FiItration

FiItration
A polishing step to remove small flocs and suspended
particles including turbidity and pathogens
Principal unit operation for potable water treatment and also
used in wastewater treatment (for supplemental removal of
suspended solids usually prior to disinfection)
Tertiary treatment in wastewater treatment (precipitated
phosphate removal, polishing prior to disinfection)
nvolves passing water/wastewater through a stationary bed
of granular medium
Modes of operation: downflow (gravity filtration), upflow,
biflow, pressure and vacuum filtration
Gravity filtration in downward mode is commonly used
Slow sand filters (.-. l/m
2
.day), rapid sand fiIters (.-.
l/m
2
.day) and pressure filters
Slow sand filters
Slow sand Iilters
Fine sand oI 0.2 mm eIIective size is used
Mat oI microorganisms developing at the water sand interIace aids
in the Iiltration process
Filtration rates . to . m/hr.
Have large space requirement and high capital intensive
Do not Iunction well with highly turbid water requires Irequent
cleaning
Cleaning by periodically draining the Iilter and mechanically
removing the top Iew centimeters oI sand
Has a gravel support layer and a 3-5 Ieet thick layer oI Iine
sand
Loading rate oI water is 0.05 to 0.2 m3/hr. and the water
loaded should have 50 NTU turbidity
Filtered water should have 0.3 NTU turbidity and the goal is
to achieve 0.1 NTU turbidity
Clogs are removed by scraping the top sand layer every Iew
weeks & months
#apid sand fiIter
W ilter bed of fiItering medium (sand) supported on a
graveI Iayer which in turn rests on filter under-drain
system is used
W A channel for input water feeding/backwash water draining
W verflow weir and collection troughs for collecting
backwash water into the channel
W ver-head backwash water reservoir with necessary
piping for water supply
W &nder-drain system
W ecessary piping and fittings specially valves to control
flows both during run and during backwashing
FiItration
Rapid sand Iilter
0.6 to 0.75 m depth
Sand size 0.35 to 1.0 mm (or even larger) with eIIective size 0.45
to 0.55 mm and uniIormity coeIIicient oI 1.65
Filtration rates are . to . m/hr.
Cleaned by hydraulic backwashing that results in medium
stratiIication
Gradation oI the Iilter with larger grains deposited on top and
progressively decreasing size below is desirable Ior the use oI
entire depth oI the bed - Dual media Iilters and mixed media Iilters
can to some extent do this
Typical loading rates are 5-15 m/hr.
Media used is coarser and is more uniIorm in size
Particles need pretreatment (coagulation-Ilocculation-settling)
Depth Iiltration occurs
Duel or multimedia Iilter beds are used
FiItration
FiItration
Mechanisms of removaI
Transport of solids to the surface of the filter grain by settling,
inertial impaction, diffusion, brownian motion, etc.
Retention of the transported solids by straining,
electrochemical forces, vander waals force and physical
adsorption
Removal begins in the top portion of the filter and proceeds
deeper
nce bed storage capacity is exhausted output water will
have particulate matter
Exhausted filter bed needs cleaning done through hydraulic
backwashing
rain size of the medium
mportant and affects clear water head loss and built-up
head loss during filter run
W Sieve analysis and plotting cumulative passing through
given sieve sizes on a log probability plot
W Sieve size is described by mesh number
10 mesh has 2 mm pore size
18 mesh has 1 mm pore size
35 mesh has 0.5 mm pore size
60 mesh has 0.25 mm pore size
W pass size and 1 pass size
W Effective size: pass size for 10 of the material (indicated
by d
10
)
W &niformity coefficient: ratio of d
60
/d
10
FiItration
FiIter hydrauIics: During run
Two separate categories: hydraulics of filtration process and
hydraulics of filter backwashing
Carmen-Kozeny equation is used for the hydraulic analysis
of filter (air-Hatch equation, Rose equation and Hazen
equation can also be used)
g
J
d
L f
h
s
2
3
1
-
-

75 . 1
1
150

f
-
3
8
s
#
dJ

h is head loss through filter bed
f is friction factor (f
i
)
- is bed porosity
L is depth of filter bed
d is diameter of the media particle
d
gi
is geometric mean between sieve sizes
V
s
is superficial (approach) filtration velocity
is particle shape factor
(1 for spherical particle
0.82 for rounded sand
0.75 for average sand
0.73 for crushed coal/angular sand)
8 is density and 3 is viscosity of water

R
is Reynold number
p
i
is fraction of solids

gi
i
i
s
d
p
f
g
LJ
h
2
3
1 1
-
-

Equation for non-uniform bed is to be used

f value will be different for different diameter particles
There are no acceptable mathematical equations for
assessing head loss changes in clogged beds
The equations are applicable for clean filter beds
Solids accumulation decrease porosity & increase head loss
W Head loss change depends on
ature of the suspension
Characteristics of the media
ilter operation
f constant head (driving force) is applied then filtration rate
will diminish with decreasing porosity
or constant filtration rates head applied should be increased to
match with the head loss increase
Terminate filter run for backwash on sufficient solids
accumulation
Storage capacity of the bed is exhausted
The driving force available is not sufficient to give enough rates of
filtration
FiIter hydrauIics: during run
W irection of flow is reversed (upwards through the media)
W Media bed is expanded (contact among the grains is
broken) and grain surfaces are exposed for cleaning by
hydrodynamic shear forces
rubbing action among the grains
W Expansion occurs when force applied by flowing water is
greater than the buoyant weight of the grains
Head required for expansion = weight of the packed bed
W epth of expanded bed
Greater than the packed bed depth
Assuming weight of packed bed = weight of fluidized bed

2
fb
L h
8
8 8
-

1
fb
fb
L L
-
-

1
1
L
fb
is depth of the fluidized bed
- s porosity and -
fb
is porosity of
fluidized bed
h
fb
is head loss need to initiate
bed expansion
8
m
is density of the medium
8
w
is density of water
FiIter hydrauIics: during backwash
Porosity of the expanded is a function of terminal settling
velocity of the particles and the backwash velocity and
given as
This relation on incorporation into the expression for
expanded bed depth
or a stratified non-uniform bed the expression will become
22 . 0

fb
J
J
-
22 . 0
1
1

fb
J
J
L L
-
V
B
is back wash velocity
V
t
is terminal settling velocity of particles
ptimum porosity for backwashing is 0.65-0.70

22 . 0
1
) 1 (
9i

i
fb
J
J
x
L L -
FiIter hydrauIics: during backwash
ptimum expansion for backwashing is
1.2 to 1.55 times of unexpanded bed
5 . 4
f 9
J J -
FiIter
Air scour: useful in increasing shear forces
ntroduced along with backwash water to create additional
turbulence without substantially increasing expansion
At sub-fluidizing water flows provides more effective cleaning
&nderdrain system
To collect and remove filtered water and to disperse
backwash water
Graded gravel packing to prevent loss of filter media
Contributes significantly to head loss
esigned to handle backwash flow rates (2 times to filtration)
ilter media
Silica sand is most commonly used
Modern filters often use anthracite coal and garnet sand in
place of silica sand
Size, size distribution and density are important properties
Bed stratification during backwash operations (smaller
particles at the top - an inefficient arrangement)
low Regime
DeIined on the basis oI Reynolds number (Re)
Four Ilow regimes
Darcy Ilow (Re1) encountered in slow sand Iilters!
Forchheimer Ilow (Re 1-100) encountered in rapid sand
Iilters!
Transition Ilow (Re 100-800) not encountered in Iiltration
Fully turbulent Ilow (Re ~800) not encountered in
Iiltration

f
0
J
#
3
8

8
w
is Iluid density

w
is Iluid dynamic viscosity
D is dia. oI media grain
V
I
is superIecial velocity (Iiltration rate)
low Regime
Darcy Ilow
Occurs (when Re is 1) in slow sand Iilters and also in rapid
sand Iilters (when the Iiltration rates are lower)
Flow is governed by Darcy`s law
Forchheimer Ilow
Occurs in rapid sand Iilters when Iiltration rates are high and
during backwashing (3~Re25)
Laminar Ilow (inIluenced by both viscous & inertial Iorces)
Head loss is given by
L
h
K J
L
f

is hydraulic conductivity
hL is head loss across the Iilter
L is depth oI the Iilter bed (granular media)
2
2 1 f f
L
J K J K
L
h