A system may include a reactor, in which an anaerobic environment exists, that includes a slurry of at least contaminated water and a mixed bacterial culture of facultative bacteria and anaerobic bacteria. The mixed bacterial culture may be suspended within the slurry. The contaminated water may include contaminants associated with a non-metal, a metal, or a metalloid. The mixed bacterial culture may react with the contaminated water to reduce or remove the contaminants from the contaminated water to create a treated slurry. The reactor may output the treated slurry. The system may also include a filtration device to receive the treated slurry; remove, from the treated slurry, the mixed bacterial culture and the contaminants, reduced or removed from the contaminated water, to create treated water; and output the treated water. The system may also include an aeration device to add dissolved oxygen to the treated water, and output the treated water. The system may also include a reaction device where iron or aluminum salts are added to remove phosphorous, selenite, arsenate, or other contaminants which adsorb onto iron or aluminum oxyhydroxide solids. The system may also include a filtration device to remove the solids from the water, and output the treated water.

A system and method for recycling gas in a backwash process is provided. The backwash process removes contaminants from a bed of filtration media. The method includes generating a mixed liquid-gas stream from the backwash process, withdrawing the mixed liquid-gas stream from the backwash process, separating the mixed liquid-gas stream into a liquid and a gas, and recycling at least a portion of the separated gas to the backwash process.

The invention relates to a wastewater treatment plant, specifically a modular plant for the treatment of organic wastewater, in which the number of devices depends on the amount of water to be treated and on the quality of the starting water and that required for the water at the end of the process. The treatment plant includes multiple devices, each representing a treatment step, and the devices can be connected in series, in parallel or in series and parallel. In addition, the devices used in the process are designed to require a minimum amount of maintenance, owing to the inclusion of a self-cleaning system. Since the system requires minimal power and maintenance, it is considered optimal for use in rural communities, livestock farms or buildings.

A modular liquid waste treatment system is disclosed. In accordance with some embodiments, the system includes a central distribution unit and one or more treatment fins in flow communication therewith. The distribution unit may be configured to receive liquid waste from a given source and distribute that waste, at least in part, to one or more treatment fins. In turn, bacteria present in a given treatment fin treat the liquid waste, and the resultant treated liquid may drain from the fin to the surrounding environment. In some embodiments, a given treatment fin may include porous media providing a large surface area on which bacteria may grow to facilitate treatment. The system may be installed in and/or above the ground, and in some cases may be surrounded, at least in part, with treatment sand and/or other treatment media. The system may be used in aerobic and/or anaerobic processing of liquid waste.

A buoyant permeable reactive barrier for blocking the emission of greenhouse gasses (e.g., methane) and volatile compounds (e.g., ammonia, sulfur) from a body of water is provided. The buoyant reactive barrier includes a plurality of buoyant reactive barrier elements arranged in one or more substantially planar layers on the surface of the water. The reactive barrier elements are selected to provide for selective permeability of certain compounds/gasses through the buoyant barrier, while blocking or reacting with other compounds/gasses. At least a subset of the barrier elements may be provided with a catalyst for catalyzing the oxidation of volatile compounds to less volatile products. At least a subset of the barrier elements may be sufficiently large to impart wind and wave resistance to the reactive barrier. The buoyant barrier may include a gelatinous extracellular polymeric matrix that fills the interstitial spaces between the plurality of buoyant reactive barrier elements.

A fluid conduit with layered and partial covering material thereon is disclosed. The fluid conduit may be used for processing and treatment of fluids which must be treated to remove materials so that the resultant treated fluid may be reused and/or returned to the earth and particularly to the water table. The fluid conduit may be of many forms and types and may have attached thereto and configured thereon covering material in partial form and a selected number of layers. The fluid conduit may be a septic pipe of smooth wall, of corrugated form, and/or of any form of cross-sectional configuration including circular, elliptical, rectangular, triangular, or any other geometric shape. The fluid conduit may be used in combination with conduit in a drainage field or leaching system usually associated with a septic tank or septic system.

Water treatment systems for year round consistent achievement of less than 2.5 mg/L of total nitrogen from a gray water starting effluent having about 65 mg/L of total nitrogen. The system may include a septic tank, an anaerobic upflow filter (AUF) that receives wastewater from the septic tank, a recirculating media filter (RMF) that receives wastewater from the AUF, and an anoxic denitrification filter that receives wastewater from the RMF. A drain field may be positioned downstream from the denitrification filter for ultimate disposal of the wastewater. The AUF may reduce the biological oxygen demand (BOD), although its presence also aids the combination of the RMF and denitrification filter that follow to consistently achieve <2.5 mg/L of total nitrogen in the system effluent. An equalization tank, recirculation tank, one or more recycle loops, and various pump stations may also be included. The system may be configured as a two-stage system.

A fluid conduit with layered and partial covering material thereon is disclosed. The fluid conduit may be used for processing and treatment of fluids which must be treated to remove materials so that the resultant treated fluid may be reused and/or returned to the earth and particularly to the water table. The fluid conduit may be of many forms and types and may have attached thereto and configured thereon covering material in partial form and a selected number of layers. The fluid conduit may be a septic pipe of smooth wall, of corrugated form, and/or of any form of cross-sectional configuration including circular, elliptical, rectangular, triangular, or any other geometric shape. The fluid conduit may be used in combination with conduit in a drainage field or leaching system usually associated with a septic tank or septic system.

Methods of treating animal organic material are disclosed herein. The methods include diluting the animal organic material to produce an organic material slurry, anaerobically digesting the organic material slurry to produce a biogas and a digestate, separating the digestate to produce a digestate solids and a filtrate, removing ammonia from the filtrate, removing organic contaminants and divalent anions from the filtrate, concentrating the filtrate to produce a retentate and a permeate, combining the digestate solids and the retentate to produce a solids product, and returning the permeate to dilute the animal organic material. Systems for treatment of animal organic material are also disclosed herein. The systems include a dilution tank, an anaerobic digester, a first solids-liquid separation subsystem, an ammonia-reducing column, a second solids-liquid separation subsystem, a production water storage tank, and a solids product tank.