John Nolan, a recent graduate of St. Xavier High School, took the task of cleaning water into his own hands. For a science fair, Nolan researched our M-100 chlorinator and tested it to see how it could be even more efficient.
“It was a great experience, and I got to learn about a lot of technology that I hadn’t seen before,” Nolan said.
He tried introducing an aerator to the tube that carries water mixed with chlorine back to the tank, to see if it would increase the surface area of contact between chlorine gas and water. Then he tested to see if a longer tube carrying the mixture of chlorine gas and water could increase the contact time between the water and chlorine gas.
His conclusion was that employing a longer tube after the venturi would improve the efficiency of the chlorine generator because the contact time between water and chlorine lengthens and more chlorine is absorbed. When he increased the tube length by four times its normal size the efficiency increased by 35%.
Nolan presented his findings to the WaterStep staff after winning third place in the engineering category.
Nolan’s father was a part of the team of engineers who worked on the chlorine generator, initially. Nolan met Mark Hogg during his time at the Governor’s Scholar Program and learned more about the efforts and technology that go into WaterStep’s mission.
He decided that a project exploring the efficiency of the chlorine generator would be a good way to learn more about the system.
“This was the first scientific research project that I’ve done,” Nolan said.
Nolan was attracted to WaterStep because of the sustainability of the work that they do. “We are giving them the technology to actually repair problems, and the education rather than just resources. That’s what I really like about WaterStep,” he said.
Nolan is volunteering at WaterStep over the summer before he heads to Notre Dame in the fall.
To find out more about What We Do at WaterStep, or how you can Get Involved, check out our website pages.
