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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/T04847/01
Title: Fluid Abstraction from Liquid Wastes for Waste Minimisation and Resource Recovery
Principal Investigator: Rogers, Professor CDF
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Dr D Boardman
Project Partners:
BAM Buxton Lime Industries Ltd CIRIA
Envirowise Nuground Ltd Powerbetter Environmental Processes
Tensar International Ltd
Department: Civil Engineering
Organisation: University of Birmingham
Scheme: Faraday (PreFEC)
Starts: 31 January 2005 Ends: 30 July 2008 Value (£): 117,342
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Separation Processes
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Manufacturing Construction
Water
Related Grants:
GR/T04861/01 GR/T04854/01
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Many industries (notably food processing, construction and those generating minerals and inorganic waste) produce very large volumes of fluid wastes. The imminent introduction of the EC and UK legislation will pose these industries major disposal and reuse problems, both in environmental and economic terms. The main technical barrier to the safe and economic disposal, or reuse of the components of, these slurries is the efficient separation of fine (often colloidal) particulate material from water. If this barrier could be overcome, it would permit both the recovery of the particulates as a valuable resource and the reuse of the water to create a 'closedloop' production process. One potential solution involves the application of electrokinetics (movement of electrically charged matter under the action of an electric field), since the particulates that form the greatest problem for separation are, by their very nature, electrically charged.The proposed research aims to prove the concept, and thereby produce a generic technology, that can separate fine-grained solids from liquids expediently, hone the technology for application in a wide range of industries and identify markets for the solid waste fractions. The primary focus of the research is the separation of soil particles from water, and clay particles from other primary mineral particles (e.g. quartz sand and silt particles). The technology, once applied, will greatly reduce the enormous economic and environmental costs associated with fluid waste, and will recover the natural resources (water, clay and other soil particles) for reuse.
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Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.bham.ac.uk