A single stage clarifier and mixing assembly includes a housing, a mixing section within the housing and a clarifier section within the housing. The mixing section includes a mixing chamber having (a) an inlet, adapted for delivering an inlet stream to the mixing chamber, at an upper end, and (b) a mixing section outlet at a lower end. The clarifier section extends concentrically around the mixing section. The single stage clarifier and mixing assembly also includes an agitator adapted for mixing the inlet stream in the mixing chamber.

Provided is a method for recycling a polishing agent slurry comprising: a first process including a slurry collecting process of collecting the used polishing agent slurry discharged from a polishing device; a desalting treatment process of reducing an ion concentration of the collected polishing agent slurry; and a dispersion treatment process of dispersing the polishing agent component and the constituent component of the object to be polished by adding a pH adjusting agent and a dispersing agent to the desalted polishing agent slurry; and after the first process, a second process of preparing a recycled polishing agent slurry from the polishing agent component by separating the polishing agent component and the constituent component of the object to be polished.

The invention relates to a method and device for clarifying water by means treatment of the colloidal structures contained in a liquid and/or a sludge supplied in a continuous flow at a flow rate of Q.sub.EB=V.sub.EB/hour. The flow is sprayed into a chamber under overpressure conditions in relation to atmospheric pressure, said chamber having a volume v<V.sub.EB/20, and air being injected simultaneously therein at a flow rate d.

Systems and methods for cleansing blood are disclosed herein. The methods include acoustically separating undesirable particles bound to capture particles from formed elements of whole blood. After introducing the capture particles to whole blood containing undesirable particles, the whole blood and capture particles are flowed through a microfluidic separation channel. At least one bulk acoustic transducer is attached to the microfluidic separation channel. A standing acoustic wave, imparted on the channel and its contents by the bulk acoustic transducer, drives the formed elements and undesirable particles bound to capture particles to specific aggregation axes. After aggregating the particles, the formed elements exit the separation channel through a first outlet and are returned to the patient. The undesirable particles, bound to the capture particles, exit through a second outlet and can be discarded to saved for later study.

Systems and methods for cleansing blood are disclosed herein. The methods include acoustically separating undesirable particles bound to capture particles from formed elements of whole blood. After introducing the capture particles to whole blood containing undesirable particles, the whole blood and capture particles are flowed through a microfluidic separation channel. At least one bulk acoustic transducer is attached to the microfluidic separation channel. A standing acoustic wave, imparted on the channel and its contents by the bulk acoustic transducer, drives the formed elements and undesirable particles bound to capture particles to specific aggregation axes. After aggregating the particles, the formed elements exit the separation channel through a first outlet and are returned to the patient. The undesirable particles, bound to the capture particles, exit through a second outlet and can be discarded to saved for later study.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods of purification of liquid from colloidal particles. More specifically, disclosed are systems and methods for treating water by effecting aggregation of colloidal particles and thus improving their sedimentation, by enhancing grouping of the particles using accelerating, decelerating, and reversing velocity gradients within the liquid. The disclosed methods and systems for water treatment allow for continuous treatment of a contaminated water stream in a single flocculation and sedimentation vessel (i.e. a hybrid process).

Techniques for separating cuttings from liquid include circulating a drilling fluid that comprises a liquid and formation cuttings to a scree of a screen assembly that includes screen sections; vibrating the screen assembly during circulation of the drilling fluid; while vibrating the screen assembly, separating the liquid from the plurality of formation cuttings; while vibrating the screen assembly, separating a first portion of the formation cuttings of a first size from the drilling fluid with a first screen section; rotating the screen assembly; subsequent to rotating the screen assembly and while vibrating the screen assembly, separating a second portion of the formation cuttings of a second size different than the first size from the drilling fluid with a second screen section; directing the separated liquid through the screen assembly to a liquid outlet; and directing at least one of the first or second portions of the formation cuttings to a cuttings outlet formed in the screen.

A system for enhancing the separation of particles or fluids from water is disclosed. A tank or bioreactor is provided with an open submersible acoustophoretic separator. The separator captures and holds fluid droplets or particles such as cells, permitting them to coalesce or agglomerate until they are large enough and have sufficient buoyant or weight force to float/sink to the top/bottom of the tank or bioreactor. In a tank or bioreactor, the separator captures and holds particles until they are large enough that their weight causes them to settle out of the host fluid. The acoustophoretic device thus speeds up separation of the particles or droplets from the host fluid.

A method of activating and dewatering sludge through application of acoustic pressure shock waves to wastewater.

An acoustophoresis device which includes a substantially vertical flow path of the fluid mixture in order to improve separation of particles/secondary fluid from a primary fluid is disclosed. The vertical flow path reduces velocity non-uniformities in the acoustic chamber resulting from gravity forces. The device includes an acoustic chamber in which multidimensional acoustic standing waves are generated. The fluid can be introduced into the acoustic chamber using a dump diffuser in which a plurality of inlets enter near the bottom of the acoustic chamber such that flow symmetry reduces both, gravity driven flow non-uniformities, and any flow interference effects between inlet mixture flow into the acoustic chamber and the continuous gravity driven particle cluster drop out.