Tanya's Individual Contribution Page

Spring 2009 Mid-Semester Contributions

This semester I have been working on the Dissolved Air Floation of Flocs team, specifically the Aeration subteam. Currently, the bulk of my work involves experimenting with dissolved oxygen removal from super saturated water by increasing the gas transfer rate using air bubbles as a catalyst. The results from our experiments thus far have suggested that the aeration method may not be a suitable solution to the floating flocs problem. The data indicates that the change in dissolved oxygen of water that has been aerated and put under partial vacuum is minimal at best and does not occur in an acceptable period of time. However, one of subteam's biggest concerns is that the data collected thus far may be inaccurate due to equipment problems. Because of this, we plan to continue to experiment with the aeration setup in order to confirm or reject our move away from aeration method. As we collect new data, we will simultaneously be formulating other possible solutions to test experimentally.

In the The Fundamentals of Bubble Formation in Water Treatment by Paolo Scardina and Marc Edwards (found below), it was indicated that hydrophobic surfaces work best to induce bubble formation in water. The best geometry of the surface has yet to be determined. Based on these findings, I am interested in developing and testing a low maintenance or maintenance-free solution method involving hydrophobic surfaces.

My accomplishments this semester include drafting up an AutoCAD diagram of the aeration experimental setup that can be found in the Floating Floc Team's Detailed Task List. While the experimental setup was being constructed, I also performed literature searches in order to find relevant information regarding factors facilitating bubble formation in supersaturated water. The articles I have found are:

Effects of Dissolved Gas Supersaturation and Bubble Formation on Water Treatment Plant Performance by Paolo Scardina

The Fundamentals of Bubble Formation in Water Treatment by Paolo Scardina and Marc Edwards

The articles were found before the team split up into subteams.

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