If an operator is feeding alum at a rate of 12 mg/L and the plant flow is 4,200 gpm, how many pounds per day is being fed?

To determine the amount of alum being fed in pounds per day, you need to convert the feed rate from mg/L to pounds and account for the flow rate of the water being treated.

1. Calculate the daily flow in gallons: Since the plant flow is 4,200 gallons per minute, you need to find the total flow for a day. There are 1,440 minutes in a day (24 hours x 60 minutes). Therefore, the daily flow would be:

[

4,200 , \text{gpm} \times 1,440 , \text{minutes/day} = 6,048,000 , \text{gallons/day}

]

2. Convert gallons to liters: Knowing that 1 gallon is approximately 3.78541 liters, you can convert the daily flow to liters:

[

6,048,000 , \text{gallons/day} \times 3.78541 , \text{liters/gallon} \approx 22,890,816 , \text{liters/day}

]

3. Calculate the total mass of alum in mg/day