Hi Richard. Sounds like a good start! I know a great deal of work along these lines has been done by other researchers using ultrasonic horns to generate the cavitation for wastewater treatment and general chemical processing. Consider this from a few seconds of googling.
http://www.univ-savoie.fr/labos/lcme/organic.htm The novelty you are claiming is the use of the vortex to generate the and maintain the cavitating shroud? It will be interesting to see what your final efficiency is for the process, whether you can beat out an ultrasonic horn type system. Again, I hope we can rouse Knuke from his slumbers to comment upon this subject. I'll bet a few days spent on a literature search would save you months of head banging. K. -----Original Message----- From: RC Macaulay [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 12:06 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: mineral oxidation reduction via vortex Regarding the use of a vortex for reducing minerals in seawater.. the vortex created by the high speed rotating member on the mixer acts as an enhancement to a complex set of events that we have finally been able to replicate. We actually achieved a sustained oxidation reduction of minerals in water. The vortex produces the "oommph" . Inducting air at the periphery of the rotating ( 110 f/p/s velocity) member permits a velocity shear sufficent to partially oxidize the entrained minerals in the water. An active cavitation event is present at this time. The trick was to keep the cavitation bubble in suspension and away from the inner shroud wall or the wall dissappears rapidly The vortex swirl is sufficent to perform this balancing act. Based on the residual in the bottom of the test tank, we calculate we had a mineral reduction of 10-15%. Why such high hopes for achieving 40% or more ? Most seawater desal plants use a battery of filters upstream of the reverse osmosis battery of membranes. Some are experiencing clogged filters on 2 hour intervals so they add an expensive chemical for descaling. Any reduction of minerals prior to filtering is money in the bank. We have a long difficult path to traverse to reduce the electric power used but that again is mostly grunt work. Best guess why the vortex gives the "oommph" is it " triggers" the cavitation event. Add to that is the shape of the parabolic shroud and it becomes an " echo chamber" similar to a speaker. Please do not misunderstand.. we are NOT making a claim that the vortex has " magic" powers. Richard
