This invention relates to nonchemical water treatment and can be used for the production of potable grade water taken from almost any water source during water supply arrangements for civil construction sites, repair, reconstruction and rescue services of temporary construction settlements etc., in inhabited areas, independently under extreme conditions as well as for sewage treatment.

Known is a unit (modular) water treatment plant (RU Patent 2151 106) comprising in-sequence arranged a pretreatment unit, an ozone treatment column with an ozone generator, a coagulation unit, a floating bed filter, a storage tank, a fine treatment unit and a power supply unit to which said ozone generator is connected. Said pretreatment unit allows at least removing >20 um sized mechanical particles, the water column height in the ozone treatment column being at least 4 meters. Said storage tank allows returning the air/ozone mixture to any of said previous treatment units, said returning occurring either by excessive pressure developed by the bed or due to a return line pump. Said fine treatment unit allows removing >5 um sized mechanical particles. Said plant may further comprise a flocculation chamber installed between said coagulation unit and said floating bed filter, said flocculation chamber design providing for an at least 4 min water exposure to said chamber. Said plant may further comprise a demineralizing unit (electrolyzer) installed between said pretreatment unit and said ozone treatment column. Preferably, said storage tank allows lateral water intake. Typically, said storage tank provides for an at least 20 min water exposure to said storage tank. Preferably, the fine treatment unit outlet line is provided with a UV treatment unit connected to said power supply unit.

A disadvantage of this plant is its insufficient efficiency due to the uncontrolled ozone generation causing microorganism destruction in the floating bed filter and in the fine treatment unit by residual ozone.

Also known is a modular water treatment plant (RU Patent 2096342) comprising a pretreatment unit, an ozone treatment module in the form of the first and the second ozone treatment columns, an electric coagulation module installed between said ozone treatment columns, a final treatment module comprising a fine filtering unit, an UV reactor and a power supply module that activates the pumps. For plant operation, intake water is pretreated in the pretreatment unit. The pretreated water passes two ozone treatment stages separated by electric coagulation treatment, demineralization, final treatment and UV sterilization.

Although said plant produces potable water, the process cannot be accepted as the optimum one because water treatment by microorganisms is almost completely absent. The use of two ozone treatment stages regardless of contaminant composition and concentration leads to excessive ozone content in the treated media downstream the two ozone treatment columns and hence to the destruction of microorganisms in the equipment, including the fine treatment filter. Although the disclosure text and the dependent claims specify the limiting ozone concentrations for both ozone treatment columns and an unreacted ozone destruction step downstream the second ozone treatment stage, plant operation has shown that for low contaminant concentrations and hence low ozone consumption, microorganisms in the equipment units are destructed almost completely and cannot participate in water treatment. Furthermore, the strong ozone exposure of the equipment reduces its service life and hence increases water treatment costs.

Therefore the object of this invention is to provide various modular water treatment lines including for potable grade water production.

The modular plant according to the first embodiment hereof comprises a pretreatment unit, an ozone treatment module, a power supply unit and an UV reactor, as well as a demineralization unit comprising an electric coagulation unit and/or an electrodialysis unit, wherein the input of said pretreatment unit is connected to the intake water source, the output of said pretreatment unit is connected to the input of said ozone treatment module which comprises the in-sequence connected first and second ozone treatment columns with the first and second ozone generators connected thereto and an electric coagulation module connected between said ozone treatment columns. Typically, the ozone concentration at the first ozone treatment stage is (0.8 - 1.2)· 10 ^" kg/m ³ of treated water, and at the second ozone treatment stage it is above 10T0 ^"4 kg/m ³ of treated water. The output of said ozone treatment module is connected to the input of said demineralization unit the output of which is connected to the input of said UV reactor. Both ozone treatment columns are filled with a mixture of max. 7.0 - 9.0 mm sized basalt and schungite granules, the surfaces of schungite granules being coated with manganese dioxide. Said pretreatment module is an avg. 0.5 - 2.5 mm thick basalt fiber felt mat, and the electric coagulation and electrodialysis module electrodes are covered with 6.0 - 8.0 mm thick unwoven material sheaths. The plant may further comprise a floating bed filtering module, the filter bed being 950 - 1 100 m /g activated charcoal granules sized 1.5 to 4.0 mm, the input of this module being connected to the output of said electric coagulation module, and the output is connected to the input of said second ozone treatment column. Furthermore, the plant may further comprise an storage tank and/or a pump installed upstream the input of said first ozone treatment column. Said ozone treatment column may have ejectors for ozone input from the generators. The second ozone treatment column may have an excess ozone destructor. Preferably said power supply module is connected to said ozone generators, said electric coagulation module, said UV reactor and said demineralization module. The flowchart of this basic modular plant embodiment is shown in Fig. 1 wherein the notations are as follows: 1 is the pretreatment module, 2 is the ozone treatment module with 3 and 4 the ozone generators, 5 is the electric coagulator, 6 is the demineralization module, 7 is the UV reactor and 8 is the power supply unit. The second modular plant embodiment is intended for source water demineralization and comprises in-sequence arranged a pretreatment unit, an ozone treatment module with ozone generators comprising the first and the second ozone treatment columns between which an electric coagulation unit is installed, a floating bed filtering module, a secondary ozone treatment column with the second ozone generator, a demineralization module, a storage tank and a power supply unit to which said ozone generators and pumps are connected. The bottom part of said storage tank is connected to an air source, and its top part allows venting the air into the atmosphere. Preferably, the ozone concentration in said first ozone treatment column is ( 1.2 - 1.4)T0 ^"3 kg/m of treated water, and in said second ozone treatment column it is (1.5 - 1.6)· 10 ^"4 kg/m ³ of treated water. Both ozone treatment columns are filled with a mixture of 7.0 - 12.0 mm sized basalt and schungite granules, the surfaces of schungite granules being coated with manganese dioxide. Said pretreatment module is a cartridge filter with a 20 - 30 mm thick unwoven basalt fiber filtering element. The floating bed consists of 950 - 1 100 m ² /g activated charcoal granules sized 1.5 to 4.0 mm. Preferably, the charge of the columns is 65 - 70% of the column volume. This provides for the maximum treatment level and on the other hand for the highest water flow through the ozone treatment column. For the same reason, the basalt to schungite granules ratio is preferably from 1 :4 to 4: 1. Said pretreatment unit can be preceded by a source water storage tank to avoid water supply interruptions. The plant may further comprise a flocculation chamber installed upstream said floating bed filtering module to increase the separation of low water soluble impurities. The flowchart of this basic modular plant embodiment is shown in Fig. 2 wherein the notations are as follows: 1 is the pretreatment module, 2 is the ozone treatment module with 3 and 4 the ozone generators, 5 is the electric coagulator, 9 is the floating bed filtering module, 6 is the demineralization module, 10 is the accumulation tank and 8 is the power supply unit.

The third modular plant embodiment comprises in-sequence arranged a pretreatment unit, an ozone treatment column with the in-sequence arranged a primary ozone treatment column with the first ozone generator, a coagulation module, a floating bed filter, a secondary ozone treatment column with the second ozone generator, a fine treatment module, a storage tank and a power supply unit to which said ozone generators and pumps are connected. Furthermore, the plant comprises a charcoal filter installed downstream said storage tank wherein the bottom part of said storage tank installed between said floating bed filter and said fine treatment unit is connected to an air source, and its top part allows venting the air into the atmosphere. Both ozone treatment columns are filled with a mixture of 3.0 - 6.0 mm sized basalt and schungite granules, the surfaces of schungite granules being coated with manganese dioxide, said pretreatment module is an unwoven basalt fiber pre filter, the thickness of said floating bed layer is 12— 16% of the floating bed filter height, and said charcoal filter is a 0.22 - 0.26 m thick unwoven charcoal fiber layer. The ozone concentration in the first ozone treatment column is approx. 0.001 kg/m of treated water, and in the second column it is 0.0013 kg/m of treated water. Preferably, the bed charge of the columns is 65 - 70% of the column volume. This provides for efficient water treatment by manganese dioxide activated schungite granules with a but minor decrease in the treated water throughput. Said pretreatment unit can be preceded by a source water storagevtank to avoid water supply interruptions. The plant may further comprise a flocculation chamber installed between said coagulation module and said floating bed filtering module to increase water treatment quality. Preferably, an electric coagulation unit is used as it does not require impurity coagulating chemicals. To further increase water treatment quality by removing microorganisms, the plant may further comprise an UV water sterilization unit installed downstream said charcoal filter and connected to said power supply unit. Figure 3 shows the third modular plant embodiment wherein 1 is the pretreatment module, 2 is the ozone treatment module with 3 and 4 the ozone generators, 5 is the electric coagulator, 9 is the floating bed filter, 1 1 is the fine treatment module, 10 is the accumulation tank, 12 is the charcoal filter and 8 is the power supply unit.

The fourth modular plant embodiment is intended for sewage treatment and comprises a pretreatment unit, an ozone treatment module, a power supply module and an UV reactor. The plant further comprises a demineralization module comprising an electric coagulation unit and/or an eiectrodialysis unit, wherein the input of said pretreatment unit is connected to the sewage source, the output of said pretreatment unit is connected to the input of said ozone treatment module comprising the in-sequence connected first and second ozone treatment columns with the first and second ozone generators connected thereto, said electric coagulation module is connected between said ozone treatment columns, the output of said ozone treatment module is connected to the input of said demineralization module the output of which is connected to the input of said UV reactor, both ozone treatment columns are filled with max. 3.0 - 6.0 mm sized manganese dioxide coated schungite granules, said pretreatment module is an avg. 0.5 - 2.5 mm thick basalt fiber felt mat, and the electric coagulation and electrodialysis module electrodes are covered with avg. 1.5 - 2.5 mm thick unwoven polypropylene fiber sheaths. Preferably, the ozone concentration in said first ozone treatment column is ( 1.2 - 1.4)· 10 ^" kg/m of treated water, and in said second ozone treatment column it is (1.5 - 1.6)· 10 ^"4 kg/m ³ of treated water. The plant may further comprise a floating bed filtering module the input of which is connected to the output of said electric coagulation module and the output is connected to the output of said second ozone treatment column, and/or a storage tank and/or a pump installed upstream the input of said first ozone treatment column. Said ozone treatment columns preferably have ejectors (ejector systems) for ozone input from the generators. The second ozone treatment column may have an excess ozone destructor. Preferably said power supply module is connected to said ozone generators, said electric coagulation module, said UV reactor and said demineralization module. The flowchart of this fourth basic modular plant embodiment is shown in Fig. 4 wherein the notations are as follows: 1 is the pretreatment module, 2 is the ozone treatment module, 3 is the first ozone generator, 4 is the second ozone generator, 5 is the electric coagulation module, 6 is the demineralization module, 7 is the UV reactor and 8 is the power supply unit.

The modules comprised in the plants operate as follows. Treated water is fed to the pretreatment stage where coarse, impurities and suspended particles are physically separated. The pretreatment systems can be easily regenerated once clogged. The subsequent first ozone treatment stage destructs microscopic algae, partially oxidizes organic contaminants and oxidizes variable valence metal ions to the highest oxidation degrees. Manganese dioxide coated schungite granules in the ozone treatment columns enhance impurity ozone treatment. As a design component, basalt granules act as a bulk filler and on the other hand reduces the plant cost. The mineral schungite is a complex natural sorbent combining the properties of silicate adsorbers and activated charcoal. Schungite in the columns is further activated by the manganese dioxide coating. Manganese dioxide on the schungite granules catalyzes the oxidation of ferrous oxide to ferric one, transformation of heavy metals to the highest oxidation degrees and oxidation of organic compounds. When treated sewage water passes through said ozone treatment column charge coated with manganese dioxide and deposited metal compounds, it is cleaned of mechanical impurities both due to the physical adsorption on the granule surface and the bulk filler catalyst which in fact the granules are. Furthermore, the chemical interaction with manganese dioxide and the schungite surface cleans the water of soluble iron group elements, heavy metals, hydrogen sulfide, humates and other inorganic and organic compounds that control water turbidity. This filter charge greatly reduces the content of noxious microorganisms. Ozone treated water is fed to the coagulation stage where organic impurities and low water soluble hydroxyl ions are coagulated. As treated water is fed to the second ozone treatment column where microorganisms are further destroyed and organic contaminants and inorganic ions are further oxidized. After the second ozone treatment column water goes to the demineralization module where salts are separated almost completely. Then water is fed to the UV reactor for complete microorganism destruction.

The electric coagulation module is preferably an inert cathode electrolyzer. The demineralization module is an electrolyzer also. The electric coagulator and UV reactor operation modes depend on water contamination degree and type. The power supply module can be either a diesel generator or a mains adapter.

The potable water embodiment of the modular plant is operated as follows. Water from an open source or a well is fed by a pump to the pretreatment module where >4 um size suspended particles are removed. The as treated water is exposed to a small quantity of ozone in the first ozone treatment column for sterilization, algae destruction, iron and manganese ion oxidation and partial oxidation of organic contaminants. Furthermore, ozone provides for the optimum conditions and maximum efficiency of further electrical coagulation of colloidal organic substances. The subsequent excess quantity ozone treatment stage finally sterilizes the water and oxidizes the remaining organic substances. The almost completely cleaned of organic contaminants water goes to the demineralization stage where hardness salts and iron are removed. The UV reactor provides for further sterilization.

The water treatment technical solution disclosed herein is universal and highly flexible both in final water quality parameters and in design. Depending on water source quality, local water treatment standards and ambient conditions the basic embodiment in line with the independent claims can be further equipped with standard units providing for high final water quality.