Plate Settler Spacing Team

Fall 2008 Goals

Determine tube diameters to be tested 9/15-10/2

• Assess potentially limiting factors: shearing, clogging, reasonable velocities, l/b ratio, materials?
• Determine material to be used: honeycomb, more rigid straws, tube-manifold apparatus?

Brainstorm ideas for apparatus 9/15-10/2

• Discuss how to establish uniform flow: cone, mesh?
• Discuss how to attach sedimentation tubes at a sixty-degree angle

Establish a preliminary sketch of apparatus and collaborate with Paul, Matt, Ian, and Professor Weber-Shirk regarding apparatus 10/2

Order materials 10/2

Document experimental apparatus 10/2-forever

• Pictures, diagrams, and explanations

Build experimental apparatus 10/2-10/24

• Gather and connect all pumps, parts, and tubing
• Setup process control
• Trouble-shoot design issues that arise

Run preliminary experimental trials 10/25-10/31

• Learn how to create and control floc blankets
• Assess quality of system: steady flows, process control readings, water level in clay/water bucket

Run experiment 11/1-11/21

• Three good trials for each tube diameter

Work-up data and assess results 11/21-12/5

Create new experiment 11/15-end of semester

• Based on results from experiment, determine next course of action: run more of the same experiment, test new diameters, vary flow rates, vary something else?

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Continuing outside research and designing system Sept 15-19th

• At this point we will continue to look for papers written on plate settler spacing as well as the parameters that determine the limiting factors when decreasing the spacing

• Modifications to the apparatus are being made to improve upon the summer apparatus used

• Instead of placing the entire settling column at a 60 degree angle a vertical settling column will be used with only plate settlers at an angle

• We will be looking at the necessary conditions to form a stable floc blanket

Find and order Sedimentation material by Sept 19

• A new sedimentation material will be used to replace the straws as plate settlers

• We are looking for a material that comes in one cohesive piece instead of many parts like the straws

Have a testing model by Sept 22

• By this date we will have a complete system to test and begin running with process controller

Final working model will be up and running, and we will have our teachin Sept 30,

• The flocculator and sedimentation column and all necessary components of the set up will fully operable and experimentation will begin