Pilot Plant

Team Members

Organize Pilot Plant wiki (12/12/08)

Fix leaks in plant leveling tank and pipes in order to run tanks. (10/09/08)

Write Midterm Progress Report (10/14/08)

Try to form floc blanket without lamella in second tank to determine if pipe inlet is interfering with blanket formation. (10/19/08)

This will be done by running both sedimentation tanks until a floc blanket forms.
The turbidity of the effluent will be measured to see what, if any,difference there is between the tanks. (10/23/08)

Construct weirs:

Make a new weir for the plant leveling tank so that it can run at 70 m/day (currently, the holes on opposite sides are interfering with eachothers flow). Trim the current weirs to account for increased flow rates through the plant, so that they will not overflow onto the floor. (10/27/08)

Determine whether or not it is possible to form a floc blanket given the current lamella dimensions we have.

If no sludge blanket has formed on the lamella tank, but there is a blanket the control tank, compare effluents to see which is more effective. Brainstorm about the design of the lamella, and talk with Monroe or Sara to see what might be a good parameter to change. i.e. the height of the lamella in the tank, the spacing between lamella, the length of the lamella themselves, etc.
If a sludge blanket has formed on both tanks, compare the effluents to see if there is any difference in the NTU measurements of the water.
If there is no sludge blanket in either tank, it can be assumed that flocs are not forming properly. Check the alum dosing to make sure that it isn't too high or too low, and return the next day to check on the tanks. Repeat as necessary until the situation fits a different one of these three categories. (11/14/08)

Test lamella spacing (11/28/08)

How close is too close? The baffle spacing will be varied to determine the optimal baffle spacing. This will be done with and without a floc blanket Compare data.
An overall goal of the sed tank is to determine if it's a good to have a sludge blanket and to determine the restricting parameters for sedimention tanks. i.e. minimum lamella spacing, minimum depth for blanket and minimum lamella length.

Write Final Report and prepare presentation (12/12/08)