Script

Ruqi:Hello this is our project for cleaning toxins from drinking water by Ruqi Wang, Ken Juan,
Ivan Huang, and Nicholas Leigh from period 2.

Ken: The main purpose of this presentation is to successfully remove the assigned toxin from
drinking water. To do this we produced a viable method in doing so. To start us off we will
introduce our knowledge of the toxin we are in charge of, Vanadium.

Ivan: So what is vanadium? Well based on the information we found on our toxin, it includes the
fact that it is insoluble in water, it has the possibility of it existing in multiple oxidation states and
can be contracted by inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact. High doses of this chemical that is
around 64 mg/kg are lethal to rabbits, and the human can cause stomach pain and severe
damage to the nerves, cause blood-forming organs damage, such as the kidney.

Nicholas Leigh: Vanadium can also be mixed with another solution containing a soluble salt to
form a precipitate, and is commonly used to produce ceramic, and titanium-aluminum-vanadium
alloys.

Ruqi: Some possible reactions with Vanadium can only be seen with it reacting with air, reacting
with halogens and with some acids like ​hot sulfuric and nitric ​acids​..​ But the main question is,
does vanadium react with water?

Ken: Vanadium do not react with water as vanadium is occasionally protected by a layer of
oxide under normal conditions, it also does not react with some acids, such as hydrochloric or
cold sulfuric acid, but it does become more reactive with hot acids, such as hot sulfuric and nitric
acids.

Ivan: Let's move onto the safety procedures and materials we will be needing to conduct our
experiment. As you see on the board you need a moving bed sand filter with Iron III sand, pure
water, 100 grams of vanadium, a milligram scale, and a 8 ounce cup. Following up this process
it is important to keep in mind not to breath in, touch, or eat the vanadium, wear safety goggles,
wear gloves, wear a safety apron, and if although there is more to cautious about these should
be what on prioritizes.

Nicholas: Now knowing what materials we will be using… the solution that we found the most
effective in removing Vanadium from water is no other than a Iron(lll)-Sand Filtration. The filter
media is continuously cleaned by recycling of the sand internally through an airlift pipe and sand
washer. The cleansed sand is redistributed on top of the sand bed allowing for continuous,
uninterrupted flow of filtrate and reject water. The contaminated water is introduced at the
bottom of the filter and flows upward through the sand bed bottom.
As the influent flows upward, solids are trapped in the sand bed. The filtrate exits over an
effluent weir at the top of the filter. Simultaneously, the sand bed, along with the accumulated
solids is drawn downward into the airlift pipe which is located in the center of the filter. A small
volume of compressed air is introduced at the bottom of the airlift. The air rises, draws the sand
into their airlift and scours the sand of trapped particles.

Ken: Upon reaching the tip of its airlift, the dirty semi-liquid spills into the central reject
compartment. The sand is returned to the sand bed through the washer/separator. As the sand
falls through the washer, which consists of phases, a small amount of filtered water passes
upward, washing away the dirt, while allowing the heavier, coarser sand to fall through to the
bed. By setting the reject water at a lower level than the filtrated water, a steady stream of wash
water comes out. The continuous rejected water exits near the top of the filter. In this way, the
sand bed is continuously cleaned while both a continuous filtrate and reject are produced.

Ruqi:
(procedures explain it)
1. Measure out 100 mg of Vanadium, 2 oz of pure water on the milligram scale.
2. Mix them and check the mixtures weight.
3. Pour the mixture into the moving-bed sand filter.
4. Recollect the substance and record the weight of the mixture.
5. Compare the initial and final weight of the substance.
6. Repeat the trial for more accurate results.

Ken: The Iron(III) filtration works the best out of other solutions such as reverse osmosis and ion
exchange. cause Iron(III) filtration completely extract the toxin from the water by constantly
repeating the process of filtering. Reverse osmosis on the other hand can only be performant at
removing low level of heavy metals, and in aerobic conditions, metal oxides can clog the
membranes, also reverse osmosis is not a very cost efficient method, unless the water salt
content requires further demineralisation. Ion exchange can extract toxins that are positively
charged and you can used negatively charged ions to create bonds and extract the toxins, but
the downside is that there is a chance that you will also extract useful ions along with it. In
conclusion, Iron(III) filtration will work the best.

Ivan: Here are our sources that we used for this project, and hopefully you learned something!

(Good stuff) :)