Fundamental Studies and Chemical and Engineering Innovationsin Flocculative Water Cleaning

9520573 Magee This award is a collaborative three-year project to be studied jointly at both the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Hazardous Waste Management and the Queen's University Environmental Science and Technology Center (QUESTOR) at Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. The study is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of water processing facilities that use flocculation for purification. The QUESTOR researchers have been funded by a consortium of local industries to design, build and operate a pilot water treatment plant to devise new approaches to the use of flocculation additives to extend the range and efficiency of flocculative cleaning. The I/UCRC studies will focus on some fundamental aspects of the fluid dynamics of flocculators. By determining the spacial distribution of local velocity gradients in a number of flocculation vessal configurations, the velocity gradient time integral for a generic floc particle moving in the flocculator can be determined. This can be used to accurately quantify the value of this key parameter for a number of flocculation configurations to determine floc aggregation and breakage. The study should elucidate the fundamental fluid dynamic aspects of flocculation for process improvement in water purification.