h1. Spring 2009 Turbidity Profiles
h2. Methods
* h3. Hot-swapping Baffle Configurations
Two setups ofadjustable baffle configurations were built this semester (four. Each consists of two 6' lengthsrows of baffles), meaning while, one row for each of the first two channels of the flocculator. While one configuration (2 stringsrows) is in the flocculator and being tested, the other configuration (which is not in use) can have its baffle spacing being altered. Because that Havingis multiplepossible, setupsinstead meansof wastingneeding lessto timewait rearrangingbetween aexperiments setupwhile afterbaffle it is taken out of the tank, effectively eliminating dead time. Since each setupspacing is readjusted, the new baffle spacing can be ready on the second baffle configuration and the two configurations can be simply swapped. Then, while the next experiment is running, the first baffle configuration can have its spacing altered to be ready for the subsequent experiment. Since each configuration also has different length spacers (and new spacer of other lengths can be readily fabricated), flocculator configurationsarrangements where one channel has a certain baffle spacing (b) while the other channel has a different bbaffle spacing, echoing the current plant design, can be tested as well.
* h3. PAC dosing
Polyaluminum chloride (PAC) is the coagulant of choice of the Cornell Water Treatment Plant as well as many other plants across the United States. According to plant workers PAC is much more forgiving than alum in terms of dosing and forms flocs better in colder water temperature, awhich shortfallis ofimportant alum when testing in Ithaca. [Dosing with PAC|PAC Design] was set up at the Pilot Plant. Since ourOur goal iswas to collect turbidity profiles of the tank based upon energy dissipation (the spacing of the baffles), by removing the added variable of determining the alum dosage by. To facilitate this goal and remove a large source of potential error, we eliminated alum dosing in favor of dosing the same proportion of PAC that the treatment plant is dosing (the plant doses PAC in ppm of the total flow),. This should make the profiles will be more comparable inand termsthe of effecteffects of baffle spacing. more clear, since temperature and non-optimal dosing effects have been greatly reduced by adopting PAC.
* h3. Normalizing Data
In previous testingstests, many data samplingssamples needed to be collected in one sitting to avoid having large fluctuations in turbidity, which required experimenting and determining new alum dosages, and lentoften itselfresulted toin data that could not be directly compared. To compared between days of testing. The new adjustable baffle system will do much to ameliorate this problem by allowing the pilot plant team to perform experiments faster. In addition, to keep our results consistent and relevant to one another every day of experimentation will start with a turbidity profile for a "normalizing" configuration, a configuration with .102 m baffle spacing so profiles collected at different times can be adjustedcompared based upon the results of the normalizing setup.
h2. Calculations
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h6. Equation for energy dissipation:
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h6. Equation for flocculator residence time:
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Length of flocculator channel = 1.8288 m
K ~baffle~ = 4
Π ~cell~ = 4
w = .305 m
h = .764 m
| | *Q ~50~ = 50 L/min* | | | *Q ~100~ = 100 L/min* | | |
| *b (m)* | *ε (mW/kg)* | *N (#baffles/channel)* | *θ ~channel~ (residence time/channel) (sec)* | *ε (mW/kg)* | *N (#baffles/channel)* | *θ ~channel~ (residence time/channel) (sec)* |
| .051 | 1.507 | 34 | 484.9 | 12.06 | 34 | 242.4 |
| .076 | .306 | 23 | 488.8 | 2.445 | 23 |244.4 |
| .102 | .094 | 16 | 456.3 | .754 | 16 | 228.2 |
| .127 | .039 | 13 | 461.7 | .314 | 13 | 230.8 |
| .152 | .019 | 11 | 467.5 | 0.153 | 11 | 233.8 |
| .178 | .01 | 9 | 448.0 | 0.081 | 9 | 224.0 |
| .203 | .006 | 8 | 454.1 | 0.048 | 8 | 227.1 |
h2. Turbidity Profiles
| *Configuration* | *1st channel* | *2nd channel* | *θ ~flocculator~ (s) at Q ~50~*| *θ ~flocculator~ (s) at Q ~100~*|
| [1|PPF Spring 2009 Turbidity Profile Configuration 1] | .152 m | .152 m | 935.1 | 467.7 |
| 2 | .076 m | .076 m | 977.6 | 488.8 |
| 3 | .102 m | .102 m | 9127 | 456.3 |
| 4 | .127 m | .127 m | 923.3 | 461.7 |
| 5 | .051 m | .051 m | 969.7 | 484.9 |
| 6 | .178 m | .178 m | 895.9 | 448.0 |
| 7 | .203 m | .203 m | 908.2 | 454.1 |
| 8 | .051 m | .076 m| 973.7 | 486.9 |
| 9 | .051 m| .102 m | 941.2 | 470.6 |
| 10 | .051 m | .152 m | 952.4 | 476.2 |
| 11 | .051 m | .203 m | 939.0 | 469.5 |
| 12 | .076 m | .102 m | 945.1 | 472.6 |
| [13|PPF Spring 2009 Turbidity Profile Configuration 13] | .102 m | .152 m | 923.9 | 461.94 |
h2. Results and Findings | 