(25a) Keynote Presentation: The Advancement of Fluid/Particle Separation for Environmental Protection

Environmental and health protection efforts continue to be key challenges and opportunities for the scientific community. Whether the challenge is air pollution caused by the particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5), fine particle removal for wastewater discharge/recycling, or sufficient dewatering of a solid for disposal, fluid/particle separation technologies have been playing key roles and evolving over the years. Recent technology developments and the future outlook are reviewed in this presentation. For clean air, filter media development is the major focus. Advanced filtration media allow for less fuel consumption in energy generation and water purification process and, as a result, reduces emissions.

For effluent water, improvements to traditional solid/liquid separation technologies, such as clarifier design and the use of membrane filters, have allowed industries to meet more stringent regulatory requirements. In the area of solid waste reduction, innovative technologies are also being developed. A new chemical amendment for difficult to dewater tailings is highlighted as an example.