Water treatment:

filtration

Sudha Goel
Dept. of Civil Eng., IITKgp
Kharagpur 721 302

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 Filtration

Defined as the removal of flocculated particles of smaller size
(those that cannot be removed by settling), SS removal as well

Used in both, water and wastewater treatment
 Treatment objective: removal of SS and floc (after coagulation)

Water treatment: conventional process
 Depending on water quality and pre-treatment processes,
filtration can be used after settling, or
 Direct filtration: coagulated-flocculated water can be taken for
direct filtration (without settling)

Wastewater treatment: tertiary process for polishing effluent

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 Filtration

Cellulose, GF,
cellulose
acetate

M&E 2003 3
 Filtration

Three general classes
 Granular medium filtration: filter beds packed with media

Most common in water treatment plants

Different flow modes: upflow, biflow, pressure, vacuum or
gravity (most common)
 Gravity filtration: weight of water column above filter
provides driving force; e.g., rapid sand filters

Depth filtration: if solids are removed within the granular media
 E.g., rapid sand filters

Cake filtration: if solids are removed on the entering face of the
granular material
 E.g., slow sand filters, precoat filters (diatomaceous earth
filters)
 Surface filtration: straining or mechanical sieving or cloth
screening
 Membrane filtration: porous membrane; separation based on
membrane permeability, and diffusion
Cleasby (AWWA) 1990; M&E 2003 4
 Granular media filtration

Slow sand filters: first depth filtration process
 Layer of fine sand of 0.2 mm; high solids removal efficiency
 High headloss, low flow rates (0.12 to 0.32 m/h)
 Biological growth in upper layer results in degradation of organic solids
(schmutzdecke layer)
 High capital and land requirements; depth of 0.9 to 1 m
 Long run times of 1 month; no backwashing, mechanical cleaning and
removal of the schmutzdecke layer

Rapid sand filters: higher throughput
 Media is silica sand with size range of 0.35 to 1 mm, 0.6 to 0.75 m depth
 Large sand grain size prevents buildup of organics on surface and formation
of the schmutzdecke layer
 High flow rates of 2.5 to 5 m/h
 Backwashing of filters is essential to regain head loss due to clogging

Generally done with chlorinated water to disinfect filters

 If filter media is graded with large grains on top and smaller grains below,
can increase depths to which particles can penetrate

Dual and multi-media filters

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PRT, Awwa 1990
 Filter medium characteristics

Grain size affects clear water headloss
and buildup of headloss during the filter
run

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http://puretecwater.com/resources/basics-of-multi-media-filtration-mmf.pdf

Stratification maintained by
sp. weight of grains, size
and uniformity coefficients

Anthracite – larger and
lighter (sg = 1.1 to 1.5)

Sand – smaller and heavier
(sg = 1.4 to 2)

Garnet – larger and heaviest
(sg = 3.5 to 4)

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http://www.reade.com/Particle_Briefings/spec_gra2.html
;;;;

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Headloss and effluent quality

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Fig 11-6 shows
schematics
explaining the
different mechanisms

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Straining

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Filter design

Design based on
 Hydraulics

Clean water headloss (Table 11-5)

Backwash hydraulics (Fig 11-7)

 Media characteristics
 Operating procedures

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 Fluidization of fixed bed during backwash

Fixed bed:

Fluidized bed: 15
http://www.che.boun.edu.tr/Courses/che302/Chapter%203.pdf
Backwash hydraulics

• A-B: linear relation, bed is stable

• B-C: bed is unstable, particles start moving
• C: loosest arrangement of particles, bed resistance is at its
lowest
• Point of fluidization
• D: particles are in motion, frequent collisions between particles,
similar behavior as hindered settling
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• E: bed ceases to exist, particles stream out with water
 PRT
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See also http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/Webcourse-contents/IIT-KANPUR/wasteWater/Lecture%2011.htm
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a. Approx 50% SS removal in the first 200 mm depth of filter, small differences in removal
efficiency due to media grain size
b. Highest removal at the beginning of process – approx 90%; decreasing removal with 19
time – down to 65% at the end
Factors influencing solids removal
in a granular filter

Size of filter medium

Rate of filtration

Influent particle size and distribution

Floc strength

Mass of solids removed in filter

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Headloss development

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 Granular Medium Filtration

Number and size of filter unit
 SA required based on peak filtration and peak plant flow rates
 Sufficient units to ensure that backwash flowrates are not
excessive

Types of filter
 Semicontinuous or continuous

Continuous: filtration and backwashing occur
simultaneously
 Bed depth: conventional, shallow or deep
 Filter media: stratified or unstratified
 Type of media: mono-, dual-, or multi-
 Type of operation: downflow or upflow
 Method of solids management: surface or internal storage
 Driving force: gravity or pressure

Filter media: sand, anthracite, activated carbon, resin beads,
garnet or combinations of these

Figure 11-11
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 Water classes based on salinity
CLASS SOURCE TDS, mg/L
Fresh or sweet Rivers, lakes, GW <500
Slightly saline Ground, river, lake 500 - 1000
Mildly saline Estuaries 1000 - 2000
Moderately saline Inland and brackish mix 2000 - 10,000
Severely saline Inland and coastal 10,000 - 30,000
Sea water Offshore seas and 30,000 - 36,000
oceans

TDS = A*C where

A = conversion factor, 0.55 to 0.75

C = electrical conductivity, microS or micromhos

TDS = total dissolved solids, mg/L
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 Demineralization or TDS removal
Processes for removing TDS from water

Membrane processes
 Electrodialysis (ED) and Electrodialysis reversal (EDR)
 Reverse Osmosis

Distillation

Freezing

Distillation and RO account for 87% of the desalination capacity in

the world

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 Demineralization
Processes for removing TDS from water

Membrane processes
 Electric current driven: electrodialysis or electrodialysis
reversal
 Pressure driven: reverse osmosis, nanofiltration,
ultrafiltration, microfiltration

Distillation
 Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF)
 Multiple effect evaporation (or distillation) - MED
 Vapor compression (VC)
 Solar distillation

Freezing

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 Membrane Processes

Defined as processes in which a membrane is used to permeate

high-quality water while rejecting passage of dissolved and
suspended solids

Used for demineralization (or desalination) and removal of
dissolved and suspended particles
 Major applications in water treatment are NOM removal, and
desalting (demineralization)

Analytical instruments and methods
 Industrial applications:

Medical applications include separation of various
components of body fluids

Purification processes

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QMZ (2000) Ch-18; Sincero (1996) Ch-9
Reverse Osmosis – mass balance
Feed flow in, Q0 Reject flow out, Qr
RO system Conc in rejectate, Cr
Conc in feed flow, C0

Permeate flow out, Qp

Conc in permeate, Cp

Q0 = Qp + Qr [1]
C0*Q0 = Cr*Qr + Cp*Qp [2]
Recovery factor, R = Qp/(Qp+Qr) = Qp/Q0
Salt rejection factor, S = QrCr/Q0C0 (See eq. 9-29 [S&S])
Rejection rate (M&E) = (C0 – Cp)*100/C0
Dividing [2] by Q0C0, gives
1 = S + CpQp/C0Q0 ⇒ 1-S = CpQp/C0Q0

Substituting for R in above,

1-S = CpQp/C0(Qp+Qr) = Cp*R/C0
(1-S)/R = Cp/C0
Reverse Osmosis – definition and example

For a feed water with Co = 1000 mg/L, Cp = 200 mg/L, and Cr = 3000 mg/L,
find S and R?
Qo= Qp + Qr [1]
Co*Qo = Cr*Qr + Cp*Qp [2]
Based on concentration values, [2] can be modified to
1000*Qo = 3000*Qr + 200*Qp [3]
Or Qo = 3Qr + 0.2Qp [4]
Subtracting 4 from 1 results in
2Qr = 0.8Qp or Qr/Qp=0.4 or Qr = 0.4*Qp

S = QrCr/QoCo = 3Qr/Qo = 3*0.4Qp/1.4Qp = 0.86

R = Qp/(Qp+Qr) = Qp/1.4 Qp = 0.71 based on mass balance

Therefore, R = 0.71, implying that 29% of the feed water is lost as

wastewater
And the salt rejection factor is 0.86 implying RO efficiency in terms of TDS
removal is 86%
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 Distillation

Oldest demineralization process

Evaporate and condense water from saline solution
 Important modification: reduce vapor pressure of water
 Leads to boiling at <100 deg C
 Latent heat of condensation is used to preheat incoming water

High energy requirements

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Distillation

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 Freeze-thaw process

Freezing point decreases with increase in salinity of water

Principle is used to separate fresh water from sea water, where ice
formed is pure water while dissolved salts remain in solution
 In colder climes, ice is formed in saline water and is then
thawed for ‘potable’ purposes

Design parameters
 Design flow
 Salt concentration
 Cooling rate
 Land area
 Depth of impoundment
 Brine disposal

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