Date of Graduation

5-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Chemical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Hestekin, Christa N.

Abstract

My main duty for the project was to design various tests to assess the quality of the water and to assure that the water we were producing complies with the World Health Organization’s standards. I was responsible for researching these requirements and communicating with experts in the field so that our team could make logical decisions as to how the design should be altered. The first professor I had interactions with was Dr. Julian Fairy who is a civil engineering expert in waste water treatment. He advised us on our entire system design and effective ways for testing the chlorine levels in the water. He explained the concept of residual chlorine, which is an important part of the treatment process as it ensures that all the bacteria in the water has been killed. The second person I had some communication with was Dr. Wen Zhang, and she explained to us what types of bacteria are most common in water and the methods that should be used to kill them. For the final report, I completing the cost analysis for the design and finalizing the budget for the Phase 2 project proposal. I also worked on the Life Cycle Assessment for the paper and that compared the positive and negative impacts of our water treatment system on the environment. There some negative effects that a chlorine spill can have on the environment if it occurs in large amounts; however, for the scope of this project, that was not an issue. The positive impact that access to clean water would have on the population of India therefore greatly outweighs the negative. I also worked on the design and construction of the hand pump. The low cost hand pump was necessary for pumping water out of the storage pool for use after it had been treated. The design incorporates two pipes of different sizes with the smaller of the two creating suction when placed on the inside. This ingenious design produces about 15 psi of pressure in the discharge.

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