Patents Examined by Peter Keyworth
  • Patent number: 11242271
    Abstract: A system for treating metal-contaminated wastewater includes a primary treatment sub-system, a secondary treatment sub-system, and a tertiary treatment sub-system. The tertiary treatment sub-system includes a reactor tank, a source of ballast material, a source of coagulant, a solids-liquid separator, and a controller configured to recycle ballasted solids from the solids-liquid separator to the reactor tank an amount sufficient to generate metal hydroxide floc in the reactor tank to reduce a concentration of dissolved metal in the reactor tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: Evoqua Water Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Rohan Wikramanayake, Raymond G. Pepin, Thomas Miles
  • Patent number: 11220431
    Abstract: A struvite and a method for extracting the struvite from seawater, concentrated salt water or brine. NH4HCO3 and H3PO4 are added in the seawater, concentrated salt water or brine, and NH4HCO3, H3PO4 and the seawater, concentrated salt water or brine are stirred and well mixed to react. Then electromagnetic ionic liquid are dripped, with a dripping time controlled to be 30 to 50 min and pH value of the reaction solution to be within a range of 7.5 to 8.5, to generate white precipitate. Finally, the white precipitate is separated from the liquid, spin dried and packaged to obtain the struvite. The struvite has higher purity and fertilizer efficiency than natural struvite, and also contains potassium, calcium, sulfur and chlorine required for crop growth and dozens of types of trace elements such as molybdenum, zinc, manganese, iron, copper and selenium, which is more suitable for the crop growth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: HOWHIGH SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (HANGZHOU) CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jiuzhou Gou
  • Patent number: 11220442
    Abstract: A method of producing a final product from a wastewater dissolved air flotation (DAF) sludge which includes the following dewatering step: 5—dewatering of the sludge, an aged sludge or a pre-processed sludge to produce a sludge filter cake and a filtrate; such that the pre-processed is sludge, or aged sludge, that has undergone additional processing steps prior to dewatering and aged sludge is sludge that has been stored for a period of time, wherein the dewatering step is a mechanical dewatering step 10 carried out at a maximum of 30° C. which results in a sludge filter cake that does not flow under its own mass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: 3E NUTRITION LIMITED
    Inventors: Nicholas Robert McMillan, Carl Ramon Hooper
  • Patent number: 11220663
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to improved systems and processes for clarifying a thin stillage stream in a biofuel production process, such as a dry grind alcohol production process, that removes desirable amounts of insoluble solids from at least a portion of the thin stillage stream, thereby realizing any number of process enhancements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Neal Jakel, John Kwik, Michael Franko
  • Patent number: 11220437
    Abstract: The present invention provides a process that allows the oxidation of trivalent arsenic and ferrous ion, simultaneous with neutralization of the acid solution to be treated, the precipitation of arsenic and oxidized ferric iron added in a molar ratio Fe:As determined at a defined pH, all of the above with a high efficiency of precipitation of arsenic as ferric arsenate or scorodite, obtaining a final residue stable in the long term, characterized by their higher content of arsenic in a lower volume compared with the procedures described in the state of the prior art.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: EcoMetales Limited
    Inventors: Marcelo Gustavo Acuna Goycolea, Enrique Anselmo Roman Espinoza, Ricardo Miguel Pezoa Conte
  • Patent number: 11199078
    Abstract: A method and system generate steam for SAGD operation wherein steam generator blowdown water is acidified, cooled and clarified before reuse. Acid Clarification Treatment, or “ACT”, mitigates organic fouling in Once-Through Stream Generators. Lab tests quantitatively and qualitatively show that ACT reduces Total organic carbon (TOC) and ‘bad actors’ TOC, respectively, in blowdown streams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: CONOCOPHILLIPS COMPANY
    Inventors: Ramesh Sharma, Travis Dinsdale, Amber J. Taylor, Babajide Kolade, Jay Locklear
  • Patent number: 11179654
    Abstract: Methods and systems for treating an oil/water vapor stream containing solids fines. Routing a feed composition of oil/water vapors containing fine solids to a condensing unit, combining the feed composition with a cooled OWS emulsion, forming a warmed OWS emulsion. The warmed OWS emulsion is routed to a surge vessel containing a volume of surge OWS emulsion, where after a first portion of the surge OWS emulsion is routed to a heat exchanger, forming the cooled OWS emulsion, and a second portion of the surge OWS emulsion is routed to an OWS separation unit. The OWS separation unit may be one or more disc stack centrifuges, in some cases preceded by one or more decanting centrifuges. In certain embodiments the oil/water vapor stream containing solids fines is generated from a thermal desorption unit, such as a turbulent vacuum thermal desorption unit. Systems may be integrated with thermal desorption units and drilling rigs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: Calaeris Energy & Environment Ltd.
    Inventor: Barry Hoffman
  • Patent number: 11174180
    Abstract: A small-scale system for removing hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from a wastewater stream includes a sulfur recovery stage, an ammonia recovery stage, and a separation stage. Sulfur species are oxidized and converted into solid sulfur and solid sulfur species by exposure to a combination of chelated iron and oxidizer. The solid sulfur and solid sulfur species are removed by filtration to yield a sulfur-free stream to which oxidizer is added and electromagnetic radiation is inputted to break the N—H bonds of the ammonia into amine radicals. The combination of additional oxidizer and electromagnetic radiation promotes the creation of water and nitrogen gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Streamline Innovations, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter J Photos, Franklin Hailey Brown, II, John C Bourdon, Billy G Clark, David Sisk
  • Patent number: 11174179
    Abstract: A flocculant for treating a processing waste liquid into fresh water being formed by pulverizing an ion exchange resin for purification of fresh water into pure water to a size of 100 ?m or below. With the ion exchange resin pulverized and used as a flocculant, it is ensured that even when the processing waste liquid is subjected to flocculation and separation, the fresh water separated from the processing debris does not show an increased electric conductivity, and worsening of water quality can be restrained. In addition, since the flocculant is pulverized down to a size of 100 ?m or below, flocculation of the processing debris is promoted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: DISCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Miki Yoshida, Kei Mine
  • Patent number: 11174178
    Abstract: A method includes mixing seawater with a two-part additive system configured to precipitate sulfate from the seawater; removing the sulfate precipitates from the seawater; and delivering the seawater into an oilfield reservoir.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Katherine Leigh Hull, Brent Cooper, Ghaithan A. Al-Muntasheri
  • Patent number: 11169137
    Abstract: The present specification discloses a dialysis system having a reservoir module with a reservoir housing defining an internal space, a surface located within the internal space for supporting a container that contains dialysate, and a conductivity sensor located within the internal space, where the conductivity sensor has a coil, a capacitor in electrical communication with the coil, and an energy source in electrical communication with the circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Barry Neil Fulkerson, Mark Smith
  • Patent number: 11161781
    Abstract: Methods for regenerating poisoned salt bath comprising providing a salt bath comprising at least one of KNO3 and NaNO3, providing an ion-exchangeable substrate comprising lithium cations, contacting at least a portion of the ion-exchangeable substrate with the salt bath, whereby lithium cations in the salt bath diffuse from the ion-exchangeable substrate and are dissolved in the salt bath, and selectively precipitating dissolved lithium cations from the salt bath using phosphate salt. The methods further include preventing or reducing the formation of surface defects in the ion-exchangeable substrate by preventing or reducing the formation of crystals on the surface of the ion-exchangeable substrate upon removal from the salt bath.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Jaymin Amin, Xiaoju Guo, Todd LeRoy Heck, Hongmei Hu, Yuhui Jin, Pascale Oram, Ljerka Ukrainczyk
  • Patent number: 11161761
    Abstract: A mobile sewage treatment and water reclamation system for rapid deployment to augment existing wastewater systems and/or provide interim service in lieu of permanent facilities, includes: (a) a denaturing stage wherein raw sewage is first ground into suspendable grit, its pH lowered to kill acid-sensitive bio-organisms and raised to kill base-sensitive bio-organisms, and then neutralized; (b) a clarifying stage employing an inverted-cone tank to circulate the solution after injection with chemicals to flocculate small particles for collection in a layer for siphoning off; and (c) a disposal stage wherein clarified water passes through media filters to remove remaining solids and odors, the effluent water being clean enough for irrigation, aquatic life and discharge into waterways; and wherein sterile sludge is pressed into semi-dry solids, then dried, crushed, powdered and bagged for use as high-nitrate biomass fertilizer or for fossil-fuel power co-generation applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Inventors: Daniel R. Smith, Kenneth A. Roberson, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11154872
    Abstract: A method of recovering gold and copper from a sulfide ore includes (a) removing valuable fines from a product stream from a comminution circuit, such as a crushing and milling circuit, for run of mine ore and producing a valuable fines concentrate stream and (b) processing the remaining comminution product stream after valuable fines removal and producing a valuable coarse concentrate stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Newcrest Mining Limited
    Inventor: Luke Vollert
  • Patent number: 11155475
    Abstract: A skid mounted device for upper-spreading internal diffusion vertical plug flow photocatalytic wastewater treatment includes internal diffusion vertical plug flow photocatalytic reaction tank groups and a skid base. The internal diffusion vertical plug flow photocatalytic reaction tank groups are arranged on the skid base. The internal diffusion vertical plug flow photocatalytic reaction tank groups are connected to each other in series, in parallel, or in series-parallel. Each internal diffusion vertical plug flow photocatalytic reaction tank group consists of two or more photocatalytic reaction tanks connected in series, in parallel, or in series-parallel. The wastewater pipes connected to the photocatalytic reaction tanks in each internal diffusion vertical plug flow photocatalytic reaction tank group are mounted above the photocatalytic reaction tanks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: YUNNAN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Jiaqiang Wang, Wei Wang, Yizhou Li, Liang Jiang
  • Patent number: 11148959
    Abstract: A process to treat fines tailings generated from mining operations, wherein tailings material is sprayed onto a solid substrate as a thin layer and allowed to dry. The spray may be re-applied on top of the dried tailings film leading to multiple layers of dried tailings solids. The method may yield a solid, dry, and consolidated tailings material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: CEDA Services and Projects LP
    Inventors: Ian D. Gates, Jingyi Wang, Spencer Fried, Yi Su
  • Patent number: 11148966
    Abstract: An apparatus for recovering the suspended particles from waste water comprising a tank (10) having an upper section (14) for receiving waste water, a lower chamber (16) and a base plate (18) separating the upper section (14) and the lower chamber (18). In one aspect the base plate is a filter screen that has a central opening (20) and a closure 28 therefore. The apparatus has a filter press plate (24) within the upper section (14) and is moveable between a non-filtering position spaced away from the base plate (18) and a filtering position in which the filter member (24) and base plate (18) are pressed together so as to separate water from the particles and compress the particles to form a substantially dewatered product that can then pass through the opening (20) into the lower chamber (16) for collection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Inventor: Tim Straatmans
  • Patent number: 11142472
    Abstract: The present invention is an aquifer storage and recovery system using a natural coagulant, in which in purifying raw water through aquifer storage and recovery, assimilable organic carbon (AOC) included in the raw water is effectively removed using a natural coagulant produced in the aquifer storage and recovery process, thereby reducing the time required to purify raw water by aquifer storage and recovery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Seong Pil Jeong, Kyungjin Cho, Jae Woo Choi, Seok Won Hong, Seunghak Lee, Eun-Ju Kim, Jae Shik Chung, Hien Thi Nguyen, Youngjae Kim
  • Patent number: 11136246
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to recycling automotive phosphate rinse water. An apparatus and method is disclosed for treating process water containing phosphate. The apparatus may include a process water line. The process water line may be in fluid communication with a sample process water line. The sample process water line may be in fluid communication with a dilution line. The sample process water line, the dilution line, and a phosphate analyzer may be in fluid communication with a diluted process water line. The apparatus may also include a chemical additive feed line in fluid communication with the process water line downstream from the sample process water line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Ecolab USA Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel M. Williams, Tony Veljan Mackovski, Bruce Tait, Joseph Peter Miknevich, Alex Michael Bogda, Aarthi Narayanan, William A. Von Drasek
  • Patent number: 11136249
    Abstract: Provided herein are compositions and methods useful for the treatment of wastewater comprising colloidal impurities. In certain aspects and embodiments, the compositions and methods include a natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) coagulant including a hydrogen bond acceptor and a hydrogen bond donor, wherein the NADES is a liquid at room temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: QATAR UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Dana Izzat Al-Risheq, Mustafa Nasser, Hazim Qiblawey, Abdelbaki Benamor, Ibnelwaleed Ali Hussein