Though full scale water treatment plants operate with turbulent flocculation, previous flocculation research has been conducted using a laminar flow tube flocculator. Our goal is to design create and test a turbulent tube flocculator for lab scale research to better mimic the processes that occur at full scale plants. With this information, we can hopefully better understand the process of flocculation and make design improvements to improve flocculator performance. Furthermore, for the Spring 2014 semester, the team aims to evaluate the possibility of using a fluidized bed of sand as a flocculator to accelerate the flocculation process. |