated wastewater to pass through the nozzle.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for the aerobic digestion of a fluid waste material, notably an aqueous sewage, in which at least part of the waste material and/or of the digestion mixture is comminuted to reduce the median particle size of biomass and other solid particles in the digestion mixture to less than 10 micrometres, for example using destructive cavitation with a pressure drop of from 2 to 7.5 Bar. The comminution produces particles which are preferentially ingested by predator organisms in the digestion stage so that they graze on the bacteria and biomass particles and thus reduce the amount of biomass and suspended solids produced in the digestion stage. The invention also relates to apparatus for use in the method of the invention.

Abstract: Microfluidic devices that form layered structures provide a liquid handling interface with external devices as well as reduce consumption of sample and buffer in analytical operations. These microfluidic devices are suitable for operations designed for lab-on-a-chip functions. The microfluidic devices accomplish sample injection in a single channel without intersecting channels on the same plane. These devices may be formed through injection-molding fabrication methods.

Abstract: An integrated system for diverting and reducing the size of waste materials in an effluent stream comprising a frame having a bottom housing and a top housing and mountable in the stream. A grinder unit is mounted to the frame bottom housing and comprises a cutter assembly positioned in the stream and a drive mechanism coupled to the cutter assembly to rotate the cutter assembly. The drive mechanism may be electric or hydraulic. A diverter unit is mounted to the frame. It may be a single diverter or dual diverters. The diverter unit comprises a cylindrical drum rotating on a stub shaft. It may also be a helical coil. A drive assembly operably couples the drive mechanism to the drum shaft to rotate the cylindrical drum as the cutter assembly rotates. In operation the diverter unit is positioned side by side to the grinder unit to diverts solids in the effluent stream toward the grinder unit for size reduction. Side rails are employed for flow control around both the diverter unit and the grinder unit.

Abstract: A screw press type filter which comprises an alternately superposed arrangement of annular fixed plates (10) and annular movable plates (11), a filter cylinder (2) defining a fixed cylindrical space (12) by a row of openings of the fixed plates with both end portions of a screw (5) passed through this cylindrical space extending to inlet and outlet chambers (1, 3), and mechanisms (15, 16) for turning the movable plates in accordance with the rotation of the screw also provided, wherein the volumes of the spaces between adjacent ridges of the screws in the filter cylinder are reduced gradually from an inlet toward an outlet so that such a volume decrease corresponds to a gradual decrease in the water content of an object material being processed.

Abstract: A process for saline-solution soluble xanthan gum which comprises the steps of precipitating xanthan gum by mixing, with stirring, an aqueous solution of xanthan gum with an organic solvent which is a non-solvent to xanthan gum but is hydrophilic, removing liquid from the precipitated xanthan gum to a liquid content of at most 50%, disintegrating the cake of xanthan gum after the liquid removal to an average grain size of from 0.3 to 2 cm in diameter, and drying the disintegrated xanthan gum by fluidizing the same at a temperature not exceeding 80° C.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a device and a process for thickening and conveying waste water sludges, especially with a centrifuge. Here, the centrifuge has at least one lysis device for the breaking down of cells of organisms contained in the waste water sludges. The lysis device of the device of the invention may take the form, for example, of a friction grinder (100; 200) with grinding discs (161, 162) or a milling cone, a shaped rasp, a roller crusher, a passing drum, a cutting unit with rows of rotary cutters or a pin grinder with rows of rotating pins. The device of the invention is capable of the lysis of cells, especially those of bacteria and protozoons so that their cell content discharges into the surrounding medium which then acts as a simulation reagent for the bacteria still present in the sludge, so that on the one hand the total quantity of sludge can be greatly reduced and on the other the bio-gas yield is considerably increased.

Abstract: Method for separating paper fibers and contaminants for mixtures containing water, fibers, contaminants, paper or cardboard pellets, wherein the mixture is subjected firstly to a screening, secondly to a mashing and then thirdly to a further screening with addition of water, subsequent to which the pulp retained by the screen is evacuated.

Abstract: A fluid recovery assembly continuously separates lubrication liquid from lubrication-impregnated shavings. The fluid recovery assembly includes a shredder which receives and shreds the lubrication-impregnated shavings. A centrifugal drum rotates the lubrication-impregnated shavings at a speed sufficient to pull the lubrication out of the lubrication-impregnated shavings. A single electrical motor supplies the energy to rotate the centrifugal drum, the shredder and any other hydraulically actuated accessory. When the high inertia centrifugal drum is accelerated to operating speed, little power is needed to keep it rotating. The path in which the fluid flows is changed from a free flow path (back to the reservoir) to a path including a hydraulic motor which powers the shredder. Thus, no separate electric motor is needed for the shredder. The shredder power is further enhanced by the flywheel effect of the centrifugal drum.

Abstract: A waste disposer comprises a shredder section for shredding waste material and a water remover section coupled integrally with the shredder section for removing water from the waste material, in which the shredded waste material is carried upward throughout a cylindrical screen member mounted in the water remover section by the rotation of a screw while its containing water being removed and drained through apertures of the screen member. A plurality of vertically extending rib portions are arranged at equal intervals on the inner wall of the screen member so that screw blade comes in direct contact with the rib portions during its rotation. A plurality of pins are provided at equal intervals on the outer edge of the screw blade, each pin having a length sufficient to run directly on the inner wall of the screen member as the screw rotates.

Abstract: A waste disposer comprises a shredder section for shredding waste material and a water remover section coupled integrally with the shredder section for removing water from the waste material, in which the waste material is shredded with the shredder section and the shredded waste material is carried upward throughout a cylindrical screen member mounted in the water remover section by the rotation of a screw provided in the screen member while its containing water being removed and drained through apertures of the screen member before discharged from the upper end of the screen member. In particular, a projecting reflector of an inverted truncated cone ring-like shape having a downwardly tapered slope arranged on the outer side thereof is mounted to the upper end of the screw for narrowing the upper opening of the screen member.

Abstract: An apparatus for conveying, comminuting and mixing materials comprising/not comprising solid matter having a stator (8) featuring teeth extended inwardly comprises a plurality of racks (13) arranged alongside each other. These racks (13) are held at the ends of the stator (8) in fixing rings (15). The racks (13) may be arranged with a spacing (17) from each other which is defined by blades (16) formed on the fixing rings. The toothed sections of the rotor or impeller (7) and of the racks (13) may be arranged replaceable. Between the inner wall (22) of the casing (2) and the outer wall (21) of the stator cylinder a discharge passage (20) is provided which in a special embodiment is flared scroll-shaped in the direction of the discharge opening (6).

Abstract: The present invention is a centrifuge device which separates chips or shreds of containers from whatever liquid residue remains within these containers. Though this technology is suitable for a number of applications, a primary objective is the separation of the recyclable plastic of a motor oil container from the remaining re-usable motor oil within the container after the container has ostensibly been emptied. It is an objective to accomplish this in an economically advantageous manner which uses neither a solvent nor a wash process, and which reclaims the oil in a suitable form for reprocessing. In its preferred embodiment, the present invention may be utilized as a compact, free-standing size reduction and reclaiming device at the location where the container is used, such as in automotive service stations, and the like. In a second embodiment, production units may be used in plastic reclaiming plants where large quantities of a given plastic container are being centrally processed.

Abstract: The present invention is a centrifuge device which separates chips or shreds of containers from whatever liquid residue remains within the containers. The device is suitable for many applications, including the separation of the recyclable plastic of a motor oil container from the remaining re-usable motor oil within the container after the container has ostensibly been emptied. The device may be utilized as a compact, free-standing size reduction and reclaiming device at the location where the container is used, such as in automotive service stations, and the like, or production units may be used in plastic reclaiming plants where large quantities of a given plastic container are being centrally processed.

Abstract: There is disclosed a garbage disposer which pulverizes kitchen garbage, drys it and discharges only the yield water into a sewage system. This apparatus includes a garbage pulverizing segment and a garbage drying segment, both of which are driven by a common motor. The garbage drying segment includes a screw with a helical blade and a cylindrical screen disposed around the screw. In this garbage drying segment the garbage is compressed and dried as it is pressure-fed by the screw within the screen. The water thus produced flows past the screen and is discharged from the garbage drying segment into the sewage system, while the dried garbage is collected in a bag.

Abstract: Apparatus for separating liquids and solids, comprising, separator screen means for receiving and separating the solids and liquids, conveyor means for feeding the separated solids upwardly from the separator screen means, and compactor means for compacting the solids, the conveyor means comprising a first conveyor extending at a first upward inclination through the separator screen means and a second conveyor extending further upwardly and at a greater inclination than the first conveyor means.

Abstract: There is disclosed a water recirculation system for a swimming pool including assemblies installed in the drain openings in the skimmer and lower end of the pool for shredding leaves solely in response to the circulation of water through them.

Abstract: A visor control includes a pair of parallel spaced arms, each pivotally coupled at one end to a mounting structure secured to a vehicle headliner and having opposite ends pivotally secured to a sun shield such that the shield can be translated by rotation of the parallel arms between a raised stored position and a lowered use position. A spring extends between the mounting structure and one of the movable elements to impart a force to the shield, tending to return the shield to a stored position. Releasable latching means hold the shield in a lowered position and can be operator actuated or automatically actuated with vehicle door opening to allow the spring to return the shield to the stored position permitting ease of exit from the vehicle.

Abstract: Washing machine for washing off or separating plastic film, for example polythene, from paper or cellulose fibers or other pollutants comprising a container 1 into which the material to be washed consisting of plastic film with residual quantities of paper or cellulose or other pollutants is introduced at the same time with the water or subsequently thereto and then stirred by washing mechanical means, wherein said container 1 has a concentric surface 3 inside it which is provided with holes and forms an annular chamber 4 and wherein one or two vertical rotary shafts 5 and 6 are provided rotating in opposite directions with respect to each other and respectively bearing two series of radial agitators 7 and 8 penetrating into each other in the center of the container so that the water containing paper or cellulose fibers or other pollutants passes through the holes being thus discharged separately from the plastic film and wherein each of said series of agitators 7 and 8 carries one or more agitators provided

Abstract: A method and apparatus for hydraulically macerating and recovering soluble component from a solid material such as waste solid propellant that is semihard. The solid material is fed into a perforated enclosure where it is held until it is macerated such that it can pass through perforations in the enclosure. While held in the enclosure, the solid material is agitated and exposed to jets of liquid solvent under a pressure which is equal to at least about 1000 psig to thereby macerate the solid material and force it through the perforations and to dissolve soluble component such as ammonium perchlorate from solid propellant. In one embodiment, the propellant residue is conveyed to a residue discharge end of the apparatus by a sloping helical conveyor. The helical conveyor provides individual contact stages for counter-current extraction and washing of ammonium perchlorate from the residue with recycled solvent.

Abstract: A food chopper pump is connected by a conduit to an outlet opening at the bottom of a frying well which contains cooking oil used in the frying of various foods. The chopper pump contains a motor-driven rotor having a plurality of radially movable vanes spaced about the periphery which chop large food particles entering the chopper pump from the frying well. The rotor is mounted eccentrically, whereby the vanes are movable radially inwardly to prevent large food particles from stopping the motor in one portion of the pump yet which provides a sealing effect when moving through another portion of the chopper pump. The comminuted food particles and oil pass through a coarse filter which removes most of the food particles from the oil before passing through a fine filter which removes any smaller remaining food particles, after which the filtered oil is returned to the frying well. A valved bypass line enables the system to continue to operate during the replacement of the filters.

Abstract: The invention relates to a rotary drum comminutor installation which includes a rectilinearly-shaped chamber with the comminutor eccentrically positioned therein.

Abstract: A sewage system for handling human waste provides for comminution of excrement and other material processed therein. The system is primarily of use in a system wherein the toilets empty into sewage pipe leading to a septic field and avoids the need for frequent reaming of the sewage pipe. In this system, an electrically powered grinder of a size small enough to fit within the sewer pipe is fitted in said pipe at the outlet from the toilet. The grinder is supported in the sewer pipe and sealed in place so that all of the effluent from the toilet passes therethrough. The housing of the grinder has a supporting flange that supports it by being sealed between the bottom flange of the toilet and the sealing gasket on the floor.