A method and a kit for determining the amount of anammox bacteria in a bioreactor, comprising the steps of: i) removing a sample from the bioreactor; iii) mixing the sample with alkali; v) heating the samples to at least 60° C.; vi) separating solid components; vii) adding a reducing agent to the liquid phase; viii) measuring the translucence of the liquid phase in a spectrophotometer at three wavelengths ranging from 500 to 600 nm; ix) comparing the measured translucence to a reference spectrum.

A method for cleanup of circulated rolling oil including gravity separation followed by size separation. The method includes supplying the circulated roiling oil to a separation chamber of a rotating centrifugal rotor and separating water and solid debris from the circulated rolling oil by centrifugal force. Oil, oil-water emulsion, and some residual debris may be recovered and supplied to a ceramic membrane having a pore size of 1.5 micron or smaller. A purified oil sample is recovered from the membrane, along with a reject including the oil-water emulsion and residual debris. The reject may be further concentrated by gravity separation and recycled to the membrane to recover further amounts of oil.

A method of removing contaminants from an aqueous material, the method comprising the steps of: providing an aqueous material comprising one or more non-particulate contaminants; and filtering the aqueous material to remove at least part of the one or more non-particulate contaminants to form a recovered portion of the aqueous material in which the amount of contaminant is reduced to an amount allowing re-use of the recovered portion of the aqueous material, wherein filtering the aqueous material includes passing the aqueous material across a partially permeable membrane at a temperature higher than 50° C.

Methods and systems for treating oil sands tailings streams using multiple dosages of lime are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the method comprises providing a tailings stream including 3-40% solids by total weight, combining the tailings stream with a first dosage of lime to produce a first mixture having a pH of less than 12.0, and then combining the first mixture with a polymer to produce a second mixture. In some embodiments, the method can further include combining the second mixture with a second dosage of lime to produce a third mixture having a pH greater than 12.0, and dewatering the third mixture in a centrifuge unit and/or a pressure filtration unit to produce a product stream having 55% or more solids by weight.

Systems and methods for treating a rag layer in a gas oil separation plant. The method includes withdrawing the rag layer from a vessel proximate an oil water interface, conveying the rag layer to a separation device, and recycling separated oil from the separation device back to the gas oil separation plant process.

A system and method for generating base water and precipitate, including combining produced water with seawater to precipitate barium sulfate from barium in the produced water and from sulfate in the seawater, and separating the precipitate to give the base water and the precipitate. The base water may have less than a specified amount of sulfate and be utilized for hydraulic fracturing fluid. The precipitate may give a weighting agent for drilling.

A multistage greywater treatment system including at least one separation stage, at least one solid removal stage, and at least one disinfection stage. The at least one separation stage is configured to separate water from one or more water draining device into at least three outputs including a first intermediate greywater. The at least one solid removal stage is configured to receive the first intermediate greywater and dissolve solids from the first intermediate greywater to output a second intermediate greywater. The at least one disinfection stage is configured to receive the second intermediate greywater. The resultant greywater may be provided to at least one recycled water consuming device after passing through the at least one separation stage, at least one solid removal stage, and the at least one disinfection stage.

The invention relates to a process for recovering metals from aqueous solutions or solid feedstocks such as ores and waste. In particular, the invention relates to a method of recovering a target metals using a microorganism.

Apparatus and methods are related to treating waste water containing ammonium salts, which contains NH.sub.4.sup.+, SO.sub.4.sup.2−, Cl.sup.−, and Na.sup.+. In such a method, the pH value of the waste water to be treated is adjusted to a specific range in advance; sodium sulfate crystal and relatively concentrated ammonia are obtained by first evaporation, and then sodium chloride crystal and relatively dilute ammonia is obtained by second evaporation; alternatively, sodium chloride crystal and relatively concentrated ammonia is obtained by third evaporation, and then sodium sulfate crystal and relatively dilute ammonia are obtained by fourth evaporation. Ammonia, sodium sulfate, and sodium chloride from the waste water are recovered so that the resources in the waste water can be reused.

A system for separating solids from a fluid mixture includes a vessel including a first chamber to receive a solid-laden fluid mixture, and a second chamber to receive liquids separated from the solid-laden fluid mixture. In certain aspects, at least one eductor is disposed in the first chamber to flow the solid-laden fluid mixture out of the first chamber. In certain aspects, an auger is disposed in the first chamber to move at least solids of the solid-laden fluid mixture out of the first chamber.