ENGG1111 Research Brief: Low Cost Water Filtration

Andre Kotevski 2019

Low Cost Water

Filtration
Table of Contents:
 Title Page Pg. (1)

 Table of Contents Pg. (2)

 Executive Summary Pg. (3)

 Introduction Pg. (3)

 Body Pg. (3)-(4)

 Recommendation Pg. (4)

 Conclusion Pg. (4)-(5)

 References Pg. (5)

Executive Summary
This report is intended to provide the Company with the understanding of the provision of low cost
water filtration. This report will provide solutions for this company to pursue a new and low costing
technology for water filtration systems. This Company should and will be able to come up with a
decision to provide a water filtration system and use it for various applications. The final
recommendation for a water filtration system is a water clarifier through its effective properties,
being low cost, efficient and flexible use as explained through the report.

Introduction
Low cost water filtration technologies are constantly being innovated to provide the most efficient
whilst also retaining low costs. Recent research has provided new technologies with low cost water
filtration, numerous methods such as a water clarifier, lime softening, flocculation, dissolved air
floatation as well as a distillation column. Therefore it is necessary to take into account the cost,
effectiveness, efficiency and practicality when making a decision for a water filtration system.

Main Body
Modern research that has been innovated for the projects of low cost water filtration have come up
with solutions to these problems. One technology of low cost water filtration is a water clarifier. This
method is where a built in tank continuously removes solids particles. When water enters this tank,
clarifying agents are added to the water. It then becomes mixed together which causes the
suspended particles in the water to clump together due to the cyclic motion of the tank which then
float to the surface and then scrapped off with skimmer which takes the impurities out of the water,
thus producing water treatment. This is a relatively simple process of filtrating water as well as a
cheaper alternative to other methods, it is efficient and eliminates impurities very effectively.
Although this require many tanks and overall size of the tanks are large, which is necessary to filtrate
the large amounts of water in the tanks. However a water clarifier can be used for multiple purposes
and as of such can be modified for specialised applications. Conclusively this is a recommended
method for low cost water filtration.

Another technology of water filtration which is similar to sedimentation is flocculation in which

water enters a chamber where paddles/turbines constantly rotate with the addition of a particles to
mix or clump together where the paddles direct them into an exit chamber where it is filtered. The
clumps settle to the base of the chamber where it is collected to be separated. Very cost effective
and allows for larger capacity of water to be treated. This is also a very efficient simple water
filtration system.

One other low cost filtration system is dissolved air floatation, now this water treatment is a process
which is achieved by dissolving air in water under pressure. This air is now released in a tank, the air
which has just been released suspends the impurities to the surface of the tank where a skimmer
removes the waste. Also a very effective and simple method of water filtration using pressure to
remove impurities, as well as a low energy consumption.

Other forms of low cost water filtration systems is lime softening in which through the addition of
calcium hydroxide or limewater removes ions through creating solids in the solutions where a
specific term called precipitation. This is a relatively inexpensive method as it only requires the
water, and the addition of limewater along with a simple separator which retains the solids while
allowing the filtered water to flow through into a tank. Although not relatively new, it has been
innovated to provide an effective and resourceful method of saving costs as well as a filtrating water
solution.
A distillation column which is used to separate two or more components by heating the mixture to
different boiling points allowing for one or the other to change to a gas state which becomes
collected, separated then condense, thus separating the two fluids. The way this works is through a
column of stacked plates in which the mixed fluid flows through the plates as the temperature
increase one of the fluids would turn to vapour and rise through to a condenser. The greater the
height and diameter of the distillation column allows for a much more effective filtration system as
well as only utilising low level energy consumption.

Highly effective, Coagulation is another form of water treatment for water filtration as it involves
adding polymers to the impurities in the water which then combine to form larger groups, allowing
for easier removal of the waste, as described in the image below illustrating the process of
coagulation. Coagulants uses charged opposites to attract solids in the water, once the particles are
attracted they form larger clumps of these particles, initially the particles are incredibly small
therefore filtering small particles is very difficult to perform, thus by attracting these particle
together to form larger particles makes it easier to filtrate. Therefore once the particles are large
enough they are easily removed from the tank, filtrating the water.

Recent research developed by two students (1) Rachel Chang and Ryan Thorpe in 2017 have
developed a filtration system which detects and purifies water using bacteria. As of such creating a
graphene biosensor which creates a signal when bacteria comes into contact allowing for the
location of the bacteria. Once locating the bacteria chemicals are entered using a microprocessor
once bacteria is detected which eliminates the bacteria, and hence purifies the water. A small scale
as of now however, can be modified for large scale water purification. This recent design is a
possible solution however testing of large scale practices would need to be conducted to ensure it
can be used for various applications of water treatment, as of now it provides for small scale instead
of industrial purposes. However this is significantly cheap to other methods of filtration making this
a viable solution for low cost water filtration.

Recommendation
Through detailed research, this report provides the necessary information for this Company to make
a selection of a recently new low cost water filtration system, as a recommendation I would
recommend utilising a water clarifier as it provides the most efficient and cost effective method of
filtrating water. Furthermore it is incredibly efficient and simple to utilise meaning minimal skill is
required for use. Since it can be used for multiple applications and provides high results in filtrating
water. However since the use of application is not specified all the listed solutions are suitable for
water filtration. By selecting a water clarifier, this allows for mass filtration of water due to the
overall size of the tanks. As well as the water clarifier can be modified to perform more specific task
such as removing smaller particles. However for a general use of water filtration a water clarifier is
recommended. A water clarifier is very cost effective, although not relatively new it has been
modified and innovated to perform greater task of filtrating water.

Conclusion
Conclusively throughout this report, there are suggestions for relevant solutions on low cost water
filtration systems for this company to utilise in multiple applications. As stated through the report
many of the selected solutions are relatively low cost and recent to provide water filtration however
few stated have been innovated for modern purposes allowing it to be used for modern problems.
The suggested solutions in this report include as followed: A water clarifier in which water is placed
in a tank and an agent is added to cause the impurities to float to the top in which it is skimmed off,
secondly the process of flocculation in which paddles or turbines constantly rotate and impurities
clump together and is then separated from the chamber. Thirdly, is dissolved air floatation where air
is dissolved under pressure, the air is released suspending the impurities to the top of the chamber.
Lime softening is the method where limewater is added to the water generating solids which
becomes filtered and separated. A distillation column, simply used by heating two solutions together
in which one will transfer to a gas state, separated then condensed allowing for the mixture to be
separated, although efficient, water can be lost. Finally the last method is coagulation in which
polymers are added to water which form clumps of impurities which sink to the bottom of a tank
and removed allowing for efficient filtration. All in which these selected forms of water filtration
systems are highly effective in producing clean water as well as, these methods are significantly cost
effective and efficient in producing low cost water filtration. As well as Rachel and Ryan’s filtration
device which uses a microprocessor to detect and inject chemicals to eliminate bacteria. Finally as a
final recommendation for the use of low cost water filtration which can be utilised for many
applications, I would suggest selecting a water clarifier due to the vast properties and effectiveness
that this process attains. Generally it can perform similar task to those stated above, however as also
stated, the specific application of the water filtration system is unspecified. As such each solution
above provides different uses. However on an overall note a water clarifier is cheap, can be mass
produced and delivers high purity levels of water. Furthermore, the use of this system is simple and
can be manned by low level skills, thus further making this system cost effective. Conclusively this
report will allow this Company to come up with a decision for a low cost water filtration system
based on the evidence provided above.

References
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Wikipediaorg. 1 February 2019. Wikipediaorg. [Online]. [16 March 2019]. Available from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flocculation

Wikipediaorg. 28 December 2018. Wikipediaorg. [Online]. [16 March 2019].Available from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarifier

Nihgov. Jul 21 2011. PubMed Central (PMC). [Online]. [16 March 2019]. Available from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4921383/

Epagov. 2016. US EPA. [Online]. [16 March 2019]. Available from:

https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/water-topics

Engineeringforchangeorg. 2012. Engineering For Change. [Online]. [16 March 2019].Available

from: https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/ten-low-cost-ways-to-treat-water/

Srsengineeringcom. 2016. SRS Engineering Home. [Online]. [16 March 2019].Available from:
http://www.srsengineering.com/our-products/distillation-columns/how-columns-work/

(1)Thesourcemagazineorg. 2017. Thesourcemagazineorg. [Online]. [16 March 2019].Available

from: https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/young-scientists-awarded-low-cost-water-
purification-concept/

Thesourcemagazineorg. October 12, 2017. Thesourcemagazineorg. [Online]. [16 March

2019]. Available from: https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/young-scientists-awarded-low-
cost-water-purification-concept/