Purify Water in a Rolling Barrel

[StudentonaQuest]

Hello -

I am hoping for a bit of helping on a high school science project. I am looking for suggestions on how to force water through a tube or a screen within a barrel full of water as it rolls. I had a concept for using a UV light system to purify the water, but that option fell apart so I am hoping for ideas that are more mechanical. Thanks very much!

 

[Bystander]

By "purify" you mean filter?

 

[StudentonaQuest]

Yes, I do mean filter. I am hoping to pass the water through a cloth screen or lifestraw (tube that filters out organic matter/pathogens) as the barrel rolls. Any ideas you might have would be great.

 

[Bystander]

If the "lifestraw" is a semi-permeable membrane, you'll need to establish a pressure gradient, and that is going to be a function of what's actually in solution rather than suspended; the difference between "reverse osmosis" and "filtration."

 

[StudentonaQuest]

Any suggestions for creating a pressure gradient inside a barrel full of water as it rolls? The filter would be semi-permeable.

 

[Bystander]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filtration

 

[JBA]

Are you trying to purify water that is held in the barrel? If so, how will you separate the clean water from the unfiltered water?

 

[StudentonaQuest]

Was thinking a bag with an attached filter that would go inside the drum.

 

[JBA]

Have you thought of any possibilities of how to mechanically move that bag with the filter on its mouth through the drum as it rotates?

 

[StudentonaQuest]

I was thinking of attaching the filter to the side of the bag and filling the water into the bag and sealing the front. Will the water come out of the filter as the barrel turns? Can anybody help with that? Thank you very much

 

[JBA]

If you are doing that, all you need to do is hang the bag above the barrel and let the weight of the water push the water through the filter on the bottom of the bag.