Purification+of+Water





Abstract: Keywords: Filter, iron, phosphate, Colorimeter, Aluminum Sulfate, Calcium Hydroxide.
 * Water Purification Project. Henry Moyers**. The purpose of this lab is to successfully filter water to commercial standards. After filtration, a processes consisting of using filter paper, a funnel and mixing in Aluminum sulfate and Calcium Hydroxide. Then, the water is carefully compared to commercial water and tested for phosphate and iron using a Colorimeter. The filtered water was found to loose phosphate but gain iron. Although this gain of iron is hard to explain, the water had become safe enough to drink, however further tests would be needed to support this claim.

Data Table Liquid || Mass (grams) || Volume (ml) || Iron value (mg/l) || Phosphate count (mg/l) || Observation || Snow Water- Before Filtration ||

98.0 ||

100 ||

.19 ||

.04 ||

Contains leaves/ dirt || Snow Water- After Filtration ||

105 ||

90 ||

.36 ||

0 ||

Clear, with a white film on top ||

Fiji Water ||

95.6 ||

100 ||

.05 ||

.38 ||

Clear/ colorless ||

Smart Water ||

93.3 ||

100 ||

.02 ||

.05 ||

Clear/ colorless ||

Aquafina ||

96.5 ||

100 ||

.04 ||

.02 ||

Became foggy when filtered ||

Dasani ||

97.5 ||

100 ||

0 ||

.02 ||

Clear, with bubbles of oxygen on bottom ||

Results:

The purpose of this lab was to correctly and efficiently filter water with the Hypothesis being that water being filtered in the lab could match the filtration level of commercially filtered water. Comparing the lab results to other companies’ water, this goal was almost met. Starting with a phosphate count at .0 4 g/ml, the level of phosphate dropped all the way to 0 g/ml. Comparing to Fiji water (.38), this was very pure. This was a very positive result, as a high level of phosphate leads to poor water quality. Next, after filtration, the water looked clear and very clean, sharing a result with commercially filtered water. That being said, the Iron level increased from .19 mg/l to .36 mg/l. This result was very strange, as the iron level should have decreased after filtration. Many factors of error could play into this. Human error could account for this, as a lot of mixing and reading of instruments was required. Technical error could also account for this, as a machine was heavily relied on. To achieve “perfect” or adequate results, many tests and trials should have been done, as well as filtering the water many times. All in all however, a goal of filtration was reached and clean, safe drinking water was obtained.

Article Summary: Dahab, Mohamed. "Nitrate removal from water supplies using biological denitrification." //Water Environment// 60.9 (1988): 1670-1674. Web. 08 Feb 2010. To help eliminate Nitrates In water, Biological Dentrification can be used. This process involves breaking down the Nitrates into harmless gasses, which are released from the Water. A carbon source is needed, and methanol is most widely used. In order to determine how much carbon is required, stoichiometry is applied. 25- 30 percent of the methanol is found to correctly balance out the water level.