...
Subteam Leader:Tanya or anyone with previous knowledge of floating flocs problem
Number of team members needed:3-4 membersImportant team member skills:Process Controller (can be trained)Microsoft ExcelMathCADChallengesDetails of the experiments that have been planned can be found on theFloating Flocs Fall 2009 Tentative Experimentspage.
Possibly redesign the experimental setup to better simulate the water quality at actual AC plants by adding a clay source or surfactant source.Confirm the cause of the floating floc problem by running experiments with the Plate Settler Team's apparatus. Two experiments have been planned in order to test whether the cause of the floating floc problem is bubbles adhering to flocs or whether bubbles form on flocs and lift them to the surface. It is also possible that both of these mechanisms are responsible for floating floc.If the cause is confirmed to be bubble formation on or adherence to flocs due to supersaturated water the team's tentative experimental plans include:
Run experiments using mild surfactants to witness their effects on bubble formation. Currently, the team is considering using a dilute soap solution as a surfactant. Details as to the concentration of soap solution have yet to be determined. This will likely be based on a conversion of organic matter in the water of AguaClara plants.Run experiments using hydrophobic surfaces with or without surfactants to see the effects on bubble formation. The details of these experiments have yet to be determined. Currently, literature searches are being performed to find cost-effective hydrophobic surfaces to test. It has been found that plant surfaces may exhibit hydrophobic properties due to their waxy coating.Developing a new mechanism to either remove gas, stop bubble formation, or stop floating flocs themselves. Currently, the team is looking at a mechanism that involves using lamella or something similar to trap air pockets in the water. These air pockets would be knocked around by eddies and may collect dissolved gas in the process.One possibility to consider is whether flocs that are floating can be redirected or captured so that they are not in the effluent water.(I doubt this can be done.)Since achieving gas removal has been proven to be difficult, putting some time into considering other solutions may be worthwhile.
If the cause of floating flocs is shown to be something other than supersaturated water, the team may still focus on stopping flocs from floating; however, other approaches may be developed that are specifically tailored to actual cause of the problem.
Outreach
Challenges for Outreach Fall
...
2009
Fundraising
Group Leader:
- N/
...
- A
Number of team members needed:
- Minimum of 2-
...
- 3
Important team member skills:
- Good written and oral
...
- skills
- Ability to work closely with P.R. when finding Fundraising
...
- Contacts
- Good analytical skills for choosing grants and reviewing previous
...
- budgets
- Adaptability to the different requests of different organizations when looking at Requests for Proposals (Grant Writing term meaning grant application)
...
Challenges
- Submit the Ford Foundation Online
...
- Form
- Pursue contacts within Ford Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates
...
- Foundation
- Analyze former AguaClara budgets for the budget update.
- Continue working on
...
- the Grant Text
...
- Modules Page.
- Update
...
- the Grant Short
...
- List as grants are
...
- submitted
Public Relations
Group Leader:
- N/
...
- A
Number of team members needed:
- 4-
...
- 6
Important team member skills:
- Adobe Photoshop to aid graphics
...
- design
- Adobe Illustrator to create brochure
...
- layout
- Effective communication skills
- Leadership skills
- Knowledge of advertisement, business, media
...
- communications
- Creativity and ingenuity
Challenges
- Get more team members involved with
...
- presentations
- Try to pull together a fact sheet for presenter. Those would be good additional info to present other than the ones already on the slides.
...
- demo plant suite case
...
- maintenance
- Edit the Wiki to weed out outdated
...
- information
- Update the brochure with new
...
- projects
- Ensure continued bi-annual updates through
...
- newsletters
- Enforce the standardized Wiki format by constant updating (not just at the end of the year)
- Translate Wiki into Spanish including navigation menu as well as
...
- content
- Assign specific subgroups within PR such that different types of PR can be accessed more efficiently. I.E possibly set up subgroups of PR that deal with local pr, state/national pr, campus pr, student assembly/RSO/greek life/ sports team pr.
- Broaden the medium for pr. I.E. radio, newspapers, magazines, journals, pamphlets, brochures, banners, t-shirts, stickers, posters,etc.
- Establish a calendar of pr events in August that seeks to promote the project itself while incorporating pr events that surround fundraising, presentations, etc.
- Draw in students from business, entrepreneurial majors, marketing, advertising, etc.
- Integrate the PR team with the AguaClara student group by establishing it as a subset of the group itself.
- Work with Partnership for Honduran Health on campus to continue planning their health survey of our technology.
Rapid Mix
The rapid mix research project's goal is to determine if inadequate mixing in the rapid mix unit is responsible for the residual turbidity at the end of the AguaClara treatment process. This can be accomplished by adding some additional turbidity after the rapid mix process to see if those colloids have a significant effect on the settled water turbidity. If a large fraction of the colloids that didn't go through the rapid mix end up in the effluent, then it suggests that colloids that aren't properly exposed to aluminum hydroxide in the rapid mix process could also end up in the effluent. The next phase of this research would be to experiment with different rapid mix designs.
...