Design of Pilot Plants and the Issue of Similitude with Full-Scale Systems in Water Treatment Applications

Satisfactory design and operation of pilot plants requires that there is process similitude (similarity) between the pilot-scale unit (model) and the full-scale process. The relationship between a pilot-plant and the full-scale system should be such that the pilot can be used to produce parameters useful for design, scale-up and prediction of performance for the full-scale unit. This report will highlight some of the design parameters critical to scale-up for: (a) adsorption systems (b) coagulation microfiltration systems and (c) coagulation settling and conventional filtration systems, which are the more common water treatment systems for arsenic removal.