AND RE-CYCLING

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention relate to treatment of wastewater and more particularly to a system and a method for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling.

BACKGROUND ART

Prevalent water technologies applied in several process industries, commercial, domestic and municipal corporations, for example WWTP, API Separators, Activated Sludge, Advance Oxidation, Multi-Stage Evaporation, Membrane Separation and Desalination have several limitations. Such technologies at best only partially address zero liquid discharge objectives. Moreover, treated water with the aforementioned technologies, in most of the cases, does not qualify for process re-use after treatment. Further, only selective contaminants can be removed, or several stage treatments are implemented to remove entire gamut of contaminants. Additionally, rejected partially treated effluent disposals pose environmental threats. Another drawback related especially with technologies such as Desalination and Multi- Stage Evaporation is that they demand high capital (CAPEX) and operational costs (OPEX). Moreover, pre-treatment or make-up treatment also requires high capital costs and footprint. All this leads to increase in demand for continuous supply of fresh water from various other sources posing an increasing burden on the natural fresh water sources. Municipalities and municipal corporations collect wastewater from different sources and treat the wastewater before they let out to water sources or for reuse. The treated water may be preferred for reuse, but it is not completely pure because the treatment fails to give adequate fresh water. The waste water is generated by residential, institutional, commercial and industrial establishments. Treating wastewater has the aim to produce an effluent that will do as little harm as possible when discharged to the surrounding environment, thereby preventing pollution compared to releasing untreated wastewater into the environment. The treated water does not hold the pure water properties. Wastewater treatment plants are generally designed to mimic natural treatment processes that occur in the environment, whether that environment is natural water body or ground. Desalination is a process that extracts minerals from saline water.

Saltwater is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption. Desalination technology is hailed as a positive answer to worldwide water shortages. Typical desalination methodologies include Multi Stage Flash, Multi-Effect Distillation and Reverse Osmosis. In all of the listed methodologies, water is not recovered in entirety and a fraction of the saline water having even higher salt concentrations is dumped back to the water body, such as sea or ocean, from which it was sourced. On the other hand, desalination faces lot of disadvantages like waste disposal, brine, damage to marine ecosystem, health concerns and energy use. Further, the process of desalination requires pre-treatment and cleaning chemicals, which are added to water before desalination to make the treatment more efficient and successful. Once they have lost their ability to clean water, these chemicals are dumped back which becomes a major environmental concern.

In light of the discussion above, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling that do not suffer from above mentioned deficiencies.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to achieve nearly zero water discharge in an integrated system, where pure water is reclaimed for process re-use from effluent water.

Another object of the present invention, to ensure that almost entire quantity of effluent water is recovered and recycled.

Yet another object of the present invention is to be capable of processing wide range of contaminants as applicable effluent water from process industries and commercial/ municipal and domestic effluents.

Yet another object of the present invention is to be able to generate small, mid and utility scale electrical power while treating effluent water depending upon requirements and/or application areas. The electrical power thus generated may then be used for the invention or exported for consumption.

Yet another object of the present invention is to eliminate the need of dumping rejected water to environment and reclaiming maximum possible water from effluent water.

Yet another object of the present invention is to minimize intake of fresh water or make-up water by reclaiming, re-circulating and reusing.

Yet another object of the present invention is to increase overall efficiency of effluent water treatment, recovery and reclamation by generating electricity.

Yet another object of the present invention is to reduce total footprint, capital costs, operating costs and contaminants/emissions.

Yet another object of the present invention is to recover maximum possible useful constituents available from effluent water.

Yet another object of the present invention is to separate out solids and reuse the solids for combustion, precious metal recovery and other nutrient recovery, thereby avoiding the disposal of solids as waste material. SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling, the system comprising a pre-heater, a combustion chamber connected downstream of the pre-heater, a mixing chamber connected downstream of the combustion chamber, an evaporator connected downstream of the mixing chamber, a condenser connected downstream of the evaporator and a heat exchanger in fluidic communication with the condenser, the pre-heater being connected downstream of the condenser. The combustion chamber, the mixing chamber and the evaporator are in fluidic communication with the condenser. The combustion chamber is configured to receive one or more of air and fuel from the pre-heater and further heated effluent water from the condenser and combust the fuel to generate heat energy in form of flue gases, leading to vaporization of the further heated effluent water and formation of a mixture of flue gases and water vapour. The mixing chamber is configured to receive the mixture from the combustion chamber, receive the further heated effluent water from the condenser and vaporize the further heated effluent water using heat of the mixture, causing the vaporized further heated effluent water to become a part of the mixture. The evaporator is configured to receive the mixture from the mixing chamber and the further heated effluent water from the condenser and mix the mixture with the further heated effluent water in order to vaporize the further heated effluent water, causing the vaporized further heated effluent water to become a part of the mixture. The condenser is configured to receive heated effluent water from the heat exchanger and the mixture from the evaporator and further heat the heated effluent water using heat of the mixture, to separate out condensate water and flue gases from the mixture. Also, the heat exchanger is configured to receive fresh supply of effluent water from a process and the condensate water from the condenser and heat the fresh supply of the effluent water using heat of the condensate water.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system further comprises a flue gas blower downstream of the combustion chamber, wherein the flue gas blower is configured to pressurize the flue gases generated in the combustion chamber, to a higher pressure than the ambient.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system further comprises a turbine unit having a Power Take-Off (PTO) shaft, connected downstream of the mixing chamber, wherein the turbine unit is configured to generate mechanical output on expansion of the mixture.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system further comprises an auxiliary combustion chamber configured to generate additional flue gases and supply the additional flue gases to the evaporator. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the evaporator comprises a first chamber in fluidic communication with the condenser, the first chamber including a second solid collection outlet for collection of solids separated out from the effluent water, a plurality of accumulators connected in line with the first chamber, through a plurality of respective gas channels, a second chamber having a third solid collection outlet for removal of solids separated due to evaporation of the effluent water, wherein the plurality of accumulators is connected to the second chamber through a plurality of nozzles, the plurality of nozzles being in fluidic communication with the condenser. The first chamber is configured to receive the mixture from one or more sources, receive further heated effluent water from the condenser and vaporize the further heated effluent water using heat of the mixture, causing the vaporized further heated effluent water to become a part of the mixture. The plurality of accumulators is configured to receive the mixture from the first chamber, through the plurality of respective gas channels and accumulate the mixture in order to increase an overall pressure of the mixture inside the plurality of accumulators. The plurality of nozzles is configured to feed the mixture from the plurality of accumulators into the second chamber at increased velocity and pressure, receive the further heated effluent water from the condenser, atomize the further heated effluent water and feed the atomized further heated effluent water to the second chamber. Also, the atomized further heated effluent water being fed to the second chamber is vaporized inside the second chamber due to temperature and pressure of the mixture. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system further comprises hydrophobic membranes downstream of the second chamber for removal of solids and recovery of carry over water from the mixture. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system further comprises an oily water separator configured to remove oil content from the mixture.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an evaporator for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling, the evaporator comprising a first chamber, the first chamber including a second solid collection outlet for collection of solids separated out from effluent water, a plurality of accumulators connected in line with the first chamber, through a plurality of respective gas channels, a second chamber having a third solid collection outlet for removal of solids separated due to evaporation of the effluent water, wherein the plurality of accumulators is connected to the second chamber through a plurality of nozzles. The first chamber is configured to receive a mixture of flue gases and water vapour from one or more sources, receive effluent water and vaporize the effluent water using heat of the mixture, causing the effluent water to become a part of the mixture. The plurality of accumulators is configured to receive the mixture from the first chamber, through the plurality of respective gas channels and accumulate the mixture in order to increase an overall pressure of the mixture inside the plurality of accumulators. The plurality of nozzles is configured to feed the mixture from the plurality of accumulators into the second chamber at increased velocity and pressure, receive the effluent water, atomize the effluent water and feed the atomized effluent water to the second chamber. Also, the atomized effluent water being fed to the second chamber is vaporized inside the second chamber due to temperature and pressure of the mixture. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the evaporator further comprises hydrophobic membranes downstream of the second chamber for removal of solids and recovery of carry over water from the mixture.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling, the method comprising steps of receiving one or more of air and fuel from a pre-heater and further heated effluent water from a condenser and combusting the fuel to generate heat energy in form of flue gases, leading to vaporization of the further heated effluent water and formation of a mixture of the flue gases and water vapour, in a combustion chamber, receiving the mixture from the combustion chamber and the further heated effluent water from the condenser and vaporizing the further heated effluent water using heat of the mixture, causing the vaporized further heated effluent water to become a part of the mixture, in a mixing chamber, receiving the mixture from the mixing chamber and the further heated effluent water from the condenser and mixing the mixture with the heated effluent water in order to vaporize the further heated effluent water, in an evaporator, receiving heated effluent water from a heat exchanger and the mixture from the evaporator and further heating the heated effluent water using heat of the mixture, to separate out condensate water and flue gases from the mixture, in a condenser and receiving fresh supply of effluent water from a process and the condensate water from the condenser and heating the fresh supply of the effluent water using heat of the condensate water, in the heat exchanger.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises steps of atomizing the further heated effluent water during a time of introduction of the further heated effluent water into the combustion chamber, the mixing chamber and the evaporator.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises a step of generating mechanical output on expansion of the mixture, using a turbine unit having a Power Take-Off (PTO) shaft, connected downstream of the mixing chamber.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises a step of generating additional flue gases and supplying the additional flue gases to the evaporator, using an auxiliary combustion chamber.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises a step of removing oil content from the mixture, using an oily water separator. For the context of this specification, terms like "blower", "booster", and

"feeder" etc. are considered to be equipment used in increasing pressure of a fluid, depending upon a nature of the fluid. For example, for gaseous fluids, such equipment may include compressors (positive displacement and centrifugal), inline fans, blowers etc. For liquid fuels, such equipment may include pumps (rotary and positive displacement).

The system and the method for collectively treating effluent water and generating power offer a number of advantages, viz.

1 . The invention allows for usable water to be recycled or recovered almost entirely from the effluent water.

2. The invention also enables generation of power while collectively treating the effluent water.

3. The electricity generated is virtually free and by selling the additional electricity generated cost of operation with regards to the invention can be brought down drastically.

4. The contaminants such as TDS can be separated, treated and used for other industrial processes. 5. The invention eliminates need for complex water treatment and recycling systems providing savings on CAPEX and OPEX.

6. Heat delivered during combustion is recovered at a number of locations in the invention, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the invention. 7. Partial recovery of usable minerals in the effluent stream is recoverable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may have been referred by examples, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawing illustrates only typical examples of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective examples. These and other features, benefits, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following text figure, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:

Fig. 1 A illustrates a system for water recovery, reclamation and recycling, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 B illustrates a combustion chamber for combustion of solid fuel, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 1 C illustrates a combustion chamber for combustion of liquid and gaseous fuels, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 1 D illustrates a pulse combustor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 E illustrates a mixing chamber, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 1 F illustrates an inline filtering system for solids, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 G illustrates an evaporator in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a method for water recovery, reclamation and recycling, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3A illustrates an implementation of the system of Fig. 1 A for treatment of effluent water having high oil content, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3B illustrates an implementation of the evaporator of Fig. 1 G for treatment of effluent water having high oil content, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3C illustrates the implementation of the system of Fig. 1 A for power generation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 3D illustrates the implementation of the system of Fig. 3A for power generation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While the present invention is described herein by way of example using embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments of drawing or drawings described and are not intended to represent the scale of the various components. Further, some components that may form a part of the invention may not be illustrated in certain figures, for ease of illustration, and such omissions do not limit the embodiments outlined in any way. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim. As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e. meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense, (i.e. meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one" and the word "plurality" means "one or more" unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope. Language such as "including," "comprising," "having," "containing," or "involving," and variations thereof, is intended to be broad and encompass the subject matter listed thereafter, equivalents, and additional subject matter not recited, and is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. Likewise, the term "comprising" is considered synonymous with the terms "including" or "containing" for applicable legal purposes. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like are included in the specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention.

In this disclosure, whenever a composition or an element or a group of elements is preceded with the transitional phrase "comprising", it is understood that we also contemplate the same composition, element or group of elements with transitional phrases "consisting of", "consisting", "selected from the group of consisting of, "including", or "is" preceding the recitation of the composition, element or group of elements and vice versa.

The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, a number of materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the invention will now be described in more detail. Figure 1 A illustrates a system 100 for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in figure 1 A, the system 100 comprises a combustion chamber 102 connected downstream of a pre-heater 112. The pre-heater 112 is used in a plant to pre-heat air and/or fuel entering into the combustion chamber 102. The pre-heating of the air and the fuel increases a thermal efficiency of the combustion process which may be orchestrated in the combustion chamber 102. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the term air is contemplated to encapsulate all of air, oxygen enriched air and pure oxygen. In various embodiments, the design of the combustion chamber 102 depends upon a number of factors, including, but not limited to, type of fuel (for example solid, semi-solid, liquid or gaseous), fluid medium being used in the system 100. There may be other variations in the design of the combustion chamber 102 depending upon the specific requirements of the system 100. For example, another factor in deciding a design of the combustion chamber 102 may be operating conditions and how or how many times firing is being achieved. Additionally, the combustion chamber 102 may be designed for single stage combustion or a multi-stage combustion in case of solid fuels. Figure 1 B illustrates the combustion chamber 102 for combustion of solid fuel, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The combustion chamber 102 here is contemplated to have multiple stages 1024. In this scenario, only pre-heated air is received into the combustion chamber 102 from the pre-heater 112 via a blower 151 . Further, supplementary fuels in liquid and/or gaseous phases may also be fed to the combustion chamber 102 via a supplementary fuel feeder 1028. The supplementary fuel feeder 1028 could be a pump or a blower or a compressor etc. One purpose of the supplementary liquid fuels is to provide sufficient heat energy to enhance combustion of the solid fuel. Additionally, the supplementary fuels may be fed to provide additional heat energy to the flue gases. In that manner, it is contemplated the supplementary fuels are mixed with the flue gases and combusted using an inline supplementary firing unit 1022 provided preferably in proximity to an exhaust of the combustion chamber 102. Also, another advantage of using the supplementary fuels is that they enable complete combustion and/or oxidation of the un-combusted solid fuel products (such as particles and gases etc.) in the flue gases. Additionally, some quantity of another fluid medium, such as effluent water, may be added at the exhaust of the combustion chamber 102 in a regulator 1026. This enables for control of temperature and/or pressure of the mixture of flue gases and the vaporized effluent water. It is to be contemplated here that the mixture or the flue gases and the vaporized effluent water may be pressurized and used for atomization of the effluent water entering the regulator 1026. Multiple boosters 117 may be deployed all across the system 100, wherever mixture of the flue gases and the water vapour has to be pressurized in order to achieve atomization of effluent water. In several embodiments, the booster can be any one or more of compressors (centrifugal or positive displacement), inline fans and blowers etc. Figure 1 C illustrates the combustion chamber 102 for combustion of liquid and gaseous fuels, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Here the combustion chamber 102 comprises a first combustion stage 1021 and a second combustion stage 1027. Both the first combustion stage 1021 and the second combustion stage 1027 comprise a plurality of pulse combustors 1023. In the first combustion stage 1021 , there is provided a main channel 1025 for flow of the flue gases generated in the plurality of pulse combustors 1023. The flue gases then are configured to travel from the first combustion stage 1021 to the second combustion stage 1027. In the plurality of pulse combustors 1023 of the second combustion stage 1027, effluent water may be added to the flue gases for temperature and/or pressure control of a mixture of the flue gases and the vaporized effluent water. Further, the second combustion stage 1027 has a reservoir chamber 1029. In case of the effluent water having organic compounds such as oil or hydrocarbons, the reservoir chamber 1029 may be provided with a plurality of igniters 1030 adapted to enable lean combustion of the organic compounds in the reservoir chamber 1029.

Figure 1 D illustrates a pulse combustor 1023 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The pulse combustor 1023, inter alia, is contemplated to have a hydraulic piston mechanism 1031 , adapted to push the generated flue gases completely into the main channel 1025, using a piston 1033. This enables the flue gases to be pressurized to a much higher value than pressure of inside the main channel 1025. Also, an igniter 1035, such as a spark plug, is also provided inside the pulse combustor 1023.

Additionally, it is contemplated here that effluent water may have a number of contaminants such as oil or Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and many other solid or liquid contaminants, which may get collected at a bottom of the combustion chamber 102, due to evaporation of the effluent water.

Further downstream of the combustion chamber 102 there may also be provided a flue gas blower 118. The flue gas blower 118 may be required in scenarios where the flue gases generated in the combustion chamber 102 are at ambient pressure, whereas it might be a requirement of the system 100 for the flue gases to be pressurized to a higher pressure than the ambient. Further a mixing chamber 104 is connected downstream of the combustion chamber 102. Mixing chambers are typically used for temperature adjustment and/or humidification of flue gases. The temperature adjustment or humidification is typically achieved through evaporation of water in flue gas stream.

Figure 1 E illustrates the mixing chamber 104 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in Figure 1 E, instead of pure water, effluent water is being used for temperature adjustment and/or humidification. Additionally, it is contemplated here that effluent water may have a number of contaminants such as oil or Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and many other solid or liquid contaminants, which may get collected at a bottom of the mixing chamber 104, due to evaporation of the effluent water. Therefore, it is contemplated that the mixing chamber has a first solid collection outlet 1042 for collection of solids from the mixing chamber 104.

Further downstream of the mixing chamber 104 is an inline filtering system 105. The inline filtering system 105 is configured to remove any ash, particulate matters etc. from combustion products and other solids and oil coming from the effluent water.

Figure 1 F illustrates an inline filtering system 105 for solids, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1 F, the inline filtering system 105 has a plurality of solid filters 1054 connected in parallel with each other. This is to ensure that in any case, even if one or more solid filter 1054 is dysfunctional other solid filters 1054 are able to provide filtration capabilities. Also, one or more of the plurality of solid filters 1054 can be put on stand-by. Also, it is contemplated that each one of the plurality of solid filters 1054 have automatic cleaning mechanisms configured to automatically separate out the solid collected by the plurality of solid filters 1054. In various embodiments, a plurality of bypass valves 1052 are provided at inlets and outlets of the plurality of solid filters 1054 configured to bypass supply of the mixture of the flue gases and the water vapour entering and leaving the plurality of solid filters 1054. It is to be noted here that in case of the effluent water having oily substances, the inline filtering system 105 may also be provided at various other locations in the system 100, such as but not limited to, downstream of the combustion chamber 102 and any other location depending upon the application of the system 100. Also, apart from the embodiment discussed above, there may be used other inline filtering systems 105 that are already known in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention. Further connected downstream of the mixing chamber 104 is an evaporator 108. Figures 1 G illustrates the evaporator 108, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The evaporator 108 is typically used to vaporize a fluid, which in this case is the effluent water. In that manner it is envisaged that the evaporator 108 has a first chamber 1082. The first chamber 1082 is in fluidic communication with a condenser 111 . Further connected to the first chamber 1082 is an auxiliary combustion chamber 116. The auxiliary combustion chamber 116 is configured to generate additional flue gases and supply the additional flue gases to the first chamber 1082. Further, provided with the first chamber 1082 is a second solid collection outlet 1084 for collection of solids separated out from the effluent water.

Further connected in line with the first chamber 1082, are a plurality of accumulators 1088 through a plurality of respective gas channels 1086. Further, the plurality of accumulators 1088 are connected to a second chamber 1091 through a plurality of nozzles 1090. The plurality of nozzles 1090 are configured to feed any fluid from the plurality of accumulators 1088 and into the second chamber 1091 at increased velocity and pressure. Further, the plurality of nozzles 1090 are in fluidic communication with the condenser 111 .

The second chamber 1091 has a third solid collection outlet 1092 for removal of solids separated due to evaporation of the effluent water. Additionally, the inline filtering system 105 and hydrophobic membranes 1096 may also be installed downstream of the second chamber 1091 for removal of solids and recovery of carry over water from the mixture of the flue gases, the water vapour and the solids, respectively. Further connected downstream of the evaporator 108 is the condenser 111 . In various other embodiments, the system 100 may need to treat effluent water having large amounts of oil content. In such scenarios an oily vapour separator 113 may also be deployed downstream of the evaporator 108, as illustrated in Figures 3A, 3B and 3D. Also, the condenser 111 is in fluidic communication with the combustion chamber 102, the mixing chamber 104 and the evaporator 108. It is to be noted here in scenario of the effluent water having large amounts of oil, the combustion chamber 102 may need to have high combustion capacities to combust the oil. Alternately, more than one combustion chamber 102 may be deployed to achieve the objective of the combustion of the oil.

Further, connected in fluidic communication with the condenser 111 is a heat exchanger 110. In various embodiments, the heat exchanger 110 may be one of, but not limited to, pipe in pipe, shell and tube, coil type and fin-tube etc. Further connected downstream of the heat exchanger 110 is a water purifier 114. Further connected downstream of the condenser 111 is the pre- heater 112. Further connected downstream of the pre-heater 112, there is provided a vent gas treatment system 130.

The vent gas treatment system 130 comprises a gas scrubber 132 and a purification system 134. The gas scrubber 132 is a pollution control device configured to remove harmful and undesirable pollutants that might be present in the vent gases coming out of system 100. The design of the gas scrubber 132 may vary depending upon the type and/or composition of the vent gases. For example, different scrubbers may be used for different vent gases such as air, air and steam mixture, air and ammonia mixture etc. or potential compounds coming through the effluent water, such as compounds of phosphate, chlorine, sulphur and forms of nitrates can be separated., as will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art. The gas scrubber 132 employs one or more scrubbing fluids to achieve scrubbing of the vent gases. One example of the scrubbing fluid is de-mineralized (DM) water. The gas scrubber 132 is further connected with the purification system 134 configured to purify the one or more scrubbing fluids, after the use of the scrubbing fluids in the gas scrubber 132. The purified scrubbing fluids may in turn be used for various purposes inside the system 100. In various embodiments, the purification system 134 may act as the external source feeding the scrubbing fluid (more specifically water) as the pressure enhancing fluid.

It is further contemplated here that the system 100 may constitute an industrial plant and may be provided with other equipment essential for running of the industrial plant. Such equipment includes, but is not limited to, control devices such as enterprise servers, plant servers, PLC controllers, input/output devices and field devices such as sensors (pressure, temperature, speed etc.), actuators (motors, pumps and valves etc.) and the like. These and other equipment may operate under supervision of an operator or automatically to aid in achieving objectives of this invention. Process controls are also achievable vide embedded systems of sensors and actuators controlled remotely and/or locally enabling advance services and support Internet of Things (loT) and Distributed Control System (DCS) and any other enabling technology which can be contemplated to be applicable for this invention, existing at the date of filing or appearing in foreseeable future. All piping and other equipment handling hot flue gases and combustion equipment will be suitably insulated and wherever the need is, a cooling system may be employed.

Figure 2 illustrates a method 200 for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in Figure 2, the method 200 begins at step 210 when one or more of the air and the fuel from the pre-heater 112 are received in the combustion chamber 102. In case, the fuel is a liquid or gaseous fuel, a mixture of the air and the fuel are received from the pre-heater 112 inside the combustion chamber 102. Alternately, in case of the fuel being a solid fuel, only preheated air is received in the combustion chamber 102. Further heated effluent water from the condenser 111 is also received in the combustion chamber 102. Further, the fuel is combusted to generate heat energy in form of flue gases, leading to vaporization of further heated effluent water and formation of a mixture of the flue gases, water vapour and solids (hereinafter referred to as 'mixture'). The term water vapour here is understood to encapsulate both water vapour and steam (that is above or at critical point temperature of water). In case of the effluent water having high oil content, the oil content of the effluent water is also combusted inside the combustion chamber 102. Any oil vapours remaining in the mixture may be treated further downstream as will be discussed in the following discussion. It is to be noted here that in case of the fuel having solid fuel, the further heated effluent water may be supplied to the regulator 1026 of the combustion chamber 102 as depicted in Figure 1 B. In case of the fuel being liquid or gaseous fuel, the further heated effluent water is supplied in the reservoir chamber 1029 of the second combustion stage 1027. In either case the further heated effluent water may be atomized during a time of introduction into the combustion chamber 102. In one embodiment, a part of the mixture leaving the combustion chamber 102 is pressurized and used to atomize the further heated effluent water at the time of introduction into the combustion chamber 102. However, there may be applied many other atomizing schemes such using disk type, inline, accumulator type atomizers and any other equivalent scheme known in the art, as will be appreciated by a skilled artisan. At step 220, the mixture from the combustion chamber 102 is received in the mixing chamber 104. Also, the further heated effluent water from the condenser 111 is received in the mixing chamber 104. In various embodiments, the further heated effluent water is atomized during a time of introduction into the mixing chamber 104. In one embodiment, a part of the mixture leaving and/or being received in the mixing chamber 102 is pressurized and used to atomize the further heated effluent water at the time of introduction into the mixing chamber 104. However, there may be applied many other atomizing schemes such using disk type, inline, accumulator type atomizers and any other equivalent scheme known in the art, as will be appreciated by a skilled artisan. The further heated effluent water is vaporized using heat of the mixture, to become a part of the mixture, in the mixing chamber 104. The temperature and the pressure of the mixture is hence adjusted and any solid separated from the further heated effluent water are recovered from the first solid collection outlet 1042.

It is contemplated here that the size of the mixing chamber 104 is large enough to ensure that the mixture and the further heated effluent water being fed to the mixing chamber 104, does not impinge upon walls of the mixing chamber 104. This is to ensure that water part of the mixture of the further heated effluent water does not come in contact with the heated walls of the mixing chamber 104. In case of the further heated effluent water having oil content, and that the oil content has not been entirely combusted inside the combustion chamber 102, solids and oil are recovered from the plurality of solid filters 1054 of the inline filtering system 105. At step 230, the mixture is received in the evaporator 108 from the mixing chamber 104 or the inline filtering system 105 as the case may be. Also, the further heated effluent water is received in the evaporator 108 from the condenser 111 . In various embodiments, the further heated effluent water is atomized during a time of introduction into the evaporator. In one embodiment, a part of the mixture leaving and/or being received in the evaporator 108 is pressurized and used to atomize the further heated effluent water at the time of introduction into the evaporator 108. However, there may be applied many other atomizing schemes such using disk type, inline, accumulator type atomizers and any other equivalent scheme known in the art, as will be appreciated by a skilled artisan. Further, the mixture is mixed with the further heated effluent water in order to vaporize the further heated effluent water. This creates the mixture having several phases.

In various embodiments as depicted in Figures 3C and 3D, a turbine unit 306 may be connected downstream of the mixing chamber 104 and before the evaporator 108. In various embodiments, the turbine unit 306 may be a single stage turbine unit or a multistage turbine unit, without departing from the scope of invention. The turbine unit 306 has a power take-off (PTO) shaft 3062 which is configured to provide mechanical output as the turbine unit 306 is rotated due to expansion of the mixture.

In such embodiments, the mixture is received in the turbine unit 306. It is contemplated here that substantially all of the solids have been removed from the mixture, in one or more of the mixing chamber 104 and the inline filtering system 105. The mixture is further expanded at a turbine unit inlet of the turbine unit 306. In turn, the turbine unit 306 generates mechanical output on expansion of the mixture. The mechanical output can be harnessed through the PTO shaft 3062 and may be used to run a number of applications, such as, but not limited to, electricity generation, industrial pumps, compressors and other industrial equipment requiring motive power.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first chamber 1082 receives the mixture after expansion, form the turbine unit 106. In another embodiment, the first chamber 1082 receives the mixture directly from the mixing chamber 104 or the inline filtering system 105, as the case may be. Also, the first chamber 1082 receives the further heated and atomized effluent water from the condenser 111 . Further, in one embodiment, the auxiliary combustion chamber 116 generates additional flue gases and supplies the additional flue gases to the first chamber 1082. The heat and pressure of the mixture and/or the additional flue gases leads to vaporization of the further heated effluent water inside the first chamber 1082 and the water vapour thus generated becomes a part of the mixture. This further leads to adjustment of temperature of the mixture. Any solids separated due to vaporization of the effluent water can be collected from the second solid collection outlet 1084.

The plurality of accumulators 1088 receives the mixture from the first chamber 1082, through the plurality of respective gas channels 1086. Further, the plurality of accumulators 1088 accumulates the mixture in order to increase an overall pressure of the mixture inside the plurality of accumulators 1088. The plurality of nozzles 1090 feed the mixture from the plurality of accumulators 1088 and into the second chamber 1091 at increased velocity and pressure. It is contemplated here that the size of the second chamber 1091 is large enough to ensure that the mixture being fed to the second chamber 1091 , by the plurality of nozzles 1090 does not impinge upon walls of the second chamber 1091 . This is to ensure that water part of the mixture of the further heated effluent water does not come in contact with the heated walls of the second chamber 1091. Further, the plurality of nozzles 1090 receive the further heated effluent water from the condenser 111 and enable atomization of the further heated effluent water due to the pressure of the mixture being received from the first chamber 1082 through the plurality of gas channels 1086 and the plurality of accumulators 1088. The further heated effluent water being fed to the second chamber 1091 is again vaporized due to temperature and pressure of the mixture. Any waste separated due to vaporization of the further heated effluent water can be collected from the third waste collection outlet 1092. Additionally, the inline filtering system 105 and hydrophobic membranes 1096 enable removal of solids and recovery of carry over water from the mixture, respectively.

At step 240, the condenser 111 receives heated effluent water from the heat exchanger 110. Also, the condenser 111 receives the mixture from the evaporator 108. In various embodiments, the oily vapour separator 113 (illustrated in figures 3A, 3B and 3D) separates residual oil vapours from the mixture leaving the evaporator 108. The condenser 111 then further heats the heated effluent water using heat of the mixture, to separate out condensate water and flue gases from the mixture.

At step 250, fresh supply of the effluent water from, for example an industrial, commercial and domestic process is received in the heat exchanger 110 via a pump 1097. Also, the heat exchanger 110 receives the condensate water from the condenser 111. Further, the heat exchanger 110 heats the fresh supply of the effluent water using heat of the condensate water. The condensate water is then transferred to the water purifier 114. The flue gases are transferred from the condenser 111 to the pre- heater 112, where the flue gases pre-heat one or more of the fuel and the air being supplied to the combustion chamber 102. The flue gases are then transferred from the pre-heater 112 to the vent gas treatment system 130. In this manner contaminants, oil, waste material and other solids and various other entities such as inorganic solids, precious metals, dyes chemicals, salts and any other nutrients, are separated from the effluent water due to vaporization of the effluent water. The solids separated at various locations and in various steps as described in the system 100 and the method 200 for water recovery, reclamation and re-cycling allowing endless re-use and recycling of the water in the system 100, while also generating power that can be utilized for a number of applications. Other solids that can be separated include various compounds of sodium, chlorides, calcium, magnesium, manganese and zinc etc. depending upon the contaminants.

There can be used a number of solid removal systems in the combustion chamber 102, mixing chamber 104, the inline filtering system 105 and the evaporator 108, which include, but are not limited to, rotary air-lock type continuous/batch solid removal mechanism. Further, oily solids removed can be used directly as solid fuel inside the combustion chamber 102 or the oils may be separated in liquid form and used in the plurality of pulse combustors 1023.

It is to be noted here that the effluent water contains range of chemicals and respective compounds that are turned into vapour phase in one or more of the combustion chamber 102, the mixing chamber 104 and the evaporator 108. The compounds in the vapour phase can be selectively or in combination separated out in one or more of the condenser 111 , the vent gas treatment system 130 and any other mechanism incorporated in the system 100, for their own use, as applicable as by products instead of dissipating as pollutants. Also, effluent water from various sources and having different kind of contaminants can be sourced. The different kinds of contaminants collectively give a benefit of easier treatment. For example, alkaline and acidic effluent streams may be mixed to obtain salts that may be separated as solids with relative ease.

Total emissions and/or carbon footprint is reduced drastically because final wastes obtained from the effluent water are obtained in solid form and may be re-used in some other industrial, commercial or domestic application.

Various modifications to these embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. The principles associated with the various embodiments described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments but is to be providing broadest scope consistent with the principles and the novel and inventive features disclosed or suggested herein. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention.