Math 4020 is a capstone course for graduating seniors in Mathematics. The project. chosen was that of the GAC filter. The purpose was to study the dynamic behavior of the GAC filter in hopes that the results of this study would help engineers to design more efficient filters. Our group had to solve the equations, find the Legendre roots and create a GUI for the created program. For this project, we created a poster, power point presentation, report and this webpage.
The problem presented ...
We are working with Dr. Moe, who is with the LSU Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, to develop mathematical models that coincide with his experimental results. In his research, Dr. Moe analyzed how different loading ratios and time intervals affected the ability of the GAC filter to stabilize the contaminant loading. This question can arise in cases of unplanned outages in manufacturing or other variations of schedule that may not have been taken into account during the design of the filtration system.
Background
A GAC filter is able to stabilize loads passively due to its ability to both adsorb contaminants during periods of increased loading and desorb previously adsorbed contaminants during periods of reduced loading. The GAC filter will initially adsorb practically all contaminants until it has reached a quasi-steady state breakthrough. It then begins to have an output in correlation with its input and it also acts to attenuate changes in the contaminant loading.
His results show that toluene can be temporarily accumulated in a GAC filter during intervals when concentrations are high and then desorb within a short time interval when concentrations are low. It can be observed that smaller cycle times and smaller loading ratios provide for a more constant load input to the biofilter.
