Method of Processing Industrial By-Product Water for Optimal Beneficial Use

Abstract

A process for batch processing industrial by-product water to obtain a batch of beneficial use water for application to an targeted area of soil with determined moisture and chemical characteristic to change that soil characteristic to a desired soil characteristic includes the steps of measuring the moisture and chemical composition of the targeted area of soil; determining a desired soil characteristic that will grow selected vegetation; defining a chemical composition of a batch water to be applied to the soil to obtain the desired composition; processing a batch of industrial by-product water in accordance with the defined composition; applying the batch of processed water to the targeted area of soil; measuring the moisture and chemical composition of the soil after application; repeating the process until desired composition is achieved or the vegetation growth is completed.

1 . A process for applying industrial by-product water to a targeted area of soil for growing selected vegetation comprising the steps of:
 a. Measuring the pre-application moisture characteristic of the targeted area of soil;   b. Selecting a preferred moisture characteristic for the targeted area of soil;   c. Comparing the measured pre-irrigation moisture characteristics against the selected moisture characteristic and from that comparison, defining an amount of moisture to applied to the targeted area of soil to achieve the preferred moisture characteristic for the targeted area of soil;   d. Measuring the chemical composition of the targeted area of soil;   e. Selecting a preferred chemical composition for the targeted area of soil;   f. Comparing the measured chemical composition against the preferred chemical composition and from such comparison defining a profile of chemicals to be applied to the targeted area of soil to achieve the preferred chemical composition; and   g. Processing a batch of industrial by-product water according to the profile of chemicals to be applied;   h. Applying the processed batch of industrial by-product water to the targeted area of soil to move the actual moisture content of the soil toward the preferred moisture characteristic and to move the measured chemical composition toward the preferred chemical composition for the targeted area of soil.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the step of processing the batch of industrial by-product water to adjust the amount of chemical includes at least one of the sub-steps of thermal processing, reverse osmosis, filtering, UV radiation, aerobic processing, anoxic processing, and anaerobic processing. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the step of processing the batch of industrial by-product water includes the step of adding at least one composition to achieve the predefined desired chemical composition. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the step of measuring the pre-application moisture characteristics includes testing the moisture content of multiple representative samples of soil from different locations in the targeted area of soil and combining the test results to obtain the pre-application moisture characteristic of the targeted area of soil. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the step of measuring the chemical composition of the targeted area of soil includes measuring the chemical characteristics of multiple representative samples of soil from different locations in the targeted area of soil and combining the test results to obtain the chemical composition of the targeted area of soil. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1  comprising the further step of periodically repeating steps a-c during the applying step. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1  comprising periodically repeating steps d-g during the applying step. 
     
     
         8 . A process for applying industrial by-product water to a targeted area of soil for growing selected vegetation comprising the steps of:
 a. Measuring the moisture characteristic of the targeted area of soil and selected vegetation;   b. Selecting a preferred moisture characteristic of the targeted area of soil and the selected vegetation;   c. Determining a chemical characteristic of the targeted area of soil;   d. Defining a desired chemical characteristic for the targeted area soil in growing the selected vegetation;   e. Using the measured moisture characteristic, the preferred moisture characteristics, the determined chemical characteristic and the desired chemical characteristic to define a composition profile for a batch of the industrial by-product water to be applied to the targeted area of soil to grow the selected vegetation;   f. Processing the batch of industrial by-product water in accordance with that composition profile; and   g. Applying the processed batch of industrial by-product water in accordance with the composition profile to the targeted area of soil.   
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 8  further comprising the step of periodically repeating steps a-f to periodically redefine the composition profile and thereafter applying the processed batch of industrial by-product water in accordance with the redefined composition profile.