About Heron InnovatorsSAF™ Treatment Technology History and Description - In continuous development since 1975, Suspended Air Flotation (SAF™) by Heron Innovators incorporates all of the innovations and improvements made over the years. Since 1998, the SAF™ technology has incorporated these exciting new improvements:
- Emusion generators of much larger capacity,
- Flotation equipment of radically reduced size, and
- Float solids dewatering which is simple and effective
Over the past 14 years, Heron Innovators scientists and engineers have been involved in development of this remarkable flotation treatment technology, and now over a dozen facilities depend on SAF™ to meet their wastewater treatment goals cost-effectively.
PRIOR DEVELOPMENTS
The Micro Gas Dispersion was invented by the late Dr. Felix Sebba in 1975. A Micro Gas Dispersion is an emulsion of very small bubbles in water with diameters ranging from 5 – 50 microns. The Micro Gas Dispersion contains 40% – 65% of air by volume, and is stabilized by the addition of a frothing agent which coats each bubble and prevents the coalescence of the bubbles. The Micro Gas Dispersion generator technology of 1975 was able to produce small flow rates, less than 2 liters per minute, suitable for experimental and development purposes but too small for industrial applications.
The engineering and production team now with Heron Innovators further developed the Micro Gas Dispersion technology under the trade name SuperFroth from 1994 through 1997, in cooperation with one of Dr. Sebba's associates. The generators manufactured during that period could produce emulsion flow rates up to approximately 25 gallons per minute. The flotation tanks utilized with SuperFroth at that time were of conventional design, similar to the circular and rectangular flotation cells still used in the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) process.
Suspended Air® FLOTATION TECHNOLOGY
Since its inception in 1998, Heron Innovators has made numerous improvements to the SuperFroth technology. Suspended Air® Flotation (SAF™) has incorporated all past developments, and has taken flotation treatment to a new level, rendering this technology suitable for all municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and product recovery operations, from the very smallest to the very largest. SAF™ with its emulsion generated in Heron Innovators proprietary design Suspended Air® Emulsion Generators, effectively replaces DAF in all flotation treatment applications.
The SAF™ flotation treatment process works so well because the coagulating and flocculating chemicals impart to the floc particles in the wastewater an electrical charge which is opposite to the electrical charge of the frothing agent forming the film on the bubbles in the Suspended Air® Emulsion. The bubbles tightly adhere to the floc particles by electrostatic attraction and form stable float solids which rises extremely quickly to the surface and are skimmed off.
Heron Innovators has made three exciting improvements to the technology, while still retaining all of the unique advantages of this remarkable treatment process.
- Capacity increase. The maximum capacity of Heron’s Suspended Air® Emulsion Generators has been increased by an order of magnitude. The largest unit in production, the Model F-400, is rated for continuous production of 100 gallons per minute of microbubble emulsion. This removes any limitation on the maximum flow of water able to be treated.
- Footprint decrease. The size of Heron’s ClearFloater™ flotation tanks has been reduced by an order of magnitude, compared with DAF and former microbubble flotation designs. Heron’s ClearFloater™ flotation tanks operate at a design hydraulic loading rate of 15 gallons per minute per square foot of flotation area and a solids flux of 15 lb. per hour per square foot, both 15 times that of a DAF unit. This reduces the cost and especially the footprint of a SAF™ treatment system.
- Solids dewatering. The solids floated out of the wastewater in a ClearFloater™ flotation cell are stable and gelatinous in nature, because they contain entrained air bubbles. These stable solids can be dewatered by simple gravity drainage on a slowly-moving plastic chain belt conveyor. Heron’s ClearFloater™ flotation cells can be supplied with this simple, inexpensive, and easily maintained dewatering device where further solids thickening is desired.
SAF™ Tri-Fold Brochure (.pdf, 684k)
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