A water treatment system including an enclosure for water to be treated, a multiplicity of biomass carriers located within the enclosure, at least one airlift in the enclosure for raising the water and the biomass carriers and at least one mechanical biomass carrier accumulated residue removal apparatus operative to remove accumulated residue from the biomass carriers.

Provided is a method that enables sufficient separation of an egg shell and an egg shell membrane from each other even in a small scale, using a simpler configuration than conventional methods. The method for separating an egg shell and an egg shell membrane from each other includes a step of adding an egg shell with an egg shell membrane attached thereto to a swirling flow of an alkaline solution.

A cyclonic separation and materials processing method and system is presented in which materials entry at one end and which is arranged so that the materials that enter will be given a tangential velocity component as they enter. Specific embodiments include a three-dimensional sorting system with the use of an outward centrifugal motion and up/down (or vertical) motion flow of water or other media, which can be thought of as “a three-dimensional separation”.

The present invention relates to a silicon powder, where the size of the silicon powder particles are between 3 and 30 μm, a particle size fraction D10 of the silicon powder particles is between 3 and 9 μm, and where the silicon powder particles have no, or substantially no, silicon particles with a size smaller than D10 attached to the surface. The silicon powder according to the present invention is produced by wet classifying produced silicon powders.

The disclosed Hydro-Gravitational Trap (HGT) method and apparatus separate a suspension into two flow streams, discriminating particles based on a designated particle settling velocity: one Designated Particle Concentrated (DPC) and one Designated Particle Diluted (DPD). The HGT confines particles between a controlled upward hydrodynamic field and the downward net gravitational field within the apparatus’s High-Energy Segment (HES), awaiting removal. The HES typically contains an internal agitator conforming to its divergent shape. Agitator motion prevents trapped particles from adhering to the HES, provides flocculation energy, and mixes the contents, controlling the DPC flow stream concentration. The agitator can also simultaneously function as a control valve or an actuator regulating this flow in some preferred embodiments. Designated particles remain trapped in the HES until removed with the DPC flow stream while the DPD flow stream advects upward, exiting the apparatus through the top of the Low-Energy.sup.1 Segment (LES).

A treatment device for treating a mixture of at least a liquid, organic solids and inorganic, mineral solids, includes a container for receiving the mixture. The container tapers in a funnel shape in a direction of a longitudinal axis of the container. An inlet tangentially supplies the mixture to the container. An outlet discharges the liquid essentially containing the organic solids from the container. A discharge apparatus serves for discharging the inorganic, mineral solids. The treatment device also includes a sleeve adapted to guide the mixture between an outer wall of the sleeve and an inner wall of the container and to guide the liquid containing the organic solids within an inner wall of the sleeve for discharge from the outlet.

A method and apparatus for washing and separating pieces of plastics material from contaminating material that also includes metal elements includes a stirring device having a plurality of blades which are driven in a washing fluid to generate a turbulent stirring action to mechanically remove part of the contaminating material from the plastics material. The tilt of the blades and the rotation speed of the stirring device are chosen carefully to generate an upward thrusting action to maintain the plastics material with a specific weight that is greater than the specific weight of the fluid in a floating condition. The plastics material is retained inside the container for sufficient time to obtain a desired degree of purity and decontamination for the plastics material, after which it is evacuated by controlled overflow.

This invention relates to a classifier for separating particles by size and density and a method of classifying particles by size and density. The classifier, which is also used in the method, includes an underflow outlet for conveying a first product out of the classifier; a fluidising means for introducing a fluidisation fluid into the classifier; a settling chamber for forming a hindered-settling zone, the settling chamber being in fluid flow communication with the fluidising means and the underflow outlet; a reflux chamber for forming a free-settling zone, the reflux chamber being in fluid flow communication with the settling chamber and having a cross-sectional area larger than that of the settling chamber; a launder in fluid flow communication with the reflux chamber for conveying a second product to an overflow outlet of the classifier; and an inlet conduit which projects into the classifier for introducing a feedstock into the classifier.

An elutriation apparatus has a mechanism adapted to move water along a path, the water entraining material particles of different density, and a plurality of elutriation columns interfaced to the mechanism adapted to move the water with entrained particles, the elutriation columns interfaced along the path, each elutriation column having a vertical bore with water controlled to travel up the vertical bore at one velocity and having also a capture element at the bottom of the bore. As the water with entrained particles passes over each interface to an elutriation column along the path, particles of a density sufficient for the particles to settle in the elutriation column at a velocity greater than the upward velocity of water in the bore of the elutriation column, settle to the bottom of the column, and particles of lesser density pass on to a next elutriation column interfaced along the path.

A compact hydraulic particle separator apparatus is disclosed. The disclosed apparatus comprises an upper chamber and a lower chamber separated by a partition. A liquid fluid flow upwelling through the partition from the lower chamber is caused to mix with tangential jet of fluid flowing introduced above the partition in the upper chamber produces an upwardly-flowing cyclonic flow within the upper chamber. Particle mixtures containing low- and high-density particles and other solids are introduced into the upper chamber through a feed tube having a mouth that is offset from the center of the upper chamber. Low-density particles are immediately entrained in the cyclonic flow and swept upward and exit the apparatus.