Cleaning system for flat-plate membrane cartridges

US7922829B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• GLV Finance Hungary KFT · LU

Inventors

• Dennis Livingston · Austin, US
• Mark Steelman Stone · Cedar Park, US
• Edward Alan David · Cottekill, US
• Steve Stach · Burnet, US
• Roland Schneider · Schotten, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 2, 2008
• Grant date: Apr 12, 2011
• Expiry date: Dec 2, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B01D2321/30
• WIPO field: Chemical engineering
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A cleaning system and method remove localized caked or dewatered solids from flat-plate membranes in a sewage treatment plant. The caked sludge on the membranes is removed by intense coherent water sprays directed into the spaces between cartridges of a cassette, without removing the cartridges from the cassette. The sprays can be delivered from the top and/or bottom of the cassette, or the side panels of a cassette can be removed for spraying from at least one side, preferably both sides, using a mechanical device with movable spray bars and motor-driven advancing of the spray bars. In one preferred form of the system the apparatus includes horizontal cutting jets followed by angled cutting jets that further break up and wash away the loosened sludge. Jet diameter, velocity and pressure are controlled so as not to damage the membranes or cartridges but to achieve efficient cleaning.