Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Water
Session: 2
Amber L Peterein - University of Missouri - Columbia
In most small communities, the drinking water facility can meet the demands of their constituents in less than 24 hours of operation, meaning that for a certain period of time the facility must be shut down to avoid over-production. Traditional clarifiers operate best when run full time with minimal disruption to their operation schedule. For small communities, a disruption to operation is unavoidable. For this reason, alternative clarifier operation or clarifier configurations may be more effective for small systems. This research is exploring how much better a ClariCone clarifier will perform during the daily startup and shutdown of operation that small community drinking water facilities utilize.
A model ClariCone made from a 10-gallon US Plastic Corp Full Drain Inductor Tank was modified to include an influent port (located at the bottom of the tank), and effluent port (located near the top of the tank), and an inner condenser to collect excess residuals (solids). Initially, the tank is filled with tap water and aluminum sulfate residuals from a local water treatment facility to its capacity (approximately 25 liters) and then attached to the delivery system. Humic acid and kaolin clay are combined with deionized water and then added to tap water to simulate a source water, and aluminum sulfate is combined with deionized water to make the coagulant.
The delivery system combines the source water with the coagulant through a static mixer before it enters the tank through the influent port. From here, the mixture flows through the residuals blanket, allowing for maximum contact between the influent mixture and the residuals blanket. The weight of the residuals, even when suspended, keeps the flocculants from rising to the surface where the effluent port is located. The tank is operated for 70 minutes (its Hydraulic Retention Time or HRT) with samples taken from the influent and effluent at 14 minutes, and then from the effluent only for the remainder of the operating time at 14-minute intervals.
Samples are tested for UV-254, DOC, and Turbidity. Thus far, testing has proven drastic reductions in all categories from the influent to the effluent, showing a 95% reduction in UV-254, a 93% reduction in DOC, and 99% reduction in Turbidity overall. Further analysis will explore changes in SUVA and how long it takes to reach steady-state.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): Acknowledgement of Funders: Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Enos C Inniss, innisse@missouri.edu
Role: I was and am the only member working on this aspect of the research.