A modular versatile physicochemical water treatment system and method are provided for treating various water types. The system features an acceleration chamber module combining a static mixer for hydrodynamic cavitation, an ultrasonic transducer assembly (25-40 kHz) for acoustic cavitation, permanent magnets for a static magnetic field, and a magnetic field generating coil for variable multipole magnetic fields, including square and/or triangular waveforms, controlled by a central control unit. Optional modules include a chemical dosing module (Fe.sup.3+/H.sub.2O.sub.2 or O.sub.3/H.sub.2O.sub.2) and an electrolysis module with automatic polarity reversal. The method involves selectively and coordinately applying these effects, tailored to the water type, to achieve optimal treatment efficiency.

A water treatment system for removing contaminant from a feed solution is provided. The system includes a hollow fiber membrane chemical reactor (HF-MCR) and a magnetic field generator; or a magnetic confinement-enabled column reactor (MCCR) comprising one or more column filters and a magnetic field generator. The magnetic field generator is arranged to produce a magnetic field for realizing a magnetically confined zone that results in a formation of a plurality of microwires comprising the zerovalent iron (ZVI) nanoparticles or a plurality of ZVI wires comprising ZVI microparticles. The plurality of microwires can be a magnetic catalyst to enable catalytic degradation and chemical immobilization of the contaminant. The plurality of ZVI wires can reduce aqueous As (As.sub.aq) concentration in the feed solution after the feed solution is pumped through the one or more column filters.

There is provided a fluid treatment separator and a method of treating fluid such as tailings from tailings ponds resulting from oil sands production. A fluid treatment separator may be used for treatment of a mixture containing at least oil and water. The separator includes a mixing chamber, an inlet and at least one outlet. The mixing chamber defines a flow path between the inlet and the at least one outlet. The inlet includes a nozzle arranged to introduce turbulence to the mixture along the flow path. At least one magnet is arranged to apply a magnetic field to the mixture along the flow path.

Introduced here are treatment systems and associated processes for treating water using magnetic fields. A treatment system can comprise a hydromagnetic resonator that creates the magnetic fields through which water can be directed. A hydromagnetic resonator can include at least one expansion chamber that provides a tortuous path along which water is able to flow through a magnetic field created by an arrangement of permanent magnets and at least one convergent-divergent nozzle designed to accelerate the flow of water passing through a throat segment. Water directed through a hydromagnetic resonator will be magnetically treated while flowing through the magnetic field created by the arrangement of permanent magnets within each expansion chamber and then pressurized while flowing through the throat segment of each convergent-divergent nozzle.

Described herein is a flow-through application and system that utilizes a nanoparticle technology, which is modular and scalable, that can be utilized to recover a contaminant from water using an attendant pump and in-line sensors along with magnets and ultrasonic energy to separate magnetic nanoparticles from an aqueous mixture and to further separate recovered contaminant from contaminant-adsorbent nanoparticles. The contaminant can include an organic contaminant, such as an oil.