Data Analysis on New Setup
Method
The team has decided to proceed with experiments even though the recirculation problem has not been fixed. By conducting test runs, we are hoping to get a better understanding of how the new setup will effect the settling efficiency of tube flocculator. We would also compare the experimental data from this setup to the data from previous setup.
The length of the tube flocculator is the same as in the previous setup (50ft). The concentration of clay and alum used in the experimental runs were the same as in the previous setup, which are 50NTU and 25mg/L, respectively. The flow rate was fixed at 3.1 mL/s in order to compare data from previous experiments with similar function setup. The experiment was repeated ten times in a row.
Each dataset was normalized to each maximum turbidity value and the ensemble average was taken to determine standard deviation of datasets.
Results and Discussions
As reported, we believe that the fluctuation of datasets is due the circulation problem. Assuming datasets from previous experiment experiencing similar problem, we would consider to proceed with data analysis and comparison.
Figure 1. 10 datasets of experiment (x) with the ensemble average (red line) for the old setup.
Figure 2. 10 datasets of experiment (x) with the ensemble average (red line) for the new setup.
Figure 3 illustrates the effect of different setups of tube flocculator. Using similar initial parameters, the new setup shows a faster drop than the previous setup. This could be an indicator that the new setup has more bigger flocs during the settling state than the previous one. Data smoothing is applied to eliminate fluctuation due to recirculation problem that previously indicated. Only one dataset is chosen to illustrate the point.
Figure 3. Ensemble average datasets for both old and new setups.