Application of Turbidity Meters for the Quantitative Analysis of Flocculation in a Jar Test Apparatus
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 9
Abstract
Turbidity is an important water-quality indicator as it not only indicates the presence of suspended solids but also shows the possible presence of algae, microorganisms, organic matter, and microparticulates. Generally, turbidity is removed through two very important steps in a typical water treatment process: coagulation and flocculation. At lab scale the measurement of flocculation activity may often be difficult and imprecise because reproducible water samples need to be taken offline and inserted into a turbidity meter or spectrophotometer, while the standard jar test system is relatively imprecise and measurements discontinuous and/or subjective. To allow routine quantification, an online quantitative method for the analysis of flocculation activity was developed, which can measure sedimentation as a function of time. This method involved modification of a standard, commercial jar test apparatus by the addition of six turbidity meters coupled with a data-acquisition system operating with LabView software. This system has been tested using a standard reference turbid water suspension containing kaolin, with aluminium sulphate and ferric sulphate as coagulants.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was undertaken with financial support from the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Frontiers Programme award number 08/RFP/EOB1413.
References
Aboytes, R., et al. (2004). “Detection of infectious Cryptosporidium in filtered drinking water.” J. Am. Water Works Assn., 96(9), 88–98.
APHA (American Public Health Association). (1985). “Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater.” AWWA (American Water Works Association) and APCF (American Pollution Control Federation), Washington, DC.
Barbot, E., Dussouillez, P., Bottero, J. Y., and Moulin, P. (2010). “Coagulation of bentonite suspension by polyelectrolytes or ferric chloride: Floc breakage and reformation.” Chem. Eng. J., 156(1), 83–91.
Betancourt, W. Q., and Rose, J. B. (2004). “Drinking water treatment processes for removal of Cryptosporidium and Giardia.” Vet. Parasitol., 126(1–2), 219–234.
Bratby, J. (2006). Coagulation and flocculation in water and wastewater treatment, IWA Publishing, London.
Bremer, M., and Doerge, R. W. (2010). Statistics at the bench: A step-by-step handbook for biologists, Cold Spring Harbor Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY.
Cheng, W. P., Chang, J. N., Chen, P. H., Yu, R. F., and Huang, Y. W. (2011a). “Turbidity fluctuation as a measure of floc size in a coagulation pilot study.” Desalin. Water Treat., 30(1–3), 98–104.
Cheng, W. P., Chen, P. H., Yu, R. F., Hsieh, Y. J., and Huang, Y. W. (2011b). “Comparing floc strength using a turbidimeter.” Int. J. Miner. Process., 100(3–4), 142–148.
Cheng, W. P., Kao, Y. P., and Yu, R. F. (2008). “A novel method for on-line evaluation of floc size in coagulation process.” Water Res., 42(10–11), 2691–2697.
D’Antonio, R. G., et al. (1985). “A waterborne outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis in normal hosts.” Ann. Intern. Med., 103(6), 886–888.
EPA. (1999). “Importance of turbidity.” Environmental Protection Agency, Wexford, Ireland.
EPA. (2002). “Water treatment manual: Coagulation, flocculation and clarification.” Environmental Protection Agency, Wexford, Ireland.
Franceschi, M., Girou, A., Carro-Diaz, A. M., Maurette, M. T., and Puech-Costes, E. (2002). “Optimisation of the coagulation-flocculation process of raw water by optimal design method.” Water Res., 36(14), 3561–3572.
Goldstein, S. T., et al. (1996). “Cryptosporidiosis: An outbreak associated with drinking water despite state-of-the-art water treatment.” Ann. Intern. Med., 124(5), 459–468.
Grayson, R. B., Finlayson, B. L., Gippel, C. J., and Hart, B. T. (1996). “The potential of field turbidity measurements for the computation of total phosphorus and suspended solids loads.” J. Environ. Manage., 47(3), 257–267.
Gregory, J. (1985). “Turbidity fluctuations in flowing suspensions.” J. Colloid Interface Sci., 105(2), 357–371.
Gregory, J., and Barany, S. (2011). “Adsorption and flocculation by polymers and polymer mixtures.” Adv. Colloid Interface Sci., 169(1), 1–12.
Huang, C. P., and Chen, G. S. (1996). “Use of the fiber-optical monitor in evaluating the state of flocculation.” Water Res., 30(11), 2723–2727.
Huey, G. M., and Meyer, M. L. (2010). “Turbidity as an indicator of water quality in diverse watersheds of the upper Pecos River basin.” Water, 2(2), 273–284.
IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry). (1976). “Nomenclature, symbols, units and their usage in spectrochemical analysis: II.” Pure Appl. Chem., 45, 99–103.
Kim, N. (2011). “The limit distribution of a modified Shapiro–Wilk statistic for normality to Type II censored data.” J. Korean Stats. Soc., 40(3), 257–266.
LeChevallier, M. W., Hassenauer, T. S., Camper, A. K., and McFeters, G. A. (1984). “Disinfection of bacteria attached to granular activated carbon.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 48(5), 918–923.
LeChevallier, M. W., Norton, W. D., and Lee, R. G. (1991). “Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp. in filtered drinking water supplies.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 57(9), 2617–2621.
Matilainen, A., Lindqvist, N., and Tuhkanen, T. (2005). “Comparison of the effiency of aluminium and ferric sulphate in the removal of natural organic matter during drinking water treatment process.” Environ. Technol., 26(8), 867–876.
Muyibi, S. E. L. (1999). “Floc settling characteristics of turbid water coagulated with Moringa oleifera seeds.” Int. J. Environ. Stud., 56(4), 483–495.
Packman, J. J., Comings, K. J., and Booth, D. B. (1999). “Using turbidity to determine total suspended solids in urbanizing streams in the Puget lowlands.” Confronting Uncertainty: Managing Change in Water Resources and the Environment, Proc., Canadian Water Resources Association Annual Meeting, Canadian Water Resources Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 158–165.
Pritchard, M., Craven, T., Mkandawire, T., Edmondson, A. S., and O’Neill, J. G. (2010). “A comparison between Moringa oleifera and chemical coagulants in the purification of drinking water—An alternative sustainable solution for developing countries.” Phys. Chem. Earth., 35(13–14), 798–805.
Rallison, J., and Hinch, E. (1986). “Effect of particle interactions on dynamic light scattering from a dilute suspension.” J. Fluid Mech., 167, 131–168.
Rossini, M., Garrido, J. G., and Galluzzo, M. (1999). “Optimization of the coagulation-flocculation treatment: Influence of rapid mix parameters.” Water Res., 33(8), 1817–1826.
Sadar, M. J. (1998). “Turbidity science.”, Hach Company, Loveland, CO.
Schwartz, J., Levin, R., and Goldstein, R. (2000). “Drinking water turbidity and gastrointestinal illness in the elderly of Philadelphia.” J. Epidemiol. Community Health, 54(1), 45–51.
Schwartz, J., Levin, R., and Hodge, K. (1997). “Drinking water turbidity and pediatric hospital use for gastrointestinal illness in Philadelphia.” Epidemiology, 8(6), 615–620.
Tse, I. C., Swetland, K., Weber-Shirk, M. L., and Lion, L. W. (2011). “Method for quantitative analysis of flocculation performance.” Water Res., 45(10), 3075–3084.
WHO (World Health Organization). (2011). “Guidelines for drinking-water quality.” World Health Organization, Geneva.
Xiao, F., Ma, J., Yi, P., and Huang, J.-C. H. (2008). “Effects of low temperature on coagulation of kaolinite suspensions.” Water Res., 42(12), 2983–2992.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 9 • September 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 4, 2013
Accepted: Dec 9, 2014
Published online: Feb 19, 2015
Discussion open until: Jul 19, 2015
Published in print: Sep 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.