Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended Sediment
Stormwater quality management has become an increasingly important topic. Pollutants from construction, urban, and agricultural runoff sources create adverse water quality impacts to receiving water bodies. Among these sources, suspended sediment has a significant influence on water quality and furt...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/10/2705 |
| _version_ | 1797552423198261248 |
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| author | Lan Liu Michael A. Perez J. Blake Whitman |
| author_facet | Lan Liu Michael A. Perez J. Blake Whitman |
| author_sort | Lan Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Stormwater quality management has become an increasingly important topic. Pollutants from construction, urban, and agricultural runoff sources create adverse water quality impacts to receiving water bodies. Among these sources, suspended sediment has a significant influence on water quality and further acts as a media for transporting pollutants. Current stormwater treatment practices remove large, rapidly settable, soil particles; however, fine soil particles tend to remain suspended and contribute to elevated turbidity conditions. A need exists for an economical and passive treatment mechanism for the removal of suspended solids. Lamella settlers have been shown to enhance soil particle capture by increasing surface area and reducing settling distance. The objective of this research was to identify and optimize design configurations for a lamella settler system in treating a variety of synthetic soils. Five types of synthetic soils suspended in simulated stormwater at 500, 1000, and 5000 mg/L concentration were treated using system configurations of three lamella settler reactors at 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5-h residence times. Statistical analyses through a full factorial method followed with a regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test suggested that there was a significant difference exists between these experimental variables and turbidity levels. An optimized lamella settler reactor providing 1.8 cm (0.7 in.) settling space with 1.5-h residence time reduced turbidity by up to 90% when compared to a control reactor without lamella plates and a 0.5-h residence time. In addition, particle size distribution analysis indicated a decrease in the D<sub>90</sub> by up to 84%, which showed that the optimized reactor was effective in capturing larger diameter soil particles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:00:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-73ece2b00bfd44a9b67497524785a0a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:00:50Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-73ece2b00bfd44a9b67497524785a0a42023-11-20T15:17:35ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412020-09-011210270510.3390/w12102705Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended SedimentLan Liu0Michael A. Perez1J. Blake Whitman2Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USASchool of Concrete and Construction Management, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USAStormwater quality management has become an increasingly important topic. Pollutants from construction, urban, and agricultural runoff sources create adverse water quality impacts to receiving water bodies. Among these sources, suspended sediment has a significant influence on water quality and further acts as a media for transporting pollutants. Current stormwater treatment practices remove large, rapidly settable, soil particles; however, fine soil particles tend to remain suspended and contribute to elevated turbidity conditions. A need exists for an economical and passive treatment mechanism for the removal of suspended solids. Lamella settlers have been shown to enhance soil particle capture by increasing surface area and reducing settling distance. The objective of this research was to identify and optimize design configurations for a lamella settler system in treating a variety of synthetic soils. Five types of synthetic soils suspended in simulated stormwater at 500, 1000, and 5000 mg/L concentration were treated using system configurations of three lamella settler reactors at 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5-h residence times. Statistical analyses through a full factorial method followed with a regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test suggested that there was a significant difference exists between these experimental variables and turbidity levels. An optimized lamella settler reactor providing 1.8 cm (0.7 in.) settling space with 1.5-h residence time reduced turbidity by up to 90% when compared to a control reactor without lamella plates and a 0.5-h residence time. In addition, particle size distribution analysis indicated a decrease in the D<sub>90</sub> by up to 84%, which showed that the optimized reactor was effective in capturing larger diameter soil particles.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/10/2705stormwaterlamella settlererosion and sediment controlturbiditywater quality treatment |
| spellingShingle | Lan Liu Michael A. Perez J. Blake Whitman Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended Sediment Water stormwater lamella settler erosion and sediment control turbidity water quality treatment |
| title | Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended Sediment |
| title_full | Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended Sediment |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended Sediment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended Sediment |
| title_short | Evaluation of Lamella Settlers for Treating Suspended Sediment |
| title_sort | evaluation of lamella settlers for treating suspended sediment |
| topic | stormwater lamella settler erosion and sediment control turbidity water quality treatment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/10/2705 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lanliu evaluationoflamellasettlersfortreatingsuspendedsediment AT michaelaperez evaluationoflamellasettlersfortreatingsuspendedsediment AT jblakewhitman evaluationoflamellasettlersfortreatingsuspendedsediment |