Turritest: Exploring the potential of vortex flow assisted micro- and nanobubble generation on water quality

In recent years, the application of both hyperbolically constrained flow geometries and micro/nanobubbles have been gaining interests among industries and scientific fields due to their unique characteristics. Among other things, they can facilitate enhanced gas transfer through gas-liquid interfaces and promote particle interactions at bubble surfaces, subsequently resulting in improved water quality. Concomitantly, water is essential for crop production in agri- and horticulture and the main ingredient of many food and beverage products. Several studies have reported that micro/nanobubble enriched water has a beneficial impact for various agri- and food related processes. A concrete example is the experience of a recognized Dutch coffee brewer, ‘A Matter of Concrete’, which used a device fabricated to add micro-nano bubbles to their coffee brewing process water. Submitting the treated water and the coffee to a blind tasting test, many users and a (blind) jury reported noticeable improvements. This device is “Turritap”, a simple hyperbolical tap connector based on natural flow geometries. Turritap is elegantly simple, but its main principles and modus operandi are not (yet) completely understood. According to both manufacturer, academia[20] and several end-users, the lack of understanding hampers market diffusion and widespread use of Turritap. Turritest is structured to tackle this challenge. It is based on the hypothesis, backed up by recent published research[9], that the reported alterations in (chemical and aesthetic) water quality are linked to dissolved oxygen levels, which could be related to an observed change in the amount of micro/nanobubble in the water treated by Turritap. Turritest will thus focus on performing experiments which can substantiate the claim the capability of Turritap to form micro/nanobubble in water, while attempting to correlate these findings to changes in water quality. If effects are further confirmed, Turritest would substantiate an extremely simple but rather impressive enhancement of product water quality.