Continuous treatment of polluted water

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR CONVERTING AN AQUEOUS FEED STOCK CONTAINING ORGANIC MATERIAL TO A PRODCUT CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF WATER SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF ORGANIC MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES CONTACTING A RELATIVELY COOL STREAM OF SAID AQUEOUS FEED STOCK WITH A MASS OF SOLID PARTICLES HAVING HEAT EXCHANGE CAPACITY IN THE HEAT DELIVERY ZONE OF A MULTI-ZONED FIXED BED OF SAID SOLID PARTICLES, THE DOWNSTREAM PORTION OF SAID ZONE CONTAINING SOLID PARTICLES AND INTERSTITIAL FLUID SURROUNDING THE SOLID PARTICLES AT A RELATIVELY HIGHER TEMPERATURE THAN SAID AQUEOUS FEED STOCK, WHREBY HEAT IS TRANSFERRED FROM THE SOLID PARTICLES TO SAID FEED STOCK AND THE TEMPERATURE OF THE AQUEOUS STREAM ADJUSTS SUBSTNATIALLY TO THE ELEVATED TEMPERATURE OF HEAT EXCHANGE PARTICLES IN THE DOWNSTREAM PORTION OF HEAT DELIVERY ZONE AS THE AQUEOUS STREAM FLOWS TOWARD THE OUTLET OF SAID ZONE, CONTINUOUSLY TRANSFERRING AT LEAST A PORTION OF HTE EFFLUENT STREAM FROM THE DOWNSTREAM OUTLET OF THE HEAT DELIVERY ZONE INTO THE INLET OF THE NEXT DOWNSTREAM SECONDARY RECTIFICATION ZONE, CONTACTING THE RESULTING FEED STOCK WITH A CONVERTER GAS COMPRISING ONE OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN AT A PRESSURE SUFFICIENT TO CONVERT THE ORGANIC MATERIAL IN SAID FEED STOCK TO A VOLATILE CONVERSION PRODUCT AT SAID ELEVATED TEMPERATURE, SIMULTANEOUSLY FORMING AN INTERMEDIATE AQUEOUS STREAM SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF ORGANIC MATTER AND OF HIGHER TEMPERATURE THAN THE STREAM ENTERING THE CONVERSION RECTION, CONTINUOUSLY INTRODUCING THE DOWNSTREAM EFFLUENT OF SECONDARY RECTIFICATION ZONE INTO THE NEXT ADJACENT DOWNSTREAM HEAT RECEPTION ZONE WHEREIN HEAT IN THE FLUID PHASE IS TRANSFERRED TO RELATIVELY COOL PARTICLES OF HEAT EXCHANGE SOLID RESIDENT IN THE DOWNSTREAM PORTION OF SAID HEAT RECEPTION ZONE, CONTINUOUSLY REMOVING FROM THE DOWNSTREAM OUTLET OF THE HEAT RECEPTION ZONE RELATIVELY COOL, HEAT-EXCHANGED AQUEOUS PRODUCT, SIMULTANEOUSLY AND CONTINUOUSLY CHARGING A PRIMARY REFLUX PORTION OF THE COOL EFFLUENT OF THE HEAT RECTIFICATION ZONE, TRANSFERRING INTERSTITAL FLUID DISPLACED FROM THE VOID SPACES BETWEEN THE PARTICLES OF SAID SOLID HEAT EXCHANGE MATERIAL IN A MORE REMOTE, DOWNSTREAM PORTION OF THE MASS OF HEAT EXCHANGE PARTICLES INTO THE INLET OF THE FARTHERMOST DOWNSTREAM PORTION OF SAID HEAT EXCHANGE PARTICLES, AND CONTINUOUSLY COMBINING SAID DISPLACED INTERSTITIAL FLUID WITH AQUEOUS FEED STOCK ENTERING THE NEXT ADJACENT DOWNSTREAM HEAT DELIVERY ZONE, SAID PROCESS BEING FURTHER CHARACTERIZXED IN THAT EACH PORTION OF THE MASS OF HEAT EXCHANGE PARTICLES IS SERIALLY INTERCONNECTED IN FLUID FLOW RELATIONSHIP TO THE NEXT ADJACENT PORTION AND ALL OF THE FLUID INLETS AND OUTLETS INTO AND FROM THE STATIONARY MASS OF HEAT EXCHANGE PARTICLES ARE SHIFTED EQUIDISTANTLY IN A DOWNSTREAM DIRECTION TO POSITIONS IN THE MASS OF HEAT EXCHANGE PARTICELS WHICH BEAR THE SAME SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER AFTER THE SHIFT AS THE POSITIONS DID BEFORE THE SHIFT, AT A RATE WHEREBY THE FLUID STREAM AT ANY GIVEN POINT INTHE CONTINUOUS, CYCLIC FLOW HAS SUBSTANTIALLY ATTAINED TEMPERATURE EQUILIBRIUM WITH THE SOLID PARTICLES OF HEAT EXCHANGE MATERIAL.