Utilisation of Glass Reinforced Plastics as Cost Effective Alternative to Traditional Materials in Access Panel Design for Waste Water Treatment Plants

Composites are fast becoming a cost effective option when considering the design of engineering structures in a broad range of applications. If the strength to weight benefits of these material systems can be exploited and challenges in developing lower cost manufacturing methods overcome, then the advanced composite systems will play a bigger role in the diverse range of sectors outside the aerospace industry where they have been used for decades.
This paper presents physical testing results that showcase the advantages of GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastics), such as the ability to endure loading with minimal deformation. The testing involved is a cross comparison of GRP grating vs. GRP encapsulated foam core. Resulting data gained within this paper will then be coupled with design optimization (utilising model simulation) to bring forward layup alterations to meet the specified load classifications involved.

Application of guar gum as a flocculant aid in food processing and potable water treatment

The paper deals with use of a food grade coagulant (guar gum) as a replacement for synthetic coagulants for potable water treatment.

Water Treatment Goes Underground

This is an invited paper to 'The Chemical Engineer' published by IChemE (UK). The paper summarises the technology on arsenic removal from groundwater, which has been recognised by prestigious Ambani Prize of IChemE (UK).

Investigating the of Water treatment residuals on Phosphorus mobility derived from biosolid application to Willow coppice

Short rotation willow coppice (SRWC) treatment of biosolids is limited by the oversupply of biosolid derived phosphorus; this can lead to eventual losses of phosphorus to water. Water treatment residuals (WTR), a by-product of potable water treatment, have been identified as a viable soil amendment for mitigation of phosphorus loss. WTR exploit the capacity of internally held aluminium oxide-hydroxide complexes to immobilise labile phosphorus. However indiscriminate additions to plots can result in inadequate control or excessive immobilization of soluble P, leading to crop deficiencies. Four commercially grown common willow (Salix) genotypes (Terra Nova, Endeavour, Resolution and Tora) were grown in soil amended with WTR at five different application rates (0, 10, 25, 50 and 100 tonne ha-1 air-dry basis) in a glasshouse pot experiment. The effects of application rates on plant yields, tissue P concentrations, P uptake and soil labile P availability were measured. Results indicate labile P was reduced with increasing WTR application rates, without any negative agronomic impacts.

Improvements Relating to Water Treatment

A process for the treatment of water comprising at least the steps of : (a) providing the water in laminar flow; and (b) providing bubblefree aeration to the water. The present invention introduces aerobic treatment into wastewater settlement without any hindrance to the settlement process. The present invention is useable for any settlement step or stage, without limitation, the commonest being primary settlement or final settling.

COD and NH4-N Estimation in the Inflow of Wastewater Treatment Plants using Machine Learning Techniques

The in-line measurement of COD and NH4-N in the WWTP inflow is crucial for the timely monitoring of biological wastewater treatment processes and for the development of advanced control strategies for optimized WWTP operation. As a direct measurement of COD and NH4-N requires expensive and high maintenance in-line probes or analyzers, an approach estimating COD and NH4-N based on standard and spectroscopic in-line inflow measurement systems using Machine Learning Techniques is presented in this paper. The results show that COD estimation using Radom Forest Regression with a normalized MSE of 0.3, which is sufficiently accurate for practical applications, can be achieved using only standard in-line measurements. In the case of NH4-N, a good estimation using Partial Least Squares Regression with a normalized MSE of 0.16 is only possible based on a combination of standard and spectroscopic in-line measurements. Furthermore, the comparison of regression and classification methods shows that both methods perform equally well in most cases.

The Application of Semiconductor Photocatalysis for the Removal of Cyanotoxins from Water and Design Concepts for Solar Photocatalytic Reactors for Large Scale Water Treatment

There has been a significant increase in the occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms in freshwaters over the past few decades due to escalating nutrient levels. These cyanobacteria release a range of toxins, for example microcystins which are chemically very stable. Many cyanotoxins are consequently very difficult to remove from water using existing treatment technologies. Semiconductor photocatalysis, however, has proven to be a very effective process for the removal of these compounds from water. In this chapter we consider the application of this highly versatile and exciting technology for the decomposition of cyanotoxins. Furthermore design concepts for solar photocatalytic reactors that could be utilized for the removal of these toxins are also considered