Sand Sculpture Will Get you Thinking at IFAT 2014

An incredible reproduction of Auguste Rodin’s famed sculpture ‘The Thinker’ will be created entirely from sand on Hydro International’s (UK) booth at IFAT 2014 to promote the theme ‘The Fine Art of Grit Removal’.

The giant masterpiece will stand three metres high and will be crafted throughout the five day show by world-renowned sand artists, Niall Andrew Magee and Benno Lindel.  The artwork is designed to challenge designers and operators of wastewater treatment plants to think again about their approach to fine grit removal.  It is hoped it will become a talking point of the show as it gradually takes shape.

Seven tonnes of carefully selected fine sand will be shipped on to the booth to create the novel replica of Rodin’s best-known work.  Magee and Lindell, of German-based company Sandcity, will take 80 man hours to complete the sculpture.  

The sand will be loaded into wooden moulds, each becoming progressively smaller in size, and moistened with water before being compacted by hand or machine. When all the moulds have been filled, the first mould will be taken off and the painstaking art of sculpting will begin. The artists will begin sculpting from the top of the structure and carve down to the bottom, removing the moulds one by one as they progress. The head and shoulders of the vast figure will be revealed on day one with the rest of the sculpture slowly taking shape over the next four days.

The Hydro International stand will be designed to look like a fine art gallery. It will feature walls of framed artwork, which will replicate the classic style of a number of famous paintings. Live working models of HeadCell and Hydro Grit King technologies will also be on show.

Says Hydro’s International Business Director Clive Evans: “We wanted to create a spectacle on the booth that would capture people’s imagination and get them to think again about fine grit.

“Conventional thinking about fine grit removal is being overturned by scientific research and operating practice that shows that particle size, shape, specific gravity and composition all influence settling velocities and affect removal efficiencies.  Taking out finer grit particles than has been accepted practice could result in better plant performance and energy efficiency.”

Hydro International offers a high-performance portfolio of grit removal, grit washing and de-watering technologies. New to Europe but already proven in North America, the space efficient HeadCell modular, multiple-tray settleable solids concentrator and targets grit as small as 75 microns. It is widely accepted as the ‘next generation’ grit separation technology. 

The Hydro Grit King is an advanced hydrodynamic vortex separator that augments gravitational forces to separate grit from water with minimal headloss.  Its simple free-standing vessel or constructed chamber design is well proven in the UK as well as in several countries across the Middle East.  It uses no power and has no moving parts, achieving low operating and maintenance costs.