Mechatronics involves the combination of the disciplines of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering with computer technology. The purpose of this work is to incorporate mechatronics technology into a novel experimental apparatus and perform a series of experiments to generate data on the filter cycle using this novel technique. The experimental data generated are compared with results obtained from a selection of existing theoretical models which successfully demonstrates the advantages of the novel technology used.

No description available.

O espessamento é uma operação unitária que tem como finalidade separar, por diferença de massa específica entre o sólido e o líquido, sólidos suspensos em meio fluido, pela ação da gravidade. É bastante empregado industrialmente em processos contínuos no adensamento de polpas e minérios, em unidades com reação de precipitação e no tratamento de efluentes, dentre outros. Os equipamentos que realizam esta operação, chamados espessadores, são, em geral, tanques abertos de formato cilíndrico, instalados no eixo vertical com a entrada da suspensão na parte superior central, de fundo ligeiramente cônico para a retirada da polpa espessada e calha circulando o topo para descarga do líquido clarificado. As várias técnicas de projeto destas unidades contínuas são comumente baseadas em ensaios de bancada com provetas. Não é raro ocorrerem para os mesmos dados experimentais, áreas de projeto com desvios superiores a 50%. O presente trabalho visou verificar a validade das técnicas de seleção de TALMADGE-FITCH, ROBERTS e FLUXO DE SÓLIDOS, para o dimensionamento de espessadores industriais com salmoura e lodo biológico. Foram realizados para este fim, ensaios de espessamento em provetas com as próprias suspensões industriais, calculadas as áreas pelas técnicas supracitadas e comparadas com os resultados das secções dos equipamentos contínuos industriais. Os desvios médios dos diâmetros para cada técnica em relação ao espessadores industriais apresentaram contra a segurança dos equipamentos um valor de 42% para o método de Talmadge-Fitch, 45,5% para Roberts e 43,5% para o método do Fluxo de sólidos. Concluiu-se, para as condições estudadas, que os métodos de provetas utilizados forneceram valores na mesma ordem de grandeza e que requerem um fator de escala para o dimensionamento das unidades industriais contínuas. / Thickening is a unit operation that has the goal of solid-liquid separation. The principle of this separation is the difference of specific weight between solid and liquid. This unit operation is used in mineral industries, to ore concentrate, wastewater, and others. The tanks called thickeners are usually open, with the feed on the top of the equipment. The solids discharge is done trough the bottom in a conical shape. The most techniques of sizing thickeners are based on graduated cylinders, and it is a common get result that has a difference area in about 50%. This happens because security coefficient, difficulties for results interpretation and scales factors. This research has the goal to apply the techniques of selection of Solids Flux, Roberts and Talmadge-Fitch in graduated cylinders. These methods are classical for thickener sizing. A comparison has been made between the results by those methods with the data obtained from continuous industrial units for salt solution and biological brine. The shunting line for the techniques obtained was 42% for Talmadge-Fitch, 45,5% for Roberts and 43,5% for Solid Flux in the relationship with industrial thickeners. In conclusion, for the studied condition, all methods showed values in the same order and requires a scale factors to sizing the continuous thickeners.

Thesis. 1977. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references. / Ph.D.

In 1998, two upper North Bosque River segments were designated as impaired due to the nonpoint source (NPS) pollution of phosphorus (P) to these segments in the watershed. As a result, two Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) were applied which called for the reduction of annual loading and annual average soluble reactive P (Sol P) concentrations by 50 %. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of two prospective new technologies, an Electrocoagulation (EC) system, and a Geotube® dewatering system to potentially aid the dairy farmers in meeting the goals set by the TMDLs. The EC system analyzed in this study used chemical pretreatment to coagulate and separate solids in effluent pumped from the dairy lagoon; the liquid then flowed over charged iron electrodes giving off ions that cause coagulation and precipitation of P and other metals. Overall, the performance of the system was consistently highly effective in reducing total phosphorus (TP) and Sol P, on average, reducing these constituents by 96% and 99.6% respectively from the dairy lagoon effluent. However this consistency did not hold for the rest of the analytes. In the Geotube® dewatering system geotextile tubes were utilized to dewater dairy lagoon effluent. Results showed this system performed very well in filtering solids from the dairy lagoon effluent, removing an average of 93.5 % of the total solids between the two pumping and dewatering events of March and April. It was effective in removing nutrients and metals as well. The average percent reduction of TP and Sol P for the two events were very high at 97% and 85 % respectively.

No description available.

This research is a follow up to preliminary studies reported by Beier and Sego (2008) and the objective is to investigate laboratory scale dewatering of oil sands total tailings using cross flow filtration technology. A laboratory experiment was setup in Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility and tests were carried out under different operational conditions using different tailings. The experiments showed clean filtrate water generated under all test conditions. Coarser tailings and higher filter pipe porosity resulted in greater filtrate flux rate. The effect of slurry velocity, residual bitumen, and transmembrane pressure on cross flow filtration performance was also evaluated. A dimensional analysis was developed using the laboratory tests to establish the relationships between measured parameters and to assist and guide future experimental programs. / Geotechnical Engineering

This work investigated the effect of floc microstructure (size and fractal structure) and shear forces on dewatering processes, which are crucial for environmental and economical aspects in many industries. Due to limitations inherent In experimental investigations, a numerical code using the discrete element method and including some novel force models (polymer bridging force, elastic bending moment and a modified concept of rolling friction torque) was developed to simulate the consolidation behavior of flocculated systems. The code showed good agreement with experimental results. The elastic behavior of aggregates is known to depend on the backbone structure (stress bearing structure of the aggregate). However, there is little known about backbone structure. It was found that backbone represents a fractal structure with a fractal dimension value close to 1 and increasing with increase of aggregate mass fractal dimension. The dewatering process was characterized by compressive and hindered settling behavior. The numerical study of compressive rheology with different aggregate microstructure showed that the compaction results from a reduction of the correlation length rather than increase in fractal dimension. The compressive behavior is consistent with theoretical models at higher compressive stresses but is not well described at low compressive stresses. A semi- empirical model is presented describing the compressive rheology in both regions via a correction factor derived using dimensional analysis. The hindered settling behavior was in good agreement with the theoretical model based on the assumption of self similar structure. The investigation revealed that shear effect is not due entirely to hydrodynamics and can arise from the particle bonding mechanism alone. The study showed that low shear increases compressibility but high shear is detrimental. At low shear, bond bending at local voids results in solid densification. High shear increases kinetic energy and kinetic repulsion of the particles. The effect of shear is analogous to the anomalous behavior of the water density- temperature function. At low temperature bond breakage increases the density and at high temperature thermal expansion decreases the density. The investigation showed that shear increases the permeability due to bending of the structure in the shear direction, resulting in large pores.

Typescript (Photocopy) / Bibliography: leaves 196-205 / 262 leaves : ill ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1988?

O espessamento é uma operação unitária que tem como finalidade separar, por diferença de massa específica entre o sólido e o líquido, sólidos suspensos em meio fluido, pela ação da gravidade. É bastante empregado industrialmente em processos contínuos no adensamento de polpas e minérios, em unidades com reação de precipitação e no tratamento de efluentes, dentre outros. Os equipamentos que realizam esta operação, chamados espessadores, são, em geral, tanques abertos de formato cilíndrico, instalados no eixo vertical com a entrada da suspensão na parte superior central, de fundo ligeiramente cônico para a retirada da polpa espessada e calha circulando o topo para descarga do líquido clarificado. As várias técnicas de projeto destas unidades contínuas são comumente baseadas em ensaios de bancada com provetas. Não é raro ocorrerem para os mesmos dados experimentais, áreas de projeto com desvios superiores a 50%. O presente trabalho visou verificar a validade das técnicas de seleção de TALMADGE-FITCH, ROBERTS e FLUXO DE SÓLIDOS, para o dimensionamento de espessadores industriais com salmoura e lodo biológico. Foram realizados para este fim, ensaios de espessamento em provetas com as próprias suspensões industriais, calculadas as áreas pelas técnicas supracitadas e comparadas com os resultados das secções dos equipamentos contínuos industriais. Os desvios médios dos diâmetros para cada técnica em relação ao espessadores industriais apresentaram contra a segurança dos equipamentos um valor de 42% para o método de Talmadge-Fitch, 45,5% para Roberts e 43,5% para o método do Fluxo de sólidos. Concluiu-se, para as condições estudadas, que os métodos de provetas utilizados forneceram valores na mesma ordem de grandeza e que requerem um fator de escala para o dimensionamento das unidades industriais contínuas. / Thickening is a unit operation that has the goal of solid-liquid separation. The principle of this separation is the difference of specific weight between solid and liquid. This unit operation is used in mineral industries, to ore concentrate, wastewater, and others. The tanks called thickeners are usually open, with the feed on the top of the equipment. The solids discharge is done trough the bottom in a conical shape. The most techniques of sizing thickeners are based on graduated cylinders, and it is a common get result that has a difference area in about 50%. This happens because security coefficient, difficulties for results interpretation and scales factors. This research has the goal to apply the techniques of selection of Solids Flux, Roberts and Talmadge-Fitch in graduated cylinders. These methods are classical for thickener sizing. A comparison has been made between the results by those methods with the data obtained from continuous industrial units for salt solution and biological brine. The shunting line for the techniques obtained was 42% for Talmadge-Fitch, 45,5% for Roberts and 43,5% for Solid Flux in the relationship with industrial thickeners. In conclusion, for the studied condition, all methods showed values in the same order and requires a scale factors to sizing the continuous thickeners.