Process for disposing of liquids containing solid residue

Abstract

A process for disposing of solvent-containing liquids so that they do not contaminate ground water. The process includes the steps of transferring the waste solvent-containing liquid to a container and adding sufficient water so that the solvent-containing liquid has about 50% water content. Next, an absorbent blend is mixed into the liquid at the rate of about 1 lb. of blend per gallon of liquid. The blend is made up of a swellable polymer, consisting of polyacrylamide/polyacrylate copolymer salt or poly 2-propenamide-co-2-propenoic acid homopolymer salt which swells and absorbs liquid. The blend also contains a mixture of solid absorbents selected from calcium oxides, aluminum oxides, calcium sulfate, silicon oxides, pumice, perlite, activated carbon, surfactant, and ground corn cobs. The resulting mixture is stirred in the container until it becomes thick and then it is allowed to set to provide a disposable modeling clay-like solid. The resulting solid material, after curing, may be then simply added to solid trash, and thus, be freed from contaminating ground water. The process is especially useful for disposing of most all cleaning solutions.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A process for disposing of solvent-containing liquids comprising: 
 transferring at least a portion of said solvent-containing liquid to a container;    adding sufficient water to said solvent-containing liquid to bring the water content of the liquid to at least about 50% to provide a water/solvent-containing mixture;    mixing a combination of an adsorbent/absorbent-containing blend to said water/solvent-containing mixture to provide a solvent/absorbent mixture, said adsorbent/absorbent-containing blend comprising: 
 between about 25% and 50% of a swellable polymer consisting of polyacrylamide/polyacrylate co-polymer salt or poly 2 propenamide-co-2-propenoic acid homopolymer salt;  
 between about 75% and 50% of a solidifying mixture comprising at least two of the group consisting of calcium oxides, aluminum oxides, calcium sulfate, silicon oxides, pumice, perlite, activated carbon, surfactant, and ground corn cobs;  
   continue to mix said solvent/absorbent mixture until thick; and    allow said solvent/absorbent mixture to cure for a cure-time sufficient to provide a disposable modeling clay-like solid.    
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said cure-time is about one week.  
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1  further including the step of adding a heavy metals non-leaching agent comprising sodium sulfide.  
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said solidifying mixture is a solidifying mixture of a plurality of oxides selected from the group consisting of calcium oxides, aluminum oxides, calcium sulfate, and silicon oxides.  
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1  wherein about one pound of said adsorbent/absorbent-containing blend is mixed per one gallon of said water/solvent-containing mixture.  
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said adsorbent/absorbent-containing blend includes between 1% and 10% by weight of a surfactant, said surf actant selected from the group consisting of alkanolamides, alkyl sulfonates, amine oxides, ethoxylated alcohols and copolymers of propylene oxide and ethylene oxide to assist in solubilizing insoluble liquids.  
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1  further including a bacterial culture having the property of consuming hydrocarbon solvents.  
     
     
         8 . A process for disposing of solvent-containing liquids comprising: 
 transferring at least a portion of said solvent-containing liquid to a container;    adding sufficient soft water to said solvent-containing liquid to bring the water content of the liquid to at least about 50% to provide a water/solvent-containing mixture;    mixing a combination of an adsorbent/absorbent-containing blend to said water/solvent-containing mixture to provide a solvent/absorbent mixture, said adsorbent/absorbent-containing blend comprising: 
 between about 1% and 10% of a surfactant selected from the group consisting of alkanolamides, alkyl sulfonates, amine oxides, ethoxylated alcohols and copolymers of propylene oxide and ethylene oxide;  
 between about 25% and 50% of a swellable polymer consisting of polyacrylamide/polyacrylate co-polymer salt or poly 2 propenamide-co-2-propenoic acid homopolymer salt;  
 between about 75% and 50% of a solidifying mixture comprising at least two of the group consisting of calcium oxides, aluminum oxides, calcium sulfate, silicon oxides, perlite, pumice, activated carbon and ground corn cobs;  
 continue to mix said solvent/absorbent mixture until thick; and  
 allow said solvent/absorbent mixture to cure for a cure-time sufficient to provide a disposable modeling clay-like solid.  
   
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 8  further including the step of adding a heavy metals non-leaching agent comprising sodium sulfide.  
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said heavy metals non-leaching agent is sodium sulfide.