Reducing small colloidal particle concentrations in feed and/or byproduct fluids in the context of waterjet processing

A waterjet system, comprising:

• a pressurizing device configured to pressurize a fluid;
• a cutting head positioned downstream from the pressurizing device, wherein the cutting head is configured to direct a jet including the fluid toward a workpiece;
• a catcher positioned to collect the jet;
• a treatment assembly configured to receive the fluid from the catcher, configured to chemically coagulate submicron colloidal particles within the fluid, and configured to concentrate the chemically coagulated submicron colloidal particles, wherein the treatment assembly, the pressurizing device, the cutting head, and the catcher are operably associated with one another in series within a fluid-recycling loop;
• a dosing unit operably connected to the fluid-recycling loop downstream from the dissolved-solids sensor and upstream from the pressurizing device, wherein the dosing unit is configured to increase a concentration of dissolved solids within the fluid;
• and
• a controller operably associated with the dissolved-solids sensor and with the dosing unit, the controller including memory and processing circuitry, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the controller using the processing circuitry, cause the controller to operate the dosing unit to increase the concentration of dissolved solids in the fluid in response to an indication from the dissolved-solids sensor that the concentration of dissolved solids in the fluid is below a threshold.

A waterjet system, comprising:

• a treatment assembly configured to receive feed fluid having a turbidity greater than 1000 nephelometric turbidity units and further configured to coagulate and remove submicron colloidal particles from the feed fluid and thereby reduce a turbidity of the feed fluid to less than 5 nephelometric turbidity units;
• a reservoir downstream from the treatment assembly, wherein the reservoir is configured to receive treated fluid from the treatment assembly;
• a pump downstream from the reservoir, wherein the pump is configured to receive the treated fluid from the reservoir;
• a jet-forming orifice downstream from the pump, wherein the jet-forming orifice is configured to receive treated and pressurized fluid from the pump and further configured to form the treated and pressurized fluid into a jet directed toward a workpiece;
• and
• a catcher positioned to collect the jet, wherein the catcher is separate from the reservoir.

A waterjet system, comprising:

• a treatment assembly configured to receive feed fluid and further configured to coagulate at least 90% by count of submicron colloidal particles of sieve diameter within a range from 0.005 to 0.2 microns in the feed fluid;
• a reservoir downstream from the treatment assembly, wherein the reservoir is configured to receive treated fluid from the treatment assembly;
• a pump downstream from the reservoir, wherein the pump is configured to receive the treated fluid from the reservoir;
• a jet-forming orifice downstream from the pump, wherein the jet-forming orifice is configured to receive treated and pressurized fluid from the pump and further configured to form the treated and pressurized fluid into a jet directed toward a workpiece;
• and
• a catcher positioned to collect the jet, wherein the catcher is separate from the reservoir.