Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Alexander P. Mathews / Nanoscale magnetite is being examined for possible uses as an adsorbent of heavy metals and for the enhancement of water treatment processes such as stripping of trichloroethylene (TCE) from contaminated water supplies and wastewaters. Methods for recovering nanoscale magnetite must be developed before the particles can be used in water treatment processes. This is necessary because expelling high amounts of particles into the environment will be unacceptable and costly; if captured they can be reused; additionally, they could potentially cause environmental impacts due to their stability in an aqueous environment and possible toxicity. Nanoscale magnetite is superparamagnetic, so it has a high magnetic susceptibility, and hence it is very attracted to magnetized materials. Utilizing the magnetic properties of magnetite may be one possible means of separating the particles from a treatment process. High Gradient Magnetic Separation (HGMS) has been studied for the separation of micron and even tenths of a micron size particles, but there is little experimental data for HGMS of nanoscale magnetite. This research looks to filter nanoscale magnetite through a HGMS and determine the capture efficiency of the filter. Subsequently, the filter was backwashed to determine particle recover efficiencies. The flow rate was adjusted to determine the dependency of particle capture efficiency on cross sectional velocity through the filter. Additionally, particle loading was changed to better understand the correlation of particle loading with capture efficiency. Filtrations for nanoscale magnetite dispersed with sodium tripolyphosphate were also completed as well as filtrations of nanoscale magnetite coated with silica and magnetite silica composites. Experimental data in this research indicates that magnetite nanoparticles can be captured at 99.8% efficiency or higher in a well-designed filtration system. Capture efficiencies around 99.8% have been found for magnetite. The silica coated magnetite and magnetite silica composites were captured at efficiencies as high as 96.7% and 97.9%, respectively. The capture efficiency of the dispersed magnetite is lower than non-dispersed magnetite and most promising at relatively low fluid flow velocities and particle loadings. The maximum capture efficiency for dispersed magnetite particles was 90.3%. Both magnetite and dispersed magnetite were successfully recovered using backwash at pH of 10 to 11.

High-Gradient Magnetic Separation (HGMS) is a powerful separation process that has great potential for industrial wastewater treatment, particularly for the removal and recovery of paramagnetic colloidal particles. The chief advantages of HGMS are that the separation is reversible and potentially selective. However, these advantages are compromised if non-magnetic filtration mechanisms influence significantly the capture of particles. The objective of this study was to identify the chief mechanisms responsible for the removal of ferric oxide (Fe2O3) from water by an HGMS process. This objective was achieved by measuring the effects of applied magnetic induction, collector radius, and fluid velocity on the removal efficiency (RE) of a stainless-steel filter column. These factors were tested on the removal of bare Fe2O3 particles and particles treated with a surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS). The results were compared to the predictions of a trajectory model which simulates particle capture by a magnetic force. The experimental results show that non-magnetic force mechanisms are primarily responsible for the removal of bare Fe2O3 particles for the experimental conditions used in this work. For these particles, the three factors tested had no significant effect on the RE, and 90.1% of the particles were removed without a magnetic force. These results differed sharply from modeling predictions. However, the magnetic force mechanism is primarily responsible for the removal of surfactant-treated Fe2O3 particles. The three factors investigated had a marked effect on the RE, and only 10.8% of the particles were removed without a magnetic force. An increase in magnetic induction from 0.2 to 0.5 T increased the RE from 79.9 to 93.4 %; a decrease in wire radius from 49 to 15 Ym increased the RE from 60.2 to 93.4%, and a decrease in fluid velocity from 0.5 to 0.1 cm/s increased the RE from 69.5 to 95.3%. These results agreed closely with the model predictions.This study demonstrates that by reducing the effect of attractive non-magnetic forces on filtration, surfactant treatment of colloidal particles can potentially preserve and enhance these two key advantages, i.e., regeneration and selectivity of HGMS processes.