Single-basin jet flocculators

Free jets diffusing in a flocculation chamber can provide the requisite motion to suspended particles which help to form flocs. Experiments show that the efficiency of removing turbidity of raw water in a jet flocculator is as good as that of conventional flocculators fitted with mechanical stirrers. For small capacity water treatment plants the jet flocculator seems to be a viable design alternative devoid of operational problems associated with mechanical stirrers. A minimum retention time of ten minutes was found to give satisfactory results. The effects of design parameters like the length of the basin, the jet diameter, basin shape and the location of the outlet section have been investigated. New indices have been introduced to explain the differences noticed in the efficiency of flocculators. The investigations involve numerical simulation as well as select experiments.