h5. Foam Filtration
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Foam Collapse.png, SEM Image of Foam.png, Experimental Apparatus.png}{center}
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Numerous techniques of water filtration are in use today, most of which involve the use of sand as the porous media. A preliminary literature review revealed a dearth of information on foam filtration. Our team has decided to focus on investigating the actual filtering capacity of a polyurethane foam material as opposed to the traditional method of sand filtration. With proper implementation, a foam filter could reduce the amount of water that is wasted during the backwash cycle of a traditional sand filter. A foam filter requires less surface area, and could potentially be less expensive to build than a traditional sand filter. However, a foam filtration unit will also require a tight seal with all of the edges of the tank, in order to avoid preferential flow paths which will result in unfiltered water. In addition, a foam filter will likely require manual maintenance by the plant operator.
Foam filtration has been ruled out for an AguaClara plant because the foam would be too difficult for an operator to clean. However, previous research has proven that foam is an effective method of filtration, therefore this team decided to focus on designing a point of use foam filtration unit. However, dueDue to chemical dosing and usability concerns, the point-of-use application was ruled out as a possibility for foam filtration. The team isthen nowfocused focusing on the design of an emergency filtration system that can be transported on the back of a pickup truck. After speaking with communities in Honduras, it was decided that foam filtration would be more useful in small communities. Research willhas bebeen done to optimize the design such that it is as efficient as possible and provides the desired standard of 1 NTU effluent water turbidity.
[Read more|Foam Filtration Future Research].
Note: Turbidity is defined as the cloudiness of a fluid caused by suspended particles. Higher turbidities correlate to more opaque fluids.
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h6. Current & Future Research
Our team is currently designing an emergency filtration unit to be built and tested. The design consists of a roughing filter that utilizes 30 ppi\* foam and a finishing filter with 90 ppi foam. The filter unit will be built using PVC pipes, of which the diameter can be selected based on the volume of clean water needed. Additionally, the AguaClara chemical doser will be used to dose the influent with coagulant and effluent with chlorine. A simple visual indicator for when the filter should be cleaned is necessary due to the fact that we are trying to minimize cost. The current visual indicator consists of a Secchi Disk that can detect turbidities at least 20 NTU. A prototype is being built and we will run a series of experiments testing the effectiveness of the unit itself.
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Additionally, experiments with the foam column and Secchi Disk will continue. The Fall 20112012 experimental trialsteam focused on testing 30 ppi foam as a roughing filterimproving the apparatus by making it run without electricity and more user friendly. Other research areas will be explored as well. This will include the effectiveness of an aluminum hydroxide wash to decrease improving the ripeningmethod timewhere of the foam,Secchi theDisk effectsis ofused naturalas organica mattervisual onindicator theor foamfinding materialan andeven themore mosteffective efficient way to cleanvisually theindicate foamwhen material.the [Read more|Foam Filtration Future Research].filters need to be cleaned.
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\*PPI stands for pores per inch, which is a linear measurement of foam pore size. A larger pore size number (i.e.60 ppi) corresponds to a smaller pore size.
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h6. Team Members
[Jenny Guan|jg834]
[Carrie Smith|cs882]
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h6. Documents
| | Challenges | Tasks | Teach-In | Presentation | Final Report |
| Fall '12 | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^Foam.pdf] | | | | |
| Summer '12 | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationChallengesSummer2012.pdf] | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^Foam.Filtration.Detailed.Task.List.Summer2012.pdf] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationTeachInSummer2012.pptx] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationFinalPresentationSummer2012.pptx] | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^ FoamFiltrationFinalReportSummer2012.pdf] [!Research^WinZip_icon.png|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationFinalReportSummer2012.zip] |
| Spring '12 | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationChallengesSpring2012.pdf] | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^Spring2012FoamTaskList.pdf] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationTeachInSpring2012.pptx] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationFinalPresentationSpring2012.pptx] | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^ FoamFiltrationFinalReportSpring2012.pdf] [!Research^WinZip_icon.png|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationFinalReportSpring2012.zip] |
| Fall '11 | [!Research^word_icon.jpeg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationChallenges.doc] | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^Fall2011FoamFiltrationTaskList.pdf] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationTeachInFall2011.pptx] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationFinalPresentationFall2011.pptx] | [!Research^pdf_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationFinalReportFall2011.pdf] |
| Spring '11 | [!Research^word_icon.jpeg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationChallengesSpring2011.doc] | [!Research^word_icon.jpeg|height=25!|^Foam FiltrationTasksSpring2011.doc] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationTeachinSpring2011.ppt] | [!Research^ppt_icon.jpg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationPresentationSpring2011.ppt] | [!Research^word_icon.jpeg|height=25!|^FoamFiltrationFinalReportSpring2011.doc] |
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h6. Past Research
[Spring 2011|Foam Filtration Spring 2011]
[Fall 2010|Foam Filtration Fall 2010 Research]
[Summer 2010|Foam Filtration Summer 2010]
[Spring 2010|Spring 2010 Foam Filtration Research]
[Reflection Reports|Foam Filtration Reflection Reports]
[General Filtration Page|Filtration]
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