Kristin's Individual Contribution Page

Fall 2014 Contributions

After much development over the summer by the AguaClara team on Foam Filtration, a new system was developed. This semester much design, testing, and fabrication will be required in order to continue the goal of building a compact system. The first task will be to confirm that foam leaching does not occur, and this testing will continue throughout the semester.

It was confirmed that there is indeed leaching from the foam. I will continue communication with Damian regarding this issue, but progress is currently on hold as deriving more information about this leaching is going to be a challenge. Currently we are all working on setting up the small foam filter for experimentation next semester.

Spring 2014 End of Semester Contributions

After many challenges and mishaps, we have three solid compression velocity tests to provide us insight on how fast we need the compression system to run in order to clean the foam. After a few calculations, it is clear that our hypothesis that a higher compression velocity cleans foam more is confirmed. However, a very high velocity is needed to clean the foam 100%, one which is unlikely to reach with the current system. By the end of the semester we hope to have a finished filtration system implemented. From there we can see how fast we can compress the foam and determine how the group will proceed from there.

Spring 2014 Mid-Semester Contributions

I am gradually understanding how AguaClara works and the system I will be working with. Currently I am working with Casey to rebuild a sample structure in order to conduct some velocity and turbidity tests for the existing method. These will provide us insight on how well the foam filtration system works, and how effective the plunging system currently being implementing cleans the foam.

Spring 2014 Contributions

For my first semester as a part of AguaClara, I am part of the Foam Filtration Team. With the success of the system in Honduras, the main goal of the group this semester is to research methods to make it more efficient.