A separator includes a shell: adapted to be vertically oriented in use; a combined wet gas feedstock ingress and separated liquid egress at the bottom of the shell; a separated gas egress at the top of the shell; a first permeable, fluid flow barrier disposed within the shell at the bottom end thereof proximate the ingress and comprising a first medium; a second permeable, fluid flow barrier disposed within the shell atop and proximate to the first barrier and comprising a second medium; and a third permeable, fluid flow barrier dispose within the shell at the top thereof proximate the egress and comprising the first medium, the third barrier being dispose such that there is a gap between the second and third barriers.

Disclosed is a method for thickening or dehydrating sludge, which includes at least: a) a step of adding flocculants to the sludge to be treated; b) a step of flocculation by agitation of the sludge with the flocculants thus added in order to form a mixture of flocks and an aqueous solution; c) a step of mechanical separation of the flocks and the aqueous solution formed during the preceding step; d) a step of recovering the aqueous solution and the flocks that make up a treated sludge; wherein: the added flocculants are made up of at least one cationic starch (S) and at least one cationic polyacrylamide (P); the cationic starch or starches (S) including a fixed weight percentage of nitrogen of at least 2%; and the weight ratio (R) w.sub.s/(w.sub.s+w.sub.p), expressed as solids, is included between 0.6 and 0.99.

[Solution] Provided is a water purification agent suitable for use in an automated purification treatment device, when a wastewater purification treatment using a plant-derived water purification agent is performed with the automated purification treatment device. The water purification agent is a granulated product containing a mixture of a plant powder and a polymer coagulant.

Potable drinking water is plagued with widespread arsenic contamination, particularly in developing communities. Ferric ions were introduced to interact with arsenate based on the strong affinity of arsenate for ferric hydroxides, followed by mucilage addition. The mucilage coagulated and flocculated the ferric-arsenate complex and formed visible flocs that settled at the bottom of the tubes. The system showed 75-96% arsenate removal in 1 hour, while longer retention times showed 100% removal. The role of the mucilage was demonstrated by untreated solutions showing no concentration difference and remaining stable for more than 15 days. This mucilage-based technology has the potential to be a relatively inexpensive, environmentally sustainable alternative to synthetic polymer flocculants for removing arsenic from drinking water.

A process for purifying a diaryl carbonate, comprises introducing an aqueous stream to a diaryl carbonate stream that comprises a metal contaminant, wherein the aqueous stream reacts with the metal contaminant to form a precipitate; wherein introducing the aqueous stream to the diaryl carbonate stream results in introducing 100 to 10,000 ppm water based on the total composition of the diaryl carbonate stream and the aqueous stream; removing the precipitate via one or both of a separation column and a filter to result in a purified diaryl carbonate.

A system is provided for removing arsenic from water to safe levels at or below the EPA standards. The system is a hybrid spouted vessel/fixed bed filter system that significantly enhances/improves arsenic removal for drinking water using zero-valent iron (ZVI) particles. Movement of the circulating, iron-containing particles in a dense moving bed that forms on the spouted vessel bottom creates an abrasive “self-polishing” action among them that continuously generates colloidal iron corrosion products. This material then circulates with the water in the vessel and is removed and concentrated in a fixed bed filter. The colloidal material captured and immobilized in the filter has been shown to remove arsenic from contaminated water at very rapid rates.

Methods for removing particulates from an aqueous suspension are provided. In at least one specific embodiment, the method can include mixing a polyamidoamine-epihalohydrin resin with an aqueous suspension comprising one or more first particulates to produce a treated mixture. An amount of the polyamidoamine-epihalohydrin resin in the treated mixture can be less than 500 g/tonne of the one or more first particulates. The method can also include recovering from the treated mixture a purified water having a reduced concentration of the one or more first particulates relative to the aqueous suspension, a purified first particulate product having a reduced concentration of water relative to the aqueous suspension, or both.

The present invention provides methods and systems for reducing moisture in mineral slurries, particularly mineral slurries containing minerals of small particle diameter, using a granular drying material. The invention also relates to novel mineral products and intermediates useful in connection with the process. The method and system reduced moisture by contacting the mineral slurry with the granular drying material. The granular drying material is selected to be readily separated from the dried minerals using a size separation technique such as a sieve screen. The granular drying material is the regenerated, preferably using a process involving heat exchange and cross-flow air. The granular drying material is preferably capable of regeneration and recycling in a continuous process with minimal attrition.

A method includes supplying a supersaturated brine stream having a plurality of minerals and anti-scalant from a water treatment system to a gypsum removal system disposed within a mineral removal system. The gypsum removal system includes a gypsum reactor that may receive the supersaturated brine, may deactivate the anti-scalant such that gypsum precipitates from the supersaturated brine, and may generate a gypsum slurry having a mixture of desupersaturated brine, precipitated gypsum, and the anti-scalant in solution with the desupersaturated brine. The method also includes supplying gypsum seed crystals to the gypsum reactor. The gypsum seed crystals may precipitate the gypsum from the supersaturated brine to generate the gypsum slurry. The method also includes directing a first portion of the gypsum slurry from the gypsum reactor to a gypsum settler. The gypsum settler may reactivate the anti-scalant such that the anti-scalant absorbs onto the precipitated gypsum to remove the anti-scalant from the desupersaturated brine and may generate anti-scalant-gypsum crystals and a desupersaturated overflow having at least a portion of the plurality of minerals. The method further includes generating the gypsum seed crystals supplied to the gypsum reactor using the anti-scalant-gypsum crystals.

A method includes supplying a supersaturated brine stream having a plurality of minerals and anti-scalant from a water treatment system to a gypsum removal system disposed within a mineral removal system. The gypsum removal system includes a gypsum reactor that may receive the supersaturated brine, may deactivate the anti-scalant such that gypsum precipitates from the supersaturated brine, and may generate a gypsum slurry having a mixture of desupersaturated brine, precipitated gypsum, and the anti-scalant in solution with the desupersaturated brine. The method also includes supplying gypsum seed crystals to the gypsum reactor. The gypsum seed crystals may precipitate the gypsum from the supersaturated brine to generate the gypsum slurry. The method also includes directing a first portion of the gypsum slurry from the gypsum reactor to a gypsum settler. The gypsum settler may reactivate the anti-scalant such that the anti-scalant absorbs onto the precipitated gypsum to remove the anti-scalant from the desupersaturated brine and may generate anti-scalant-gypsum crystals and a desupersaturated overflow having at least a portion of the plurality of minerals. The method further includes generating the gypsum seed crystals supplied to the gypsum reactor using the anti-scalant-gypsum crystals.