Combined Wastewater Clarification and Evaporation Cool

Abstract

Natural water cycle and wastewater content a lot of energy that can be utilized by combined water clarification, energy and evaporation cool powered by the sun. Wastewater should be clarified with the full nature respect so it can be released to water buffers and evaporation instead of pumping it in to seas via underground sewage network. The clarified wastewater should be returned to the nature, and it can be performed by combined evaporation and qualified wastewater clarification. Global heat sources can be switched to climate coolers together with direct solar energy. A lot of wide area cooling capacity of evaporation and photosynthesis has been vanished, huge heat sources have been built and serious energy tensions created by civilization. The verified concept of Factory in Forest developed and applied since 1979 by Fanuc Company Japan should be considered and applied widely at the all kinds of industrial operations and urban areas. Capacity of carbon sinks and growth of trees can be multiplied and many heat sources switched to climate coolers. Present wastewater purification should and can be enhanced to level of the nature respect. Today waste and wastewater as well as rain water are transferred underground out of our sights to centralized treatment processes and further with toxin residues in to seas.

Efficiency of PV solar power panels can be improved by evaporation of thin water film. Rain water and clarified wastewater could be led to solar power sites for cooling panels by evaporation. Other heat sources can be switched to climate coolers by the water buffers, and evaporation powered by the sun.

OxTube, a new water treatment innovation clarifies water matrices in tube condition with nature respect within seconds by four seamless phases;

1) Separation of dissolved substances,

2) Activation of molecules,

3) Clarification and

4) Post dissolving and refreshing

OxTube could be installed in several water flowing positions for combined purposes with water clarification. All kinds of combined processing are economically and environmentally beneficial. According to MIT Group combined energy and water system could provide for millions.

Keywords: Climate cooling, Water clarification, Water treatment, Water oxygenation, Water purification, Water recycling, Pharmaceutics removal, Radon removal, Water disinfection

Introduction

Present water treatments need a new perspective and environmental respect. In the present water cycle the seas and oceans are rubbish dumps. Rain and waste waters with their load are led or pumped thousands of kilometres as fast as possible in to the huge rubbish dumps through the underground sewer network. Climate cooling by water evaporation is reduced significantly. Water and ingredients recycling is little. Present technologies and increasing power consumption in wastewater treatment result unsatisfied balance. Further, the sewer network causes serious floods. Many serious problems, disasters, awful smell and serious microbe growth can be avoided by the combined water clarification and disinfection, and wide area water buffers with solar evaporation. Water and natural water cycle are necessary for the bio systems as well as energy production and the climate balance.

Water is a pure substance that carries a huge load during its natural cycle on the earth, in the bio systems, in washing and cleaning, as well as in agricultural an industrial process.

Water gets rid of the load by evaporation caused by solar heat, and leaves it in the ponds, lakes and seas. In spite of modern waste water treatment these dumps of the water cycle become worse. The waters and eco systems suffer increasing amount of drug and pharmaceutical residues, nutrients, various poisons, many other chem icals, micro plastics, microbe growth and algae. The natural water cycle functions as a major climate cooling element together with the photosynthesis. A lot of water evaporation cool has lost and heat sources built by extension of civilization, open area building and construction, and underground sewerage systems.

All kinds of combined processing are economically and environmentally beneficial. According to MIT group combined energy and water system could provide for millions. Figure 1 presents one of the best practices of combined processing with nature respect. The Factory in Forest applies heat source reduction by shadow of trees, and cooling by water buffering and evaporation, and maximized photosynthesis. The buildings are lower than top height of the trees, the roofs function as water evaporation coolers, and ventilation air is circulated to and from the surrounding forest that is vibrant, grows well, sinks carbon with high capacity and produces oxygen. The company is top profitable, productivity high including innovations, energy consumption low, health condition of the personnel is perfect, and the nature feels good. Further, Fanuc applies in every respect waste free operation which means no waste nor packing materials in their logistic chains. Figure 2 illustrates these environment friendly principles that can be applied easily in industrial operations and power generation as well as in urban areas (Figures 1,2).

Figure 1: Waste Free Factories in Forest by Fanuc Japan. Roofs function as water buffers and evaporation coolers as well as the forest. Indoor air is stable by oxygen from forest and evaporation cool.

Figure 2: Waste Free Factory applies water evaporation and photosynthesis cooling. Trees grow faster than in average due to high carbon sink capacity and improved immunity.

Main Heat Sources

Civilization based heat sources are increased and natural ones are stayed more or less the same. Evaporation cool has been shrunken due to unsatisfied wastewater treatment, and underground sewage and rain water network. Further, photosynthesis cool could be higher due to fact that trees have been harvested where water and sun exist, and CO₂ is generated. Impact of the civilization to the natural water cycle and photosynthesis is illustrated in Figure 3. Increase in heat and power consumption warms the climate. Energy tensions caused by heat and temperature differences have become widespread. Heat transfers to cold in intermediate according to thermodynamics. Noxious load in the waters increases although advanced purification technologies are adapted.

Mega Cities collect and reflect sun heat, and generate additional heat by cooling and heating systems. Cool of evaporation and photosynthesis is little due to high buildings, no trees nor water buffers. Water flows in underground sewers and channels. Heat transfer to air is unlimited high, Figure 4. Sites of factories and power plants are forestless. Heat flows in to waters and to air are unlimited. Data centres consumed between 1 and 2 percent of the global electric power 2019 [1] by efficiency of less than 50%. Their heat transfer to waters and to air is huge and growing due to new installations. In few installations the waste heat is used for heating of housings in cold seasons. Water evaporation cooling could switch data centres to climate coolers.

Efficiency of PV solar cells is low in spite of huge development efforts. Traditional single-junction cells with an optimal band gap for the solar spectrum have a maximum theoretical efficiency of 33.16% [2]. In 2023 Chinese manufacturer LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. announced a tandem silicon/perovskite cell that achieved 33.9% efficiency [2]. PV Solar cell could generate in the optimal condition electricity of 300 W/m³ and heat 700W/m². However, in practice the electricity generation is less than 200W/m².

PV solar power plants need huge land area that could be used for evaporation and photosynthesis cool (Figure 3,4).

Figure 3: Growing Civilization and shrinking Nature Water Cycle.

Figure 4: A Huge Heat Exchanger and Waste Producer by the growing civilization Heat transfers to cold.

OxTube Water Clarification in Tube Condition

The new innovation OxTube clarification consists of four seamless treatment phases and as the fifth step a firm gas bubble generation in the flow as follows [3-5].

a) Separation of dissolved ingredients

b) Activation of molecules

c) Clarification reactions

d) Aeration

e) Bubble generation in water flow for particle removal by flotation

Figure 5 illustrates the seamless process of the separation and activation as well as clarification with Swiss Alpen household water. In this case the water turns to milky and a bit effervescent when it is led through OxTube without the air suction, and it clarifies immediately after air suction is initiated. Colour of the activated water differs from white to brown depending on dissolved substances. The cyclone eye sucks gases and possible chemicals, and mixes them effectively and evenly in the water flow. The mixture of water and air is evenly foggy. Spray of the mixture of water and air is coherent. Air suction is great, it can be over ten times higher in volume than the water flow, and the gravity decreases respectively. The foggy mixture of air and water has a great cooling capacity of climate. Normally pump energy available can be used depending on the case. OxTube can be installed in other water systems (Figure 5).

Figure 5: OxTube Clarification with air; Right Separation of dissolved substances and molecular activation, middle Integrated Clarification with air, and left the clarified Swiss Alpen household water. The entire process is performed seamlessly within a second.

OxTube has been verified by laboratory tests and practical installations in aeration, oxygenation, disinfection and clarification of various water matrices, and removal of radon from ground water and pharmaceutics from wastewater, and separation of iron, manganese and calcium from industrial waters [6]. Figure 6 summarizes OxTube functions so far. Calcium has been removed with CO₂ feed in OxTube and a lamella [7,8], and iron and manganese removed by air suction and sand filtering.

OxTube Machine presented in Figure 5 and 6 is the key module in the clarification in tube condition [3,5,9]. The treatment doesn’t need any additional energy, but side processes like ozone and chemicals feed might need power. OxTube Machine consists of DuOx Nozzle, suspension chamber, air suction nipple, outer tube and fitting flanges. In the small sizes the flanges are replaced by standard thread fittings. All the fittings are metal-to-metal tight fits, there are no individual seals at all. Welding is minimized, only the flanges have to be welded to the outer tube. The structure is very compact and easy to keep clean.

OxTube Machine separates dissolved ingredients but to remove them from the mixture needs further attention. As said OxTube Machine generates huge number of bubbles by gas suction and clarification reactions which can be used for flotation [10-12]. Collision probability of particles and bubbles is high and attachment is identified to be great, so the flotation is a natural way of particle removal. Particle attachment happens in OxTube Machine and Fitting Modules before the flotation cell, and efficiency is improved all over. The flotation effect happens in refreshing of natural waters by foam generation on surface which is easy to remove. All the filtering methods can be applied in particle removal after the separation and clarification.

Figure 7 shows the efficiency of the tube clarification according to a hundred real test runs completed with an industrial waste water [13]. Turbidity of the clarified waste water turned to 0.0 NTU and smell disappeared within retention of 30 minute. Only OxTube Machine, a pump and an open outtake vessel were used, no filters. The treated water was identified recyclable for industrial purposes. In order to recycle it for household purposes an ozone disinfection and sand filtering, and related verifications are needed (Figure 6).

Figure 6: OxTube Machine and its functions in one.

Figure 7: OxTube test runs of an industrial waste water resulted turbidity of 0.0 NTU. The clarified water is recyclable in industrial process use [13].

Disinfection of various water matrices including communal and hospital waste water can be disinfected by feeding ozone instead of air [3,12,14]. Table 1 presents result in the case of disinfection of a hospital waste water. Microbe reduction of 100 percent was achieved together with clarification and oxygenation of over 20mgO₂/l. Ozone residues were measured negligible (Table 1).

Table 1: Disinfection efficiency of OxTube Water Clarification 100% Reduction of E.coli and MS2 achieved with O3 feed of 2 l/min within 0.7 second, oxygen concentration raised over 20 mgO2/l / Savonia University of Applied Sciences in Kuopio [3,12,14].

OxTube efficiency in removal of residues of pharmaceutics and some chemicals from a city waste water is presented in Table 2 including comparison to two present modern systems [4,14,15]. About 86 percent of these residues were split, clarified and removed only by one run through OxTube Machine to an open vessel without any filters. Two runs result 96 percent reduction. OxTube seems to be a key solution for wastewater purification such a way the water can be recycled or sprayed on heat sources for evaporation (Table 2).

Table 2: Removal of pharmaceutics and some other substances from the purified city wastewater of Kuopio Finland with OxTube Clarification within a second [4,14,15].

Radon gas removal from a ground water intake by OxTube Clarification with air has been verified in five installations. OxTube separates Rn gas and it’s removed by compressed air via gas remover GasRemox [6]. Table 3 shows the results of an installation in Rn gas removal out of a ground water [16-18]. Combined with Rn removal the water is clarified and aerated. The system is applicable for any heavy gas, e.g. CO2.

Table 3: Radon gas removal from a ground water intake by two OxTubes with compressed air and Boosters [16-18].

Combined Power Generation and Climate Cooling by PV Panels and Wastewater

Efficiency of the solar electricity panels is reasonable low particularly in warm temperatures. Losses turn to heat in the environment by direct heat transfer and reflection. The panels can be cooled by water that could be the clarified wastewater layered on surface for evaporation powered by the sun. The panels are cooled, their efficiency enhanced, heat transfer to air reduced, and finally, evaporation cool of climate improved. Further, the clarified wastewater is returned back to the nature water cycle instead of lakes and seas. The present water treatment should be enhanced significantly that the clarified wastewater can be buffered and spread on ground, plants and open surfaces.

Figure 8 illustrates heat flows on PV solar panels with and without water film. Water evaporation takes heat 2 260kJ/kg equal to 0.628kWh/kg. Water film of 1mm per m² weights 1kg. Intensity of sun energy varies by location on the globe. In this estimation the top sun energy of 1kW/m2 is used. An advanced PV solar panel generates electric power of 200W/m2 and heat of 800W/m2 in the peak condition in practice. Water of 1kg can be vaporized theoretically on PV solar panel of 1m2 in 0.8hours. Water of 1.25kg/hm2 can be vaporized and returned to the nature water cycle. In addition to the direct sun energy the evaporation capacity depends on air temperature and wind. However, the thin film water evaporation on PV solar cells can eliminate the climate warming impact by the efficiency of 80 percent.

Figure 8: Heat flows of water evaporated and dry PV Panel on left and right respectively. Air is cooled and power generated by water evaporation on the left. Clarified waste water can be returned back to the nature water cycle.

Water cooling is in general used in power plants and datacentres that warms waters. The warming impact can be eliminated by water evaporation with properly clarified waste water. Industrial operation sites can be facilitated as Fanuc and many other companies have applied the concept of Waste Free Factory in Forest, Figure 1 and 2. This concept fits well to mega cities, too.

The present wastewater treatment can’t be seen satisfactory for this challenging transition from warming to cooling due to fact that enormous number of harmful residues are led in waters and seas. OxTube Water Clarification has shown potential to release the load from wastewater and other water matrices within seconds as discussed in Chapter on OxTube Water Clarification in Tube Condition.

Summary

OxTube Water Clarification in tube condition is found to meet the environmental and economic requirements well. It has been applied successfully in removal of pharmaceutics, radon gas, calcium, manganese and iron from various water matrices, and disinfection with ozone of a hospital waste water. More than 35 different pharmaceutical residues in total over 24μg/l were removed 90 percent by OxTube Machine with Integrated Clarification within a second in one through run. Radon removal from 57 to 8 Bq/L is achieved continuously in five installations of ground water intakes at Water Plants. Disinfection of a hospital waste water with ozone resulted 100 percent microbe reduction, and clarification and oxygenation of the wastewater at the same time. Reduction of viruses of 60 percent was achieved just by air suction without any other gas and chemicals feed. Two runs with air might result about 80 percent and four runs’ 97 percent reduction. Microbe growth and variation is reduced with just clean air suction and eliminated with ozone feed.

OxTube Machine can be installed in various positions in present treatment processes and facilities of various water matrices. It can be applied in pre-treatment, removal of the water load, clarification and oxygenation and disinfection of various wastewater matrices. Further, discharge water can be treated with the environment respect and returned back to the nature water cycle. Volumes of 0.1 to 600m³/h with one OxTube Installation can be clarified and returned to the nature water cycle with full environment respect. OxTube Machine can be integrated in and combined with present water systems.

During the research and test runs in product development the clarified water was found a bit slippery and its surface tension reduced. It has a significant impact on skin, hair and nails, and taste and mouth hygiene as well. Further, eczemas and various wounds recovered fast without additional medical care, and signs of metabolism improvement was reported by people and professionals involved in test runs. Pure air and water have certain health features, and mixing and dissolving these deeply together the healthy impacts and transfer speed are multiplied in wet contact.

Acknowledgements

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.

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