Wastewater Treatment Lab

Project Goal: Design and build a wastewater treatment laboratory for the University of Arizona Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department to use in a novel hands-on course.

The UA Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering is developing a wastewater treatment laboratory. It will combine several unit operations to purify artificial wastewater for demonstrating classic techniques. The feed streams are modeled after raw water concentrations seen as runoff from common industries in southern Arizona.

The project addresses coagulation, flocculation, gravity filtration and advanced oxidative treatment processes as well as design of the three chemical broths for separation. These were incorporated into a previous team design that uses reverse osmosis and a membrane bioreactor. An interchangeable valve setup varied the order of flow through the subsystems. Separation was characterized by monitoring pH, density, turbidity and electric conductivity throughout the process.

The design included researching, sizing, selecting and building each unit operation and associated equipment so the laboratory can feasibly operate in a safe, cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner.