| abstract |
A method and apparatus for treatment of sewage and waste materials, and while applicable to larger installations, is particularly desirable for relatively small, for example family and multi-family installations, utilizing high rate bio-chemical oxidation/physio-chemical adsorption, in which the sewage is subjected to a primary biological treatment, and a secondary settling treatment, with the primary-secondary effluent, following addition thereto of an organic-inorganic chemical material comprising prereacted floc, a phosphate precipitating material and a nonionic polyelectrolyte, operative to maintain pH and zeta potential favorable to floccuation, being subjected to a tertiary treatment by passage through a mixed filtration and adsorption bed containing activated carbon, the mixed bed being periodically regenerated by a partial wet-gas oxygenation cycle, utilizing a reflux operation in which the products of regeneration are returned to the primary treatment, and in which the final effluent may, for example, contain an average of less than 1 mg/1 BOD5 and an average of less than 0.6 mg/l of suspended solids, an average of less than 0.3 mg/l phosphorus (as PO4), and with a material reduction in sludge. The invention also provides fully automatic cyclic operation and includes a novel tertiary method and structure, including regeneration thereof, as well as the chemical materials utilized and the method of use therof. In a preferred form of the invention, the chemicals are produced as a dry homogeneous discrete material which may be readily transported and handled in dry form, and formed into an aqueous mix or slurry at time of ultimate use. |