Orientadores: Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães Pereira, Juan Lucas Argueso / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T01:08:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigues_Aline_D.pdf: 13944014 bytes, checksum: afa01e0dfca6ca3f789845a68d9a1018 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A floculação é um processo de agregação celular observado em muitas linhagens de Saccharomyces cerevisiae que resulta em sedimentação, prejudicando o rendimento fermentativo e a operação de destilarias produtoras de bioetanol. A maioria das linhagens utilizadas por essa indústria, incluindo a linhagem PE-2/JAY270, foi selecionada pela incapacidade de flocular. O controle genético da floculação é bem caracterizado, vários genes foram associados ao fenômeno, incluindo principalmente a família de genes FLO. Previamente observamos que a linhagem JAY291 (haploide derivado de JAY270) não flocula, apesar de possuir o alelo funcional do regulador positivo de floculação FLO8, sugerindo que seu fenótipo envolve outro passo dessa via. A análise da progênie F2 do cruzamento de JAY291 com a linhagem de laboratório S288 (flo8-1) revelou uma proporção fenotípica de ~1:8 (floculantes/não floculantes), esperada para uma característica controlada por três genes não ligados. Sequenciamos os genomas de oito indivíduos F2 floculantes segregando ~40.000 SNPs existentes entre S288c e JAY291. As sequências foram comparadas entre si para localizarmos regiões que co-segregavam com a floculação. Esse mapeamento preliminar foi refinado por PCR-RFLP, revelando um segundo gene, FLO1, que está ausente em JAY291. Para identificar o terceiro gene, analisamos fenotipicamente novos haploides F2 segregantes de um cruzamento entre S288c (FLO8::KanMX4 FLO1::HphMX4) e JAY291 (FLO8 flo1?), dentre os quais os indivíduos FLO1:HphMX4 foram divididos em dois "bulks" (floculante e não floculante) e sequenciados. As frequências alélicas S288c ou JAY291 nos "bulks" foram interrogadas e validadas estatisticamente, revelando um terceiro gene fortemente associado ao fenótipo: MSS11 (fator de transcrição envolvido em floculação). Encontramos ainda outros doze loci contendo genes de efeito menor, mas que atuam como modificadores do fenótipo. Em experimentos independentes, observamos alteração na morfologia de colônia de JAY270 e troca de seu típico fenótipo liso para rugoso, também associado com um grau baixo de floculação. Tais colônias rugosas também são frequentemente encontradas na indústria. Curiosamente, o mesmo fenótipo foi observado cruzando-se haploides específicos derivados de JAY270. Os cruzamentos sugeriram que o fenótipo era controlado um único gene, porém específico de diploides. O mapeamento em genomas de haploides de JAY270 revelou o gene responsável pela alteração de fenótipo: ACE2, envolvido com separação celular. JAY270 é heterozigota para uma mutação frameshift em ACE2 (ACE2/ace2-7A). O fenótipo rugoso ocorre por recombinação mitótica associada com viii perda de heterozigosidade (LOH), produzindo células com duas cópias mutadas desse gene. Para evitar futuros problemas industriais causados pela sedimentação de linhagens rugosas resultantes de LOH na região de ACE2, o defeito detectado ace2-7A foi reparado no genoma da JAY270. O diploide FGY050 (ura3?/ura3?), derivado de JAY270 e auxotrófico para uracila, foi utilizado como plataforma. A linhagem desenvolvida passou a ter duas cópias do alelo selvagem de ACE2 (ACE2/ACE2) e portanto é incapaz de se tornar rugosa por recombinação. Finalmente, em um estudo não relacionado com floculação ou morfologia de colônia, testamos se LOH pode estar relacionada com alguma consequência fenotípica benéfica à JAY270. Dentre onze linhagens LOH testadas em ensaios fermentativos de competição direta com o parental, encontramos uma com ganho de competitividade durante a fermentação / Abstract: Flocculation is a process of cellular aggregation observed in several Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains which results in sedimentation, impairing the fermentation yield and the operation of Brazilian bioethanol distilleries. Most strains used in this industry, including the PE-2/JAY270 strain, were selected for their inability to flocculate. The genetic control of flocculation is well characterized and several genes were associated with this phenomenon, including the FLO family of genes. We previously observed that the JAY291 strain (derivative haploid of JAY270) does not flocculate, despite having the functional allele of the positive regulator of flocculation FLO8, suggesting that its phenotype involves another step of this pathway. Analysis of the F2 progeny from crossing JAY291 with the laboratory strain S288c (flo8-1) revealed the phenotypic ratio of ~1:8 (flocculent/non-flocculent), expected for a trait controlled by three unlinked genes. We sequenced the genomes of eight flocculent F2 individuals segregating ~40.000 SNPs that exist between S288c and JAY291. The sequences were compared to each other to localize regions that co-segregated with the flocculation. This preliminary mapping was refined by PCR-RFLP, revealing a second gene, FLO1, which is absent in JAY291. To identify the third gene, we phenotypically analyzed new F2 haploids segregating from a cross between S288c (FLO8::KanMX4 FLO1::HphMX4) and JAY291 (FLO8 flo1?), among which FLO1:HphMX4 individuals were separated into two bulks (flocculent and non-flocculent) and sequenced. Allele frequencies S288c or JAY291 in bulks were interrogated and statistically validated, revealing a third gene strongly associated with the phenotype: MSS11 (transcription factor involved in flocculation). We also found twelve other loci containing minor effect genes, but acting as modifiers of the phenotype. In independent experiments, we observed alterations in the colony morphology of JAY270 and a transition from its typical rough to smooth phenotype, also associated with a low degree of flocculation. This type of colony is often found in the industry. Interestingly the same phenotype was observed crossing specific haploids derivatives of JAY270. The crosses suggested that the phenotype was controlled by a single gene, but diploid specific. Mapping genomes of haploids of JAY270 revealed the gene responsible for the altered phenotype: ACE2, involved in cell separation. The JAY270 is heterozygous to a frameshift mutation in the ACE2 (ACE2/ace2-7A). The rough phenotype occurs by mitotic recombination associated with loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH), producing cells with two mutated copies of this gene. x To avoid future industrial problems caused by sedimentation of rough strains derived from LOH in the ACE2 region, the ace2-7A defect was repaired in the JAY270 genome. The diploid FGY050 (ura3?/ura3?), derived from JAY270 and auxotrophic to uracil was used as a platform. The developed strain has two copies of the ACE2 wild-type allele (ACE2/ACE2) and is therefore unable to become roughened by recombination. Finally, in a study unrelated to flocculation or colony morphology, we tested whether LOH may be associated with some phenotypic consequence beneficial to the JAY270. Out of eleven LOH strains tested in fermentative assays of direct competition against their parental strain, we found one with gain in competitiveness during fermentation / Doutorado / Genetica de Microorganismos / Doutora em Genética e Biologia Molecular

Orientador: José Euclides Stipp Paterniani / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T22:54:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_GabrielaKurokawae_M.pdf: 4064663 bytes, checksum: efbd782b012dc54eda697fca32638d9f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: O acesso à água com padrões de qualidade adequados ao consumo humano tem sido tema de muitos estudos que visam desenvolver novas tecnologias ou aprimorar tecnologias já existentes para possibilitar o uso dessa água para abastecimento público. Como muitas tecnologias dependem de elevados investimentos e mão-de-obra qualificada, uma alternativa mais acessível para população de pequenas comunidades ou com menor poder aquisitivo é a utilização de coagulantes naturais. Um deles é o coagulante à base de sementes de Moringa oleifera. Alguns pesquisadores verificaram que a proteína presente nas sementes é responsável pelo processo de coagulação e que o material excedente das mesmas pode comprometer o tratamento de água. O presente trabalho visou desenvolver nova tecnologia de aplicação desse coagulante. Foi desenvolvido um sachê contendo o pó das sementes de Moringa oleifera que libera a proteína responsável pelo efeito coagulante das sementes. Após a determinação do material para confecção dos sachês, foram testadas 3 massas de pó adicionadas ao interior dos sachês (0,6 g, 0,8 g e 1,0 g) em ensaios para clarificação de água com turbidez sintética, sendo feita a comparação do desempenho dos sachês com o coagulante líquido. Utilizando-se equipamento Jar-Test, os ensaios consistiram na dissolução da proteína dos sachês na água com turbidez sintética, incluindo as operações unitárias de coagulação e floculação em alguns ensaios e em outros não e, por fim, foi feita a sedimentação por 60 minutos. Nos ensaios de clarificação com coagulação e floculação, as dosagens de 0,8 g e 1,0 g obtiveram eficiências de clarificação bastante próximas do coagulante líquido. Nos ensaios com coagulação e floculação, observou-se eficiência de redução de turbidez dos sachês variando de 85,5% a 97,4%, respectivamente para 0,6 g e 1,0 g, sendo que o coagulante líquido apresentou eficiência de 97,9%. Já quando não houve a realização dessas etapas, 50,6%, 89,92% e 94,8%, respectivamente. Com relação à cor aparente, essas eficiências foram 88,7%, 97,8% e 99,0% quando houve coagulação e floculação e 56,1%. 91,3% e 96,3% quando não houve. Concluiu-se que quando houve a realização da coagulação e sedimentação as amostras ficaram mais homogêneas, além de resultarem maiores valores de eficiência de redução de turbidez e cor aparente. Assim, conclui-se que a utilização dos sachês é um processo eficiente quando comparado com a aplicação do coagulante de Moringa oleifera na forma de solução / Abstract: The access to water with good quality to human consumption has been the subject of many studies which the main goal is the development of new technologies or the improvement of the existing structures used to provide water to public supply. As many technologies depends on high investments and qualified labor, the most accessible alternative to small communities or people with less purchasing is to use natural coagulants. One of them is the seed-based coagulant of Moringa oleifera. Some researches find that the protein on the seeds is the responsible by the coagulation and that the surplus material of them may compromise the water treatment. This objective of this paperwork presents a new technology of application of this coagulant. It was developed a sachet with Moringa oleifera powder seeds that releases the protein responsible for the coagulant effects of seeds. After determining the material to manufacture the sachets, 3 different levels of powder in the sachets (0,6 g, 0,8 g and 1,0 g) were tested for water clarification with synthetic turbidity, subsequently the comparison of the performance of the sachets with the liquid coagulant. Using an equipment Jar-Test, the tests consisted in the dissolution of the protein of the sachets on water with synthetic turbidity, including the unit operations of coagulation and flocculation on some tests and not in the others, finally it was made the sedimentation for 60 minutes. In the tests of clarification with the coagulation and flocculation steps, the dosages 0,8 g and 1,0 g obtained efficient results in clarification similar with the liquid coagulant. In the tests with coagulation and flocculation, we can see the efficiency of turbidity reduction of the sachets ranging from 85,5% to 97,4%, respectively to 0,6 g to 1,0 g, and considering that the liquid coagulant showed 97,9% of efficient. About the apparent color, this efficiencies were 88,7%, 97,8% and 90,0% when there was coagulation and flocculation, and 56,1%, 91,3% and 96,3% when there wasn't. The final results found show us that when the coagulation and flocculation were used, the samples were more homogenous and presented improved values of efficiency of turbidity and apparent color reduction. Thus, it was concluded that the use of sachets is a process efficient compared with the application of Moringa oleifera coagulant as a solution / Mestrado / Saneamento e Ambiente / Mestre em Engenharia Civil

La floculation est un procédé que l’on peut retrouver dans plusieurs applications au niveau industriel comme la fabrication du papier ou le traitement de l’eau. Il est nécessaire de comprendre la formation et la structure des agrégats floculés pour maîtriser et optimiser un tel procédé. La plupart des études sur la floculation implique des particules sphériques, impliquant ainsi un manque de connaissance sur la floculation de particules anisotropes comme par exemple des plaquettes de colloïdes argileux. C’est pour cela que dans cette étude, j’ai étudié la floculation d’une suspension d’argile type Montmorillonite dans l’eau par des polyélectrolytes cationiques modèles appelés ionènes. En utilisant ce système modèle, il est possible d’étudier l’effet de la densité de charges des ionènes, la taille des plaquettes d’argile ou encore la longueur des chaînes sur le mode de floculation et l’arrangement des chaînes et des plaquettes au sein des agrégats. Dans un premier temps, l’effet de la densité de charge des polyélectrolytes sur l’efficacité de floculation a été étudié en combinant des mesures de turbidité et de potentiel zêta. Ces mesures ont permis de montrer que la densité de charge des ionènes influence le mode de floculation et les conditions de floculation optimale. La conformation des chaînes dépend de la densité de charge des ionènes et c’est pour cela que j’ai poursuivi l’étude par des mesures de diffusion de rayonnement aux petits angles afin de pouvoir corréler l’effet de la conformation des chaînes avec la structure des agrégats à différentes échelles. La diffusion des rayons X aux petits angles a permis de montrer la présence d’organisation des plaquettes sous forme d’empilement face-face. Ensuite, cette technique a permis de souligner l’effet de la densité de charge sur la distance entre plaquettes dans les empilements. Pour les ionènes les moins chargés, la formation de boucles de chaînes des ionènes entre les faces d’argile induit les distances entre plaquettes les plus grandes au sein des agrégats. Les différences de conformations des différents ionènes ont été confirmées par diffusion de neutrons aux petits angles. Cette technique, sous la condition de variation de contraste, permet de sonder uniquement les chaînes dans les agrégats. J’ai également étudié le comportement des différents ionènes en solution aqueuse en absence des particules d’argile par diffusion de neutrons aux petits angles et RMN. Dans le domaine des hautes concentrations, ces systèmes montrent clairement des différences d’interaction entre les chaînes en fonction de la nature des contre-ions. L’évolution de ces interactions suit parfaitement la série de Hofmeister. / Flocculation is a key process in numerous environmental and industrial technologies such as purification of waste-water or paper making. It is necessary to understand the formation and structure of the aggregates to control and optimize such a process. Most of the studies on flocculation involve spherical particles, but there is a clear need to understand the flocculation of anisotropic particles such as clay colloids, which are platelets. I studied the flocculation of montmorillonite clay suspensions in water by well-defined cationic polyelectrolytes called ionenes. By using this model system, it is possible to study the effect of relative charge densities and sizes of ionene chains and clay platelets, on the mode of flocculation and their arrangement inside the aggregates formed. Initially, I studied the effect of charge density of polyelectrolytes on the flocculation efficiency of clay platelets, by combining measurements of turbidity and zeta potential. While the aggregates are always ionene-deficient, the charge density of ionenes leads to variations in the mode of flocculation and in the optimum flocculation conditions. The conformation of the ionene chains inside the aggregates depends on the charge density of ionenes and this is why I continued the study by small-angle scattering experiments in order to correlate the conformation of the chains with the structure of aggregates on different spatial scales. Small-angle X-ray scattering showed the presence of platelet stacks in a face-face configuration, demonstrating itself as a clear stacking peak in the scattering spectra. Further, this technique allowed to highlight the effect of the charge density on the interlamellar spacing inside these stacks. For the most weakly charged ionenes, loops of the ionene chains between the faces of adjacent platelets induce a higher interlamellar spacing inside the stacks. The differences of conformation of ionenes are confirmed by small-angle neutron scattering. This technique, under the condition of contrast matching, allows to probe only ionene chains within the aggegates aggregates. On a larger spatial scale, I have observed that by matching closely the charge density on ionene chains and on clay platelets the most compact aggregates are produced. I have also studied the behaviour of the different ionenes in aqueous solution in absence of clay particles by small-angle neutron scattering and NMR. At high chain concentrations, these systems clearly show differences in inter-chain interactions, depending on the nature of their counterions. The evolution of these interactions follows closely the Hofmeister series.

Abstract Interactions between the components of papermaking suspensions (e.g. fibres, fillers, fines and polymers) have a remarkable effect on various unit processes in papermaking. The filterability of fibre suspensions, which is a crucial property for example in paper sheet forming and solid recovery, is also known to be depended on particle interactions. However, due to the complex nature of the interactions, the role of these phenomena in fibre suspension filtration is still not fully understood. The focus of this thesis was to find out how phenomena associated to fibre flocculation, fibre deflocculation and filler particle deposition affect the filterability of fibre suspensions in terms of their dewaterability and retention. It was shown that the influence of fibre flocculation on dewatering is closely related to the structure of fibre flocs. More importantly, the internal density of flocs and factors that impacted the packing structure of filter cakes, such as floc size, played a crucial role in fibre suspension dewaterability. Dense flocs with a low internal porosity particularly induces fast water flow by a mechanism termed as the “easiest path mechanism” through the large voids around the flocs. The effect of fibre suspension dispersing on dewaterability and particularly fines retention was found to be associated to the mechanism of action of the deflocculation agent. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), the deflocculant used in this study, had detrimental effects on the dewatering of a pulp suspension both when being adsorbed on fibre surfaces and when remained in the liquid phase. However, adsorbed CMC causes more plugging of the filter cake because it disperses the fines more profoundly. Thus the adsorbed CMC also reduces fines retention considerably more than CMC did in the liquid phase. Filler deposition and retention was found to be significantly higher on pulp fines fractions of mechanical and chemical pulp than on fibre fractions due to the higher external surface area of fines. The surface charge densities of pulp fractions also affected their ability to adsorb fillers. Cationic charges of filler particles was in turn observed to induce deposition of fillers on fibre surfaces which increased retention but also the dewaterability of a fibre suspension due to a decrease in total surface area of a suspension.

Les suspensions de particules colloidales dans des fluides newtoniens sont utilisées dans un grand nombre de secteurs pour leurs propriétés complexes. Ces dernières proviennent de l’interaction entre les forces hydrodynamiques et les forces physico-chimiques interparticulaires. Malgré de nombreuses études dédiées aux comportements des suspensions colloïdales le lien entre propriétés macroscopiques et forces d’interactions est toujours source de discussions. L’objectif de ce travail est de comprendre et caractériser, aux différentes échelles, et à l’aide de différentes techniques expérimentales, le lien entre la floculation des suspensions et quelques grandeurs rhéologiques (module élastique et contrainte seuil) caractérisant leur comportement macroscopique.La diversité chimique, en taille et en forme des constituants des pâtes cimentaires ainsi que la réactivité du système rendant l’étude trop délicate, des suspensions modèles sont utilisées (particules de silice sphériques et broyés en suspension dans de l’eau).Les suspensions colloïdales formulées sont thixotropes, l’évolution des propriétés rhéologiques en fonction du temps est analysée.Pour les deux types de suspensions, on observe que la contrainte seuil et le module élastique augmentent avec la fraction volumique en particules, la force ionique et le temps de repos.Ces deux grandeurs dépendent de la microstructure des suspensions mais décrivent deux réponses distinctes du matériau suite à l’application d’une sollicitation mécanique. Bien que ces grandeurs soient pilotées par la microstructure du matériau il n’y a pas d’évidence qu’elles soient liées l’une à l’autre. Cependant toutes les données G’=f(Tc) se placent sur une courbe unique pour un type de particule et une taille donnée. Ce résultat confirme que le module élastique peut être utilisé comme un paramètre de structuration caractérisant l’influence de la floculation sur la contrainte seuil. De plus nous nous sommes intéressés à l’impact de la taille des particules sur la réponse rhéologique du matériau. Nous observons que la contrainte seuil est proportionnelle à l’inverse de la taille des particules au carré et le module élastique à l’inverse de la taille des particules. Les modèles présents dans la littérature ne prédisent pas la même normalisation par la taille, cela suggère que les interactions interparticulaires contrôlant le comportement macroscopique ne sont pas encore totalement comprises.L’observation des suspensions au repos par microscopie confocale ne révèle pas de réorganisation structurelle dans le temps. Ainsi la thixotropie des suspensions s’explique probablement par l’existence de nano-organisations structurelles. Cependant des différences de structures sont mises en évidence pour des suspensions de formulations éloignées. Une structure primaire dépendant de l’intensité des interactions et de la fraction volumique se forme de manière instantanée une fois que le précisaillement est arrêté. Il s’en suit une évolution des propriétés rhéologiques avec le temps de repos qui est attribuée à des réarrangements très localisés non visibles par microscopie / Suspensions of colloidal particles suspended in a Newtonian fluid are encountered in many fields of daily life or industrial sectors. Complex behavior of colloidal suspensions comes from the interplay between hydrodynamical and several physico-chemical interactions between the particles. Even if a lot of works have been devoted to these topics, the complex relationships between the interparticle forces and the suspension's overall macroscopic behavior are far from being fully understood. This work aims to understand and characterize, at different scales, and through several techniques, the link between the flocculation state and some rheological properties (elastic modulus and yield stress) of colloidal suspensions.As in real system diversity in sizes, shapes, chemical constituents combined with chemical reaction make the system hard to control we work with model suspensions (spherical and crushed silica particles suspended in water).The suspensions being highly thixotropic, we characterize the evolution of their rheological properties (elastic modulus: G’ and yield stress: τc) with time.We observe for both materials that yield stress and elastic modulus increase with volume fraction, ionic strength and resting time.The two quantities G’ and τc depend on the microstructure ie the floculation state but are linked to two different kinds of response when a mechanical loading is apply to the system. Of course, both quantities depend on the flocculation state of the system but there is not clear evidence that these two quantities must be linked one to the other. However all the data G’=f (τc) collapse onto a simple curve for a given type and a given size of particle. This result proves that elastic shear modulus can be used as a “structural parameter” to account for the influence of flocculation on the yield stress.Moreover we focus on the effect of particle size on the measured properties and we observe that the yield stress scales with the inverse of the squared particle size and the elastic modulus with the inverse of particle size. The models existing in literature do not predict this scaling which would suggest that the interactions controlling macroscopic behaviour are still not fully understood.The observations performed with cofocal microscopy do not reveal any structural organisations when suspensions are left at rest. Then thixotropy of suspensions is assumed to be linked to nano scale change in microstructure. But different microstructure are observed regarding the suspension formulation. A primary microstructure is instantaneously formed once preshear is stopped depending on the intensity of interactions and volume fraction. After that the evolution of rheometric quantities with resting time are attributed to very local rearrangement not detectable with microscopy

Coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation is a common pretreatment process prior to microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF) to alleviate membrane fouling, however there has been limited research on floatation as the pretreatment separation process. The main objective of this study is to compare sedimentation with floatation as part of the pretreatment for ultrafiltration of Ottawa River water (ORW) with relatively high natural organic matter (NOM) content. Water samples pretreated at two full-scale plants were subjected to multiple-day UF membrane fouling tests (constant flux with backwash and chemical cleaning) using an automated bench-scale UF hollow fiber membrane system. For all the experiments, the transmembrane pressure (TMP) increased sharply during the beginning of the operation (~10 h), which indicated the adsorption was significant. In the later cycles, the TMP showed a more linear constant increase, which indicated the built up of the cake layers. The total fouling index (TFI), hydraulically irreversible fouling index (HIFI) and chemical irreversible fouling index (CIFI) for floated water were much smaller than those of settled waters during both summer and winter testing. Thus, for this type of water coagulation/floatation pretreatment was superior process compared to coagulation/sedimentation, the decreased fouling appears to be linked to greater hydrophobic NOM removal by the coagulation/floatation. For all the tests, HIFI/TFIs were less than 0.1, which is to mean most of the fouling was reversible by hydraulic backwashing.Large fluctuation of backwash efficiencies with time were found for all the tested waters. Enhanced chemical backwash with 100 ppm chlorine and chemical clean with 0.1N NaOH & 200 ppm chlorine were found to be very effective at reducing fouling for pretreated ORW. As expected longer filtration cycles resulted in greater fouling but with a slightly greater degree of hydraulically reversible fouling.

Sedimentation is a fundamental operation in wastewater treatment works. A rational design of sedimentation tanks is currently achieved by plotting iso-percentile (iso-percentage) concentration removal profiles from flocculent settling data. A major drawback of the graphical iso-percentage method is that the iso-percentile lines are often manually interpolated and are mere hand drawn estimations. This is because the settling behaviour of sludge particles is highly non-linear. The manual analytical process is therefore very tedious, inaccurate and subjective. Hence, an optimised design of sedimentation tanks is necessary in order to eliminate the errors incurred during data analysis. In this study, a mechanistic iso-percentile flocculent model (referred to as the velocity flocculation model) is developed to simulate the behaviour of flocculating colloidal particles in turbid water. This model is based on the physical meanings of flocculent settling particles and on fractal theory. It is formulated to produce automated iso-percentile curves which are fundamental in the design of sedimentation tanks. The iso-percentile model was vertically integrated into a velocity model to produce a model expressing the velocity of particles as a function of removal rate. The velocity model has an obvious advantage over the iso-percentile model in that it is easy to contextualize. It can be reverted back to the iso-percentile trajectory analysis eliminating the need for extensive data interpolation and may in future eliminate the need for settling column analysis altogether. In the current study, the integrated velocity form is used to predict instantaneous flocculent settling velocity of fine suspended particles under near quiescent conditions. This is vital since it is difficult to obtain velocity values in-situ or directly from sedimentation tanks. Model validity and competency was tested by a direct comparison with existing literature models, such as Ozer’s model and Ramatsoma and Chirwa’s model. Model comparison was based on the goodness of fit, the least sum of square errors and mathematical consistency with known flocculent settling behaviour. The newly developed iso-percentile model achieved a more accurate simulation of physical experimental data, did not violate any of the mathematical constraints and yielded lower sum of square errors than originally achieved by Ozer and Ramatsoma and Chirwa. Notably, the proposed velocity model offers a distinctive advantage over conventional interpolated-iso-percentile based models which are prone to numerical errors during interpolation. Its performance (velocity model) was compared against Je and Chang’s velocity model. Higher velocity values were observed for the new model than for Je and Chang’s model implying that empirically based models would tend to under-predict the velocity values. The model developed in this study brings us one step closer to achieving full automation of the settling tank and clarifier design. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

As populations continue to grow, the demand for fresh drinking water is increasing. This puts a lot of pressure on drinking water producers to strive for more efficient solutions and techniques. Many producers worldwide use surface water as a raw water source, which they often treat through coagulation and flocculation techniques. This is done by adding coagulant (e.g. metal coagulants), creating instability in the suspension, causing flocculation. In this work, PIX-311 (a FeCl3 coagulant produced by Kemira) and Al2(SO4)3 (Kemwater ALG) were used as primary coagulants and CaCl2 (produced by TETRA Chemicals) as an adjunct in a coagulation and flocculation study. The goal of this work was to study the effects of CaCl2 additions to Fe(III) and Al(III) flocculation. The experiments were conducted at Ringsjöverket (a water treatment facility), using jar tests to simulate the treatment process on a laboratory scale. The raw water samples used in this study, were taken from Bolmen, a lake in southern Sweden. A spectrophotometer was used to monitor the efficiency of flocculation by UV-VIS absorption. In the first experiments, various CaCl2 additions were added to Fe(III) flocculation, with FeCl3 as a primary coagulant. To see if FeCl3 could be substituted with CaCl2, the amount of primary coagulant was reduced to about 80% of the optimal dosage (the dose used daily by the water treatment plant). In the next series of experiments, various amounts of CaCl2 were added with an optimal dose of FeCl3. After that, the effects of CaCl2 additions to Al(III) flocculation were conducted, using Al2(SO4)3 as a primary coagulant. The experiments followed the previous scheme used in Fe(III) flocculation. The UV-VIS results showed that no CaCl2 additions were effective enough to replace the primary coagulant. However, reduced amount of primary coagulant benefited slightly from small CaCl2 additions. A likely explanation for this is the ability of Ca2+ to aid in charge neutralization and reduce the repulsive forces between particles in suspension, aiding coagulation. Furthermore, CaCl2 additions, with reasonable certainty, did not increase the efficiency of Fe(III) flocculation. When the CaCl2 dose was increased (from about 13µl to 820 µl per liter raw water), the effect became negative. In other words, high doses of CaCl2 inhibited flocculation by, most likely, occupying adsorption sites for the primary coagulant. This was observed for an optimal FeCl3 dose, reduced FeCl3 dose and an optimal dose of Al2(SO4)3. In the more brief study on Al(III) flocculation, low CaCl2 doses did not appear to have any effect on flocculation at first.  However, when a reduced amount of Al2(SO4)3 was used, the samples with CaCl2 gave better UV-VIS results once the pH was increased from 6 to about 6.15. One explanation for this could be that the shift in flocculation mechanism at higher pH, causes CaCl2 to have an increased positive effect.

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