Liquid treatment unit and method
A liquid treatment unit removes particulate matter and colloids from a liquid, as found in waste water on mines, on construction sites and on heavy industry sites. The liquid treatment unit includes an electrocoagulation unit and a cyclonic separator unit. The liquid to be treated is first subject to electrocoagulation and then fed into the cyclonic separator unit. The cyclonic separator unit guides the electrocoagulated liquid in a circular path downwardly from an outer perimeter to move underneath a skirt and then upwardly and inwardly towards a central outlet located at the top of the cyclonic separator. Floating particles are skimmed from the surface outside of the skirt. In moving to the outlet, the liquid passes through a plurality of nested frusto-conical guide members. An ultrasonic transducer is used to collapse bubbles formed by electrocoagulation, and to clean the electrocoagulation electrodes.
1 . A liquid treatment unit for at least partially removing particles from a flow of a treatment liquid, the liquid treatment unit comprising:
an electrocoagulation unit, the electrocoagulation unit comprising:
a housing including a housing inlet and a housing outlet through which the flow of the treatment liquid is movable in use in a liquid flow path, and
a plurality of electrodes housed within the housing in the liquid flow path, the electrodes being configured to be electrically charged;
a cyclonic separator unit, the cyclonic separator unit comprising:
a cylindrical container, the cylindrical container including a separator inlet for receiving the flow of the treatment liquid from the electrocoagulation unit, and a separator outlet located proximate at or towards a top of the cylindrical container, and proximate a central axis of the cylindrical container,
a guide located at least partly in the cylindrical container, the guide including a cylindrical skirt extending at least partly down a length of the cylindrical container and defining an outer flow path for the flow of the treatment liquid where the treatment liquid flows in a circular direction around an outside of the cylindrical skirt, and an inner flow path in which the flow of the treatment liquid moves inwardly of the cylindrical skirt and upwardly towards the separator outlet; and
a hollow column suspended within the cylindrical skirt and being concentric therewith, the hollow column having:
a plurality of substantially frusto-conical guide members mounted to the hollow column extending outwardly therefrom,
wherein the substantially frusto-conical guide members are nested with each other at regular spaced distances to define a filter flow path between each adjacent nested frusto-conical guide member,
wherein at least one or more of the plurality of substantially frusto-conical guide members includes a wall that defines a continuous series of troughs and ridges extending radially outwardly,
wherein the continuous series of troughs and ridges defines a triangular wave pattern in cross-section, wherein each trough terminates in a valley apex and each ridge terminates in a peak apex, and
wherein the filter flow path provided by the hollow column and guide members effectively allows settling out of the particulates suspended in the treatment liquid thereon, to remove particles from the flow of treatment liquid.
2 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the liquid treatment unit includes at least one ultrasonic transducer configured to stream ultrasound waves into the flow of the liquid in the electrocoagulation unit.
3 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the hollow column includes perforations.
4 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the continuous series of troughs and ridges extend spirally along the wall.
5 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the substantially frusto-conical guide members are located inwardly of the cylindrical skirt.
6 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the guide defines a flow path between an inner surface of the cylindrical skirt and the substantially frusto-conical guide members.
7 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each substantially frusto-conical guide member has a central aperture at a first end thereof through which the hollow column extends and an outer periphery at a second end thereof opposite the first end, and wherein the continuous series of troughs and ridges extend across an entirety of the wall from the central aperture to the outer periphery.
8 . A liquid treatment unit for at least partially removing particles from a flow of a treatment liquid, the liquid treatment unit comprising:
an electrocoagulation unit, the electrocoagulation unit comprising:
a housing including a housing inlet and a housing outlet through which the flow of the treatment liquid is movable in use in a liquid flow path, and
a plurality of electrodes housed within the housing in the liquid flow path, the electrodes being configured to be electrically charged;
a cyclonic separator unit, the cyclonic separator unit comprising:
a cylindrical container, the cylindrical container including a separator inlet for receiving the flow of the treatment liquid from the electrocoagulation unit, and a separator outlet located proximate to or towards a top of the cylindrical container, and proximate a central axis of the cylindrical container,
a guide located at least partly within the cylindrical container, the guide including a cylindrical skirt extending at least partly down a length of the cylindrical container and defining an outer flow path for the flow of the treatment liquid where liquid flows in a circular direction around an outside of the cylindrical skirt, and an inner flow path in which the flow of the treatment liquid moves inwardly of the cylindrical skirt and upwardly towards the separator outlet; and
a hollow column suspended within the cylindrical skirt and being concentric therewith, the hollow column having:
a plurality of substantially frusto-conical guide members mounted to the hollow column extending outwardly therefrom,
wherein the substantially frusto-conical guide members are statically nested with each other at regular spaced distances to define a filter flow path between each adjacent nested frusto-conical guide member,
wherein at least one or more of the plurality of substantially frusto-conical guide members includes a wall that defines a continuous series of troughs and ridges extending radially outwardly,
wherein the continuous series of troughs and ridges defines a triangular wave pattern in cross-section, wherein each trough terminates in a valley apex and each ridge terminates in a peak apex,
wherein the troughs and ridges of the substantially frusto-conical guide members extend spirally along the wall, and
wherein the filter flow path provided by the hollow column and guide members effectively allows settling out of the particulates suspended in the treatment liquid thereon, to remove particles from the treatment liquid.
9 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising:
a surface skimming arrangement,
wherein the surface skimming arrangement is configured to remove floating contaminants from the surface of the treatment liquid in the cyclonic separator unit.
10 . The liquid treatment unit as claimed in claim 8 , wherein each substantially frusto-conical guide member has a central aperture at a first end thereof through which the hollow column extends and an outer periphery at a second end thereof opposite the first end, and wherein the continuous series of troughs and ridges extend across an entirety of the wall from the central aperture to the outer periphery.