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This paper reports on improvements to aggregation kinetics of colloidal particles inmunicipal water treatment by the use of curved fluidic structures, resulting in up to 50% reductionin coagulant dosage. A novel high throughput, purely fluidic, continuous flow, membrane-less,size selective method for particulate separation has been recently reported where centrifugal forcecreated in spiral flow channels generate transverse hydrodynamic forces to separate micron-sizedneutrally buoyant particles which are further focused and diverted for extraction. Together, theimproved aggregation and particulate separation offer a potentially transformative approach tothe conventional practice of water treatment. The combined effects of the spiral mixers withimproved agglomeration to generate denser and uniformly sized pin floc, and spiral separatorsfor in-line clarification presents an opportunity to eliminate flocculation and sedimentation steps,resulting in potentially significant savings in reduced land use, chemical cost, operationaloverhead, and faster processing time from raw to finished water. This technology improvement isalso directly relevant to other water applications, including: industrial water purification; wastewater reclamation; power plant cooling towers; pretreatment for reverse osmosis; and, almost any instance wherereduction of TSS loading reduces clogging and extends the time between cleaning for many microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes. Includes 3 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2008 Number of Pages: 12File Size: 1 file , 2 MB