The present disclosure is directed to methods for treating an organic material, including the steps of transporting the organic material into a first vessel; heating the organic material in the first vessel and applying a negative pressure to the organic material in the first vessel to a boiling point of the organic material, wherein the heat and negative pressure separates a portion of an ammonia from the organic material; removing the portion of the ammonia from the first vessel; transporting the removed portion of the ammonia from the first vessel to an acid solution in a second vessel; and separating a portion of the ammonia from the acid solution.

A method and an apparatus for maintaining a stable microbial community in a combined anaerobic-aerobic waste processing system. The system comprises cycling of waste activated sludge between reactors, thereby ensuring a healthy microbial community and an efficient waste decomposition.

A method of processing thin stillage in an ethanol refining operation is provided. The method comprises treating thin stillage upstream of a concentration or evaporation step with an inverse emulsion comprising at least one anionic flocculant and an emulsifying agent selected from a sorbitan ester of a fatty acid, an ethoxylated sorbitan ester of a fatty acid, and combinations thereof, thereby forming treated thin stillage; clarifying the treated thin stillage via at least one of dissolved air flotation and induced air flotation, thereby forming clarified thin stillage and a float layer comprising oil and solids; separating the oil from the solids of the float layer; and recovering the oil.

The present invention relates to a process for the purification of water, wherein a surface-reacted natural calcium carbonate is brought into contact with the water to be purified, the surface-reacted natural calcium carbonate being the reaction product of a natural calcium carbonate with an acid and carbon dioxide, which is formed in situ by the acid treatment and/or supplied externally.

A method of recovering solids from water-based effluent. A first step involves evaporating wastewater effluent containing a liquid contaminant, such as ammonium to recover a concentrated solution and a water effluent stream. Where the water effluent stream includes solids, further step can be taken to dry the wastewater effluent further to recover solids, such as by using a thin plate evaporator and a heat exchanger disk evaporator.

A system for providing treated water includes a water treatment unit including an inlet water quality probe, a worker bed, a probe to measure a parameter of water from the worker bed, a polisher bed connected downstream from the worker bed and having a probe to measure a parameter of water from the polisher bed, and a flow meter upstream of the worker bed or downstream of the polisher bed. A controller in communication with the flow meter and the probes is configured to receive data from same. A remote server in communication with the local water treatment unit is configured to receive data from the local water treatment unit. The controller or the server may determine a cumulative flow total, a billing cycle flow total, a current exchange flow total, a contaminant load, or a remaining capacity of the water treatment unit.

A system and method for monitoring process water treated with a biocide is provided. The system includes a biocide feeding unit and a dissolved oxygen sensor. The dissolved oxygen sensor works in two modes, a biocide feeding mode and a background mode, and alerts an operator when the dissolved oxygen value indicates a fault in the system. A drop in dissolved oxygen during feeding can indicate faulty production of biocide or biocide degradation, both of which can lead to unwanted disinfection by-products.

The present invention relates to a method of operating a membrane filtration unit including plural hollow fiber membrane modules connected to each other in parallel, the method including: a filtration step; a collection step; and a recovery step, in which a relation of n.sub.1≥n.sub.2>n.sub.3 is satisfied, where n.sub.1 is the number of the hollow fiber membrane modules simultaneously used in executing the filtration step, n.sub.2 is the number of the hollow fiber membrane modules simultaneously used in executing the collection step, and n.sub.3 is the number of the hollow fiber membrane modules simultaneously used in executing the recovery step.

An apparatus for collection and disposal of fats, oil and grease that includes a fabric container having at least one open end, a biogradable material capable of absorbing a large quantity of fats, oil and grease positioned in the container through the open end, the container and biogradable material adapted for being placed in a source of fats, oil and/or grease for absorbing the fats, oil and/or grease for removal from the source and for transport to a location for processing.

An apparatus for collection and disposal of fats, oil and grease that includes a fabric container having at least one open end, a biogradable material capable of absorbing a large quantity of fats, oil and grease positioned in the container through the open end, the container and biogradable material adapted for being placed in a source of fats, oil and/or grease for absorbing the fats, oil and/or grease for removal from the source and for transport to a location for processing.