An environmentally clean technology for ion-exchange extraction of salts of heavy and non-ferrous metals from solid pulp-like substances has been fully developed and implemented in the form of a stationary installation. The closed sorption process of extraction does not require any use of chemically harmful reagents. Use of impulse devices with an attachment allows for conducting the process in a fluidized medium. As a result, the extraction rate increases significantly and power consumption is reduced to a minimum.

Implementation of the technology allows for creating an environmentally clean and in fact wasteless complex for:

• processing of sludge and producing organic fertilizers from them within the waste water purification system;

• purification of filtrates at solid garbage burial ranges (dumps);

• restoration of soil at road waysides in areas and vicinities of metallurgical and chemical plants;

• purification and processing of silt in water reservoirs and rivers contaminated with industrial waste water.

1. Leaching of salts of heavy and non-ferrous metals 2. Extraction of salts of heavy and non-ferrous metals 3. Washing of the reagent from the pulp 4. Regeneration of the reagent 5. Washing of the reagent 6. Installation for dehydrating salts of heavy and non-ferrous metals 7. Installation for drying salts of heavy and non-ferrous metals 8. Installation for packing salts of heavy and non-ferrous metals 9. A centrifugal machine or a press-filter for purified pulp.

Sewer sludge and silt have a high biological potential due to their composition but the significant quantity of salts of heavy and non-ferrous metals they contain (their concentrations being much higher than the maximum allowable concentration for soils, and additional presence of a harmful pathogenic flora and helminth eggs) do not permit using such a sludge for agricultural purposes as organic materials, and require its special storage as wastes. These wastes occupy very large areas and are a definite environmental hazard that may cause contamination of the environment with a wide range of toxic elements and compounds as well as producing unsightly results.

All existing technologies for purifying waste waters from large cities pass these waters from a system of settling tanks and divide them into liquid and pulp-like fractions. After disinfection the liquid fraction is channeled into rivers and reservoirs while the pulp-like fraction (sewer sludge) is brought to special ranges occupying very large areas, degrading the environmental situation and introducing great inconvenience into the lives of people in nearby areas.

The flexible module pattern which is the basis of the technology allows for the creation of industrial complexes having a wide capacity range from 30 to 3 000 m³ of sewer sludge every day, while the area occupied by the complex will be only from 20 to 250 sq.m, with a height of about 20 m. Mobile versions are possible as well.

Improvement of the technology on the basis of recently completed investigations would allow for radical reduction of the dimensions of the installation, i. e. its area and height.

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