Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
(OP)
Hello,
can you help me find a solution on how to mix/ agitate an open pond with dimensions of 72m x 72m and depth of 6.5meters?
If i am about to use an agitator, our problem is the mounting and support for the drive train and motor.
The fluid is a mixture of oil and water with fluid density close to that of water. Purpose of the agitator is to dilute the solution of water and oil.
Will it suffice to use aerator? because manufacturers have floating aerator designs which is ideal for our case.
thanks everyone!
can you help me find a solution on how to mix/ agitate an open pond with dimensions of 72m x 72m and depth of 6.5meters?
If i am about to use an agitator, our problem is the mounting and support for the drive train and motor.
The fluid is a mixture of oil and water with fluid density close to that of water. Purpose of the agitator is to dilute the solution of water and oil.
Will it suffice to use aerator? because manufacturers have floating aerator designs which is ideal for our case.
thanks everyone!





RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
1) This is a big "pond" - what access / sides does it have to mount anything - a sketch or photo would help a lot
2) More importantly, why are you trying to mix oil and water. They famously don't mix very well and most of the time people want to skim the oil off and then dispose of clean water. What is the purpose of this "pond". An agitator won't dilute anything. Aerators aerate - introduce air into the liquid to increase oxygen levels. The floating ones work by using jets of water taken from the water in the pond, but will mix the surface, but not the whole tank depth.
3) If it's ideal, what is your question?
My motto: Learn something new every day
Also: There's usually a good reason why everyone does it that way
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Thanks!
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Other considerations are submersible to floating stations.
Best Regards,
AWloo
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
I would to correct my first statement, liquid to be mix are water from different sources, storm drain, RO reject and treated waste water. Density of mixture is close to that of water.
Side entry for mixer is not possible. what are my possible options for us to arrive with desirable mixture of liquids?
Thanks Everyone!
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Like the one attached below. Just float the eductor using a anchor/bouy system in the middle of the pond.
Regards
StoneCold
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Do you need to pick up sludge from the base and try and mix it with the rest of the water? Do you need to jet the bottom of the "pond" to stir up material? What do you do now?
I think you will be surprised by the size of the units required for such a large sized pond Some sort of submersible sounds like a good idea, but do you want it provide a moving jet? I think you'll need a lot more than one....
My motto: Learn something new every day
Also: There's usually a good reason why everyone does it that way
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Still missing info here: for what purpose is the mixing necessary? (What are you doing with the mixed component?) Cheapest way, and very cheap to test, is areation as used for for keeping freezing harbours for small vessels free from ice, by submerged, holed pipelines.
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Mixers designed for bulk fluid circulation might not have enough effect to break apart the oil droplets and form the emulsion that I assume is desired.
Submersible pumps might work but the maintenance on them is much worse than mixers that have their motors and drives above water.
I guess the question is: is the performance of this mixing application important? If you don't care about wasting power, leaving throughput on the table, stagnant zones in the pond, or overall reliability of the system then buy what you think will work. For non-critical applications that usually works and you can focus on other things. If you do care, call a mixing company, and do it early in the design process. Ask them for their experience with your process, and if direct experience does not exist, how they plan to size for it or what scale testing they can perform. Ask for an NDA if your situation is to be kept private. There are far more mixing situations than there are formulas in the books and the research in mixing is moving faster than the bound literature anyway.
David
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
Big Thanks to your responses! Regarding the confusion i made, please let me clarify some queries.
The purpose of the agitator is to mix the impounding basin. Ideally the basin is a mixture of water from different sources. So basically the mixture component qualities are similar to that of clean water. Our impounding basin should only contain water from storm drain, clean water drain and RO reject from Power Plant but the current situation shows presence of oil in our basin. This problem will be address separately. For the record, our current project assumes that the impounding basin will operate on ideal scenario, only clean water present at the impounding basin. No sludge to mix and no oil to emulsify.
Regarding the basin, it is a sloped basin, square area with dimensions of 72.2 m x 72.40 m and depth of 6.5 m. The bottom is HDPE lined over compacted soil.
We have initial responses from our suppliers and the best option i think is to used a floating mixer with mooring. Any idea on this matter?
Thanks!
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
If there's oil, you need to find it and intercept it at source- or if the source is a person, fire them!
RE: Help: Mixing/ agitate an Open Pond
My motto: Learn something new every day
Also: There's usually a good reason why everyone does it that way