Washington Patent of the Month – August 2022
Modern wastewater treatment is a crucial element for nearly every community. These facilities need to focus on treating raw sewage before it exits the facility in order to protect the water table from excess excrement. These systems are complex, using specific and extensive chemical treatments and mechanical processing steps to separate out solids, adjust pH, and filter out water. The sulfate ion (SO42-) is used ubiquitously across wastewater treatment operations. Unfortunately, the anaerobic bacteria often strip the oxygen atoms from this ion, creating hydrogen sulfide – a rather malodorous acidic gas that causes corrosion.
Inland Environmental Resources, Inc. (IER) has developed a wastewater treatment process that reduces the release of hydrogen sulfide, preventing both the bad smell and corrosion at the source. Their solution remains largely the same as a traditional wastewater treatment process but with some modifications to the processing of the sludge. By having minimal changes to the process, the improved system can be easily adapted into most municipalities.
Both the primary and secondary sludges are processed in a modified way. The new method uses an alkaline-generating Aluminate Salt process which is added into the Sludge Digester. This aluminate salt reduces the acidity enough to effectively reduce any hydrogen sulfide residing in the sludge. A simple solution corrects two massive pain points in the industry.
IER has been developing these environmentally friendly water and wastewater treatment chemicals, equipment, and processes since 1997. Based in Spokane, Washington, IER primarily services the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest with plant locations in Sioux City, Iowa; Muscatine, Iowa; Centralia, Washington and Pasco, Washington.
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