Determining Flocculation Efficiency

The efficiency value assumed at the beginning of Spring 2008 was 0.5. This means that we assumed it would take only two collisions for a particle of clay to stick to a particle of aluminum sulfate. Using the MathCAD program, we determined that this efficiency value was inaccurately high by inputting the dimensions of the Fall 2007 Demo Plant, and comparing the MathCAD output for horizontal length of maximum floc size with the actual horizontal length of maximum floc size we observed. We found that assuming an efficiency of 0.5, the program reported an optimal horizontal length about 2 times smaller than what we observed.

This issue was addressed this semester in the experiment described below.

Current Efficiency Factor

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