Environmental engineers hand book (7th chapter, reference page no 943 ) Filtration

FILTER TYPES

a) Diatomite b) Microstrainers c) Gravity d) Pressure e) Deep-bed f) Multilayers g) Cartridge h) Continuous Moving Bed i) Membrane FILTRATION ENHANCED BY APPLIED CHEMICAL COAGULANTS Wastewater treatment facilities can obtain completely clear filter effluents only by feeding chemical coagulants, such as alum, iron, or polyelectrolytes, to the wastewater prior to filtration. Adding chemicals to clarifiers reduces the solids load on the clarifier overflow effluent filters. When a facility is considering adding chemicals into the filter influent, they should perform coagulation tests or pilot- filtration tests. Chemical coagulation can result in 100% solids removal including colloidal particle sizes as small as 0.05m. When stainfree filter effluent is required, chemical feeds are absolutely necessary. Without chemical feeds, the SS removal efficiency of filters generally ranges from 50 to 80%. However, adding chemical coagulants increases the solids load; therefore, filter runs are shortened. Surfacetype and ultra-high-rate filters are drastically affected in this regard. Adding coagulants can be costly not only because of shortened runs, but also because of the cost of chemicals, pumping, and labor. In multilayered or in-depth filter applications, the influent must contain flocculant particles ranging from 1/32 to 1/4 in, whether these particles are natural particles, biological flocs, or freshly coagulated flocs. The larger flocs are removed by the coarse filter layers, and the smaller particles are removed by the fine sand layers below. If only smaller flocs are present, they are deposited primarily in the fine lower layers, resulting in a solids removal capacity no better than that of single-layer filters. SELECTION AND OPERATION OF FILTERS Waste flows have cyclic variations; for example, the peak flow of most domestic wastewater sources is about twice the average flow. Equalizing or surge basins are needed as part of the filter system to accommodate these flow variations. When domestic waste is mixed with industrial waste containing metals or inorganic salts such as iron, copper, or aluminium, the filtration characteristics of the secondary effluents (after biological processes) can be enhanced. In such cases, fewer colloidal particles and larger or stronger flocs can be expected. These effluents can be treated with high-rate filtration or surface-type microscreening with removal efficiencies of over 80%, without the use of additional chemical coagulants. When domestic waste is aerated for more than 10 hr, an easily filtered floc generally forms without the need for chemicals. GENERAL DESIGN PARAMETERS Horizontal or vertical pressure filters are recommended in wastewater applications because they handle higher solids loads and pressure heads and are more compact and less costly. The freeboard (open space above the filter bed) for anthracite- (carbon and plastic) containing filters should be a minimum of 50%. For sand filters, a 30% minimum is required. Environmental engineers can best determine the filter backwash rate based on the operating temperature and available bed expansion. For dual or multilayered filters containing siliceous media, a minimum of 15 gpm per sqft backwash rate should be used. An air scour (purging), applied from the bottom, gives superior cleaning to surface washers or subsurface washers. Air purging also saves 30 to 50% of the wash water requirement. The recommended air rate is 3 to 7.5 scfm per sq ft. Underdrain graded gravel or siliceous layers should be a minimum of 16 in deep, with sizes ranging from 1Asin to 6 310 mesh. Plastic strainer underdrain nozzles screwed into flat steel decks, cemented into glazed blocks, or screwed into header laterals offer underdrains for either gravity or pressure filters without graded gravel layers. The application of these nozzles for wastewater must be carefully considered because of the possibility of clogging the fine strainer openings. Filter strainers can also be fitted with long stems or air metering tubes for uniform air distribution during the scouring (backwash) cycle. The air is introduced under the filter deck and forms a cushion, as shown in Figure 7.33.1. After the air pocket forms it allows air seepage to flow through the stem slots in proportion to the back pressure that develops. The total bed depth of single or dual layers should be at least 24 in, with the

sand or anthracite layers preferably 16 in each (12 in minimum). Deeper beds offer more storage space and thus longer runs. Table 7.33.1 gives the media specification ranges.

Multilayered filter showing a flat underdrain deck with long-stem nozzles for washing with backwash and air.

DIATOMACEOUS EARTH FILTERS The diatomaceous earth filter is available both as a vacuum and as a pressure filter. Both are designed with either septums or leaves covered with screening or fine slots that have openings of 0.003 to 0.005 in. These septums are precoated with a matt of 0.10 to 0.15 lb per sq ft of diatomaceous earth. The head loss at the end of the run can be 35 to 100psi with the pressure units. The solids removal capacity is rather low at about 1/8 lb per sq ft. For a feed with an SS concentration of 10 mg/l, the running time at 1 gpm per sq ft hydraulic loading is about 24 hr. Diatomaceous earth filtration produces clear effluents with removal efficiencies of over 90%. However, the costs are also high. Colloidal substances are usually not removed (as with ordinary granular filters) unless coagulants are added. Coagulants are seldom added to diatomaceous earth filter influents because they shorten the runs. MICROSCREENING Microscreening has been applied in domestic water treatment, sewage waste water filtration, and filtering industrial effluents. Microscreening uses a special woven metallic or plastic filter fabric mounted on the periphery of a revolving drum provided with continuous backwashing. The drum operates submerged in the flowing wastewater to approximately two-thirds of its depth.

Wastewater enters through the open upstream end of the drum and flows radially outward through the microfabric leaving behind the SS. The deposited solids are carried upward on the inside of the fabric beneath a row of wash water jets. From there, they are flushed into a waste hopper mounted on a hollow axle of the drum. Water for backflushing is drawn from the filtered water effluent and pumped through the jets spanning the full width of the screen fabric. Depending on the rotation speed and the size of the screen openings, only about onehalf of the applied wash water actually penetrates the screen. The drum rotation and backwash are continuous and adjustable. Either manual or automatic control based on the differential pressure can be provided. The pressure head develops due to the intercepted solids, which build up on the inside of the microfabric and create a filtration mat capable of removing particles smaller than the mesh aperture size Microscreen openings vary between 23 and 60m, which corresponds to 165,000 to 60,000 openings per sq in of surface area. The stainless steel wire cloth used in microstrainers is generally more successful than the plastic type. The flow capacity of a size of microscreen depends on the rate of fabric clogging, drum speed, area of submergence, and head loss. The rate of screen blockage under standard head and flow conditions is called the filterability index, which can be determined experimentally. The amount of backwash water used ranges from 2 to 5% of the total hydraulic loading, which is in the range of 5 to 30 gpm per sq ft. Table 7.33.4 provides performance data for such units. MOVING-BED FILTERS Moving-bed filters are also applied to wastewater filtration. The filter involves the intermittent removal of the most heavily clogged portion of the sand filter media from the filtration zone without interrupting the filtration process. As the influent wastewater passes through the face of the sand bed, the entire filter bed is periodically pushed in the opposite direction. The face or clogged portion of the sand bed is then periodically washed into a sludge hopper by a stream of cutter water. From there, the sludge plus the dirty sand is moved by eductors to a washing section and storage tower. The clean sand is gravity fed into the filter after each stroke. The largest filter unit available is rated at a maximum of 250,000 gpd and has a 350-sq-ft total area. The wash water requirements represent about 71/2 % of the influent flow rate. A 9 hp motor is required for this unit. The moving-bed filter operates at a maximum hydraulic loading of 7 gpm per sq ft and can remove 70 to 90% of SS from secondary, primary, and rural wastewater. Because the intermittent movement of sand creates periodic upsets in the effluent quality and SS content, these units are classed as rough filtration or straining devices. MEMBRANE FILTRATION Surface filtration at high pressures (50 to 1000 psig) and low flow rates through the films or dynamically formed membranes is termed membrane filtration. In membrane filtration, porous membranes with flux rates (hydraulic loadings) over 500 gpd per sq ft at 50 psig are used for polishing effluents from other filters. Membranes with accurately controlled porosities of 0.01, 0.1, 0.22, 0.45 and higher openings are available. Environmental engineers use the 0.45- membrane in evaluating filter effluents for trace concentrations of colloids, color, metallic oxides, and bacteria. In ultrafiltration, tighter or less porous ultramembranes, with flux rates (hydraulic loadings) initially ranging from 50 to 300 gpd per sq ft at 50 psig, are capable of rejecting high-molecular-weight (2000 and above), soluble, organic substances, but not salt. In hyperfiltration (reverse osmosis), specially prepared membranes or hollow fibers with flux rates at 5 to 50 gpd per sq ft at 400 to 800 psig affect salt, soluble organic matter, colloidal or soluble silica, and phosphate removal at 80 to 95% efficiency. All membrane processes are considered to be final polishing filters, with common particulate removals in excess of 99%. In so doing, they foul easily, and their flux flow rate declines logarithmically with running time. Therefore, wastewater treatment facilities must protect membrane filters from fouling by pretreating the feeds using coagulation and rough filtration. ULTRAFILTRATION MEMBRANES Ultrafiltration membranes are thin films cast from organic polymer solutions. The film thickness is 5 to 10 mils (0.005 to 0.01 in). The film is anisotropic, i.e., it has thin separation layer on a porous substructure. The thin working or separation layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 10m. Figure 7.33.2 shows a film cross section. The separation layer contains pores of closely controlled sizes ranging from 3 to 100 . ULTRAFILTRATION PROCESS

In ultrafiltration devices, the separation layer is adjacent to a pressurized chamber containing the filter influent. When pressure is applied, small molecules pass through the membrane and exit on the other side; larger molecules are retained within the pressurized chamber. The pressure drop across the membrane ranges from 2 to 40 psid. If the chamber is continuously fed with new influent, the concentration on the feed side gradually increases. This concentrate is continuously bled from the pressurized side of the membrane. Typical ultrafiltration membranes used in these systems exhibit useful operating fluxes (hydraulic loadings) from 5 to 30 gpd per sq ft at pressure drops of 2 to 30 psid. The membranes filter out protein molecules with molecular weights from 8000 to 45,000; consequently, most viruses are also retained. ULTRAFILTRATION DEVICES The objective in the mechanical design of an ultrafiltration device is to provide the largest working area of membrane surface per unit of filter volume. Provisions must be made for a pressurized channel on the feed side of the membrane, support of the membrane film, draining and collecting the filtered effluent that permeates the membrane, and mechanically supporting the whole structure. Environmental engineers determine the dimensions of the feed channel based on the size of the particles contained in the feed streams and hydrodynamic considerations to provide sufficient flow past the membrane surface to minimize concentration polarization (a concentrated layer developing at the membrane surface). Flow velocities in the range of 3 to 8 ft per sec are used. Because of the high solids content in the reaction systems and the presence of large particles in the feed, large feed channels are required. The membranes are packaged in either plate configurations having channel dimensions of approximately 0.090 in or tubular configurations having inside diameters of 1/4 to 1 in. Figure 7.33.3 is a schematic representation of both types. The plate device is comprised of sheets of porous support material on which the membrane is cast. The sheets are in a parallel array and terminate in a collection header or manifold. Feed material (influent) passes between the sheets, and the effluent permeates the membrane and passes into and up the porous support member to the exit header. With the tubular configuration, a support tube manufactured from sintered, porous, polymeric materials or fabricated as a composite from fiberglass and polyester or epoxy materials forms the pressure vessel. The membrane is cast or placed on the inside of the tube. Feed material (influent) flows through the inside of the tube, and due to operating pressure, the effluent permeates the membrane, passes into the porous supporting substrate, and is collected in a manifold. Series and parallel arrays of tubes are available (as in a shell and tube heat exchanger) guaranteeing adequate flow past the membrane to minimize concentration polarization. Groupings of membrane modules in series and parallel can also provide the feed recirculation rates required to minimize concentration polarization.

Ultrafilter membrane packaging configurations. A.Plate device; B. Tubular device.

Filtration: Filtration is a mechanical or physical operation which is used for the separation of solids from fluids (liquids or gases) by interposing a medium through which only the fluid can pass. In the conventional water treatment process, filtration usually follows coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation. Water filtration is a physical process of separating suspended and colloidal particles from water by passing water through a granular material.The process of filtration involves straining, settling, and adsorption. As floc passes into the filter, the spaces between the filter grains become clogged, reducing this opening and increasing removal. Some material is removed merely because it settles on a media grain.
The specified technologies of filtration are (1) Slow sand filtration/rapid sand filtration, (2) Pressure filtration, (3) Diatomaceous earth filtration, and (4) Direct filtration. Regardless of the type of filter, however, filtration involves the processes of straining (where particles are captured in the small spaces between filter media grains), sedimentation (where the particles land on top of the grains and stay there), and adsorption (where a chemical attraction occurs between the particles and the surface of the media grains). Slow sand filters: slow sand filtration is well suited for small water systems Rapid sand fiters