US 12,227,438 B2
Method and apparatus for plasma treatment of liquids in continuous flow
Alfredo Zolezzi Garretón, Concón (CL); Maximiliano Saona Acuña, Concón (CL); Rubén Viñuela Sepúlveda, Concón (CL); Roberto Contreras Machuca, Concón (CL); Alfredo Zolezzi Campusano, Concón (CL); Frederik Knop Rodríguez, Concón (CL); and Javier Urrutia Pieper, Concón (CL)
Assigned to PLASMA WATER SOLUTIONS INC., Dover, DE (US)
Appl. No. 17/294,628
Filed by AIC Chile SpA, Concón (CL)
PCT Filed Nov. 16, 2018, PCT No. PCT/IB2018/059072
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 17, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/099914, PCT Pub. Date May 22, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0009801 A1, Jan. 13, 2022
Int. Cl. C02F 1/46 (2023.01); C02F 1/30 (2023.01); H05H 1/24 (2006.01)
CPC C02F 1/4608 (2013.01) [C02F 1/30 (2013.01); H05H 1/24 (2013.01); C02F 2201/46 (2013.01); C02F 2209/03 (2013.01); C02F 2301/024 (2013.01); C02F 2301/066 (2013.01); C02F 2303/04 (2013.01); C02F 2305/023 (2013.01); H05H 2245/20 (2021.05)] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for the treatment of liquids in continuous flow, characterized in that said method comprises the following steps:
a. pressurizing a flow of liquid to a liquid pressure of between 0.5 and 150 bar(g), by means of at least one high pressure pump;
b. speeding up the pressurized flow of liquid under turbulent conditions towards a reaction chamber, by at least one nozzle placed at an inlet section of the reaction chamber;
c. receiving the flow of liquid in the reaction chamber through at least one inlet opening in said reaction chamber, directing said flow of liquid to the inlet section of the reaction chamber;
d. converting the flow of liquid in a biphasic liquid-gas flow in said inlet section;
e. directing, by the at least one nozzle, the biphasic flow to a central section of the reaction chamber, where an electric field is applied, such that said biphasic flow contacts internal walls of the reaction chamber in its central section, wherein the reaction chamber has an axial momentum efficiency value of between 0.10 to 0.99, wherein the axial momentum efficiency corresponds to the loss of momentum of the biphasic flow due to loss of axial speed of the flow along the reaction chamber and the axial momentum efficiency is calculated using the following equation:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
wherein,
ηmomentum is the actual momentum efficiency;
A1 is the cross-sectional area of a nozzle constraint at the inlet section of the reaction chamber;
A2 is the cross-sectional area of the nozzle constraint at the central section of the reaction chamber;
Pv is the vapor pressure of the fluid;
P1 is the inlet fluid pressure;
P2 is the discharge fluid pressure; and
ηnozzle is the energy conversion efficiency of the pressure variation in kinetic energy, calculated with the following equation:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
wherein,
m is a mass flow;
ΔP is a pressure difference of the nozzle; and
ρLiq is a liquid density;
f. ionizing the gaseous fraction of the biphasic flow that passes through said central section, as a result of the interaction between the biphasic flow and the applied electric field;
g. sustaining an ionization regime that generates non-thermal plasma throughout the central section of the reaction chamber, where said regime is sustained by controlling the electric field applied in said central section;
h. directing the biphasic flow under the ionization regime to a discharge section of the reaction chamber, apart from the central section where the electric field is applied, generating a deionization of the gaseous fraction and causing the biphasic flow to reduce its velocity, which results in the condensation of biphasic flow; and
i. removing a flow of treated fluid from said discharge section through at least one discharge opening in the reaction chamber.