Water Recycling Projects: Update

A number of rather distinct water recycling projects have emerged over the last several months.  The first project relates to the hand washer.  I originally dubbed it as the "Pittsburgh Washer" (see previous blog); but Homer City Automation (HCA) actually build a yet-to-be-named prototype.  It is made out of stainless steel, weighs about 30 pounds and has very simple plumbing and filtration.   We did preliminary tests at the HCA facility, and were very encouraged.  We now have the prototype sitting in a Chemistry laboratory at IUP, awaiting further testing this month.  I will be meeting this Friday to discuss timing and protocals.  As research proceeds, design modifications will be considered with the objective being to have a commercializable product ready early in 2010.  A second project relates to the gray water recycling at the cabin at 207 olean Road.  Since the holding tank was installed and approved (8/31/09), we were allowed to develop ad use the black and gray water systems, and use that tank for everything.  However, it is our intention to keep the gray and black water systems separate, engineering  separate recycling systems for each.  Currently, the comode is dumping into the tank; and it will take a while to fill the 1000 gallon tank; so, the urgency to develop that aspect of water of recycling is on the back burner.  On the other hand, considerable progress has been made for the gray water recycling.  In the garage, where the 4" schedule 40 DWV for gray water enters, i have installed a sampling system with a manifold and four 12 gallon sampling tanks.  This sampling system allows the effective collection and segragation of waters from the cabins various gray water systems (e.g., i can collect waters from four different dishwasher detergent experiments; so that i can compare each in recyclability).  I am currently installing the pumps, filters and other components in the laboratory to actually recycle water and conduct a variety of water recycling experiments.   The project aspect relates to developing a full line of "decentralized" (see previous blog" water recycling products.  Research is being undertaken to explore the possibilities for a shower, sink, laundry and other types of subsystems for the residential setting.  A forth project relates to the analysis of various products and their ingredients relative to recyclability.  We hypothesize that various ingredients will be more or less recyclable with various technologies.  Given a particular technology, certain types of ingredients would serve the system better.  We expect to be able to recommemd the types of inputs that maximize the system efficiency and serve the consumer best.  This is a lot of stuff - stay tuned.  Tom Falcone