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Semester Goals:
The team's goals this for the Spring 2014 semester include designing and setting up a new settled water turbidity (SWaT) measurement system to replace the flocculator residual turbidity analyzer (FReTA) system. Once the SWaT system is properly installed and running, we will repeat clamp tests that we had performed last semester to compare the performance results of the two different systems. After these experiments are analyzed, we will decide what experiments will best help us progress in understanding the consequences of floc breakup.
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The SWaT system has been designed and implemented. The SWaT system consists of a tube settler that leads to a turbidimeter, and the water is driven by a peristaltic pump linked up after the turbidimeter. The tube settler length was calculated to be 1.04 m, based on a critical capture velocity of 0.5 mm/s and an angle of 60 degrees. The tube settler flow rate is approximately 90% of the plant flow rate, with the remaining 10% of the flocculator effluent flowing straight to the drain. The entire tube flocculator setup has been lowered to accommodate for the tube settler, so that the final tubing flows linearly into the tube settler to reduce minor losses. A new t-fitting for the entrance of the tube settler was designed to allow for a better waste flow stream to pick up built up flocs at the bottom of the tube settler. Base case testing was done to troubleshoot the SWaT system, but resulting effluent turbidities were much higher than desired. More work must be done on the SWaT system before experiments can be performed.
Fall 2013 Semester Contributions
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