Installation for the treatment of water and aqueous solutions

Claim 2

An installation as defined in claim 2, including a base enclosing the bottom part of said column and having a cross-sectional area greater than that of the bottom part of the column to provide a second chamber enclosing such bottom part of the column and communicating at its lower end with the bottom end of said column, said supplying means supplying the successive charges of resin as a liquid stream to the upper end of said second chamber, and a layer of inert material in the bottom of said base spaced below the bottom end of said column, said first liquid discharge means for removing effluent from said column comprising a discharge device embedded in said inert layer.

Claim 3

An installation as defined in claim 3 including means for controlling the rate of flow of purified liquid discharging from the exhaustion bed section in said column into said second liquid discharge means, and the rate of flow of effluent discharging from the regeneration bed section in said column into said first liquid discharge means.

Claim 4

An installation as defined in claim 1, in which successive batches of the exchange resins are spilled over the top of the column by said resin-supplying means, and including means forming a first chamber arranged at the top of thE column to receive each successive batch of exchange resins spilled over from the top of the column, means for fluidizing the discharged resins in said chamber, a tank, and means for evacuating the fluidized resin from said chamber and depositing it in said tank, said resin-supplying means conveying the exchange resins from said tank to said column so as to bring about the intermittent progression of the bed, means for controlling the rates of flow of the liquids discharging from said column into said first and second liquid discharge means, means for maintaining the rate of regenerant flow by said regenerant liquid supplying means at a selected set value, means associated with said raw liquid supplying means for ensuring that the raw liquid flow rate stays matched to given constant purified liquid, conveying and washing effluent flow rates through said parts of said column, and means for controlling the sequence of the operations of the aforesaid means in said installation according to a program.

Claim 5

An installation as defined in claim 3, including means for maintaining constant the rates of flows of the purified liquid into said second liquid discharge means, of the conveying liquid supplied, to said supplying means, and of the washing effluent into said first liquid discharge means, and means for ensuring that the raw liquid flow rate stays matched to said constant flow rates allowing for head loss variations in the different sections of the exchange medium bed.

Claim 6

An installation as defined in claim 3, including means for controlling the sequence in the operations of said supplying and removing means.

Claim 7

An installation as defined in claim 2, in which said resin supply means comprises a separator for separating the resins evacuated from said chamber from the carrier flow by fluidizing, and means for conducting the separated resins to the bottom of said column.

Claim 8

An installation as defined in claim 8, in which said separator is constructed to separate out with the carrier flow and eliminate from the resins any fine solid particles retained in the bed during exhaustion, said evacuating means including constant discharge controlling means for controlling the flow of the separated carrier liquid from said separator.

Claim 9

An installation as defined in claim 8, in which said separator comprises a closed vertically disposed tank having a conical bottom, a vertically disposed fluidized resin entry pipe extending through the top of said tank in coaxial relation with such tank, a basin spaced upwardly from said conical bottom and receiving the lower end of said entry pipe, a carrier flow discharge pipe enclosing and coaxial with said entry pipe and having an enlarged entry end forming a chamber above said basin, and means for discharging a rinsing fluid into said tank exteriorly of said enlarged entry end of said pipe.

Claim 10

An installation as defined in claim 10, in which the lower end of said entry pipe is flared and said basin is frustoconically shaped to provide a graduated, increasing cross-sectional area of discharge of the fluidized resin into said separator.

Claim 11

An installation as defined in claim 3, in which said means for evacuating the fluidized resins from said first chamber comprises a separator for separating the resins from the carrier flow, and forming part of said means for supplying resins to the bottom of said column, said separator comprising a closed vertically disposed tank having a conical bottom, an entry pipe for supplying carrier water tangentially to the interior of said tank for conducting the separated resins to the upper part of said second chamber, a carrier flow discharge extending through the top of said tank in coaxial relation with such tank, a discharge valve at the conical bottom of said tank, and a pipe connecting said valve to the upper portion of said second chamber formed by said base.