Shuya Yoshioka
Ritsumeikan University
Shiga, Japan
Human activity steals oxygen from natural water sources such as lakes and this oxygen-deficient water often contains high levels of toxic substances such as metals and organic material. Thus the number of lakes that can be used as a source of water is reduced, straining the available resources and creating a need for water-treatment plants of water which can have negative impacts when powered using fossil fuels.
Treating this oxygen-deficient water can be done by injecting oxygen microbubbles into the water to oxidize the metals and cause them to precipitate and stimulate the activity of mircro-organisms that breach down organic material. In testing the volume of microbubbles needed and the appropriate size of those bubbles, a team at Ritsumeikan University in Japan used COMSOL Multiphysics to predict all environmental phenomena having an impact on the body of water (wind, water flow, temperature, chemical reactions, and diffusion).
The team was able to test optimal depth and location for the introduction of the microbubbles in the Sounoseki Dam and is now using COMSOL Multiphysics to apply this process in other locations.
Suggested Stories
Get an Inside Look at How Veryst Engineering Looks Inside Designs
Step into the material test lab at Veryst Engineering to see how they develop accurate material models for use in ...
A STEP in the Right Direction: Modeling AC Losses in a Tokamak Design
The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) program aims to deliver a prototype fusion energy plant in the ...
Innovative Packaging Design for Electronics in Extreme Environments
Power electronics appear in many everyday products, including smartphones, electronic car parts, and household ...
Optimizing Wireless Test Systems and Antennas for High-Speed Communication
To design reverberation systems for measuring the performance of wireless devices and wideband antennas, engineers at ...
