Page History

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• Demo plant
• Cole-Parmer MasterFlex L/S peristaltic pump (x3)
• HF Scientific MicroTol inline turbidity meter
• Fischer Scientific magnetic stirrer
• Dayton AC/DC motor driven stirrer
• 1 L bottle
• 14 L bucket
• Connecting tubes, valves and fittings

Procedure

Process Controller, a software based on LabView and written by Dr. Monroe Weber-Shirk, is used to automate the experiment and record the data. The automation routine, written by James Leung, controls the power to the stirrers and the speed of the pumps, calculated from the the plant flow and and residence time parameters. All other parameters, such as alum dose and pump tubing sizes, are fixed and preset in the routine. Process Controller also records turbidity data at 5 s intervals to a tab-delimited text file.

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1. Create clay suspension in the 14 L bucket by mixing 500 mg of kaolin clay per liter of water.
2. Create aluminum sulfate solution in the 1 L bottle by mixing 1 g of aluminum sulfate crystals per liter of water.
3. Lower the stirring element of the Dayton AC/DC motor driven stirrer into the 14 L bucket.
4. Put a magnetic stirring rod into the 1 L bottle and set the bottle atop the magnetic stirrer. Leave the bottle cap off.
5. Ensure that all valves are open and all tubes are connected properly
6. Set the operating state in Set the operating state in Process Controller to preparation

The The preparation state in Process Controller turns on the stirrers for 120 s to prepare the clay suspension and alum solution for the experiment. After 120 s, Process Controller automatically switches to the the experiment state. This state turns on the peristaltic pumps to run the experiment. The stirrers are kept running to ensure consistency. The experiment is set to run for 3 residence times, after which Process Controller switches off all stirrers and pumps.

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