Environmental Engineering

Dr. Sanat Nalini Sahoo

Dept of Civil Engineering
NIT Rourkela
 Filtration
• The process of passing the water through the beds of fine granular
materials like sand (called filter) is called filtration

• To remove very fine particles which are not settled with coagulant
and plain sedimentation.

• To remove bacteria from water.

 Filter Materials
1. Sand • Effective size D10
• Free from dirt and impurities. = 0.2 to 0.4 mm for slow sand
• Uniform in nature and size. filters.
• Hard and resistant. = 0.35 to 0.55 mm for rapid gravity
• Should not loose > 5% wt after filters.
being placed in HCl for 24 hrs. • Uniformity coefficient = D60/D10
= 1.8 to 2.5 for slow sand filters.
= 1.3 to 1.7 for rapid gravity filters.
D10 : The size of the sieve through which 10% of sand (by mass) sample will pass.
.D60/D10 : Ratio of the sieve size in mm through which 60% of the sand sample will pass to the effective
size of sand.
 2. Gravel
• Hard.
• Durable.
• Free from impurities.
• Properly rounded.
• Density 1600 kg/m3.
• Placed in 3-4 layers, starting from coarsest to
finest.
• Each layer is 15-20 cm deep.

• Other materials: Other material such as anthrafilt made from anthracite

(coal-stone) is used sometimes.
 Theory of Filtration
Filters purify the water under four different processes
• Mechanical straining : The suspended particles with bigger size than the
voids in sand layer will get arrested and the water will be free from them.
• Flocculation and sedimentation: Very fine particles can be removed by
this process.
• Biological metabolism: The micro-organisms present in the voids of the
filters consume organic impurities and convert them to harmless
compounds by the process of biological metabolism.
• Electrolytic changes: The sand grain and impurities in water carry opposite
electrical charges. These oppositely charged particles neutralise each
other, thereby changing character of the water and improve it’s quality.
 Classification of filters
• Based on rate of filtration

Filters

Slow sand filters Rapid sand filters

Rapid gravity filters Pressure filters

 •Based on considerations of gravity and pressure

Filters

Gravity filters Pressure filters

Slow sand filters Rapid sand filters

Nowadays, rapid sand filters are most commonly used. The water from the
coagulation-sedimentation plant directly fed into the rapid gravity filters.
Slow sand filter (SSF)
 Constituents of Slow sand filter
• Enclosure tank:
• Open water-tight rectangular tank made of masonry or concrete.
• Bed slope: 1 in 100.
• Depth: 2.5 to 3.5 m.
• Plan area: 100 to 2000 m2 or more (Depends on quality of water to
be treated).
• Filter media:
• Sand layers of 90 to 110 cm deep placed over a gravel support.
• Effective size (D10) of the sand = 0.2 to 0.4 mm.
• Uniformity coefficient (D60/D10) varies from 1.8 to 3.0
• Base Material:
• Base material is gravel.
• In total 30 to 75 cm thick.
• Laid in 3-4 layer, starting from coarsest at the bottom to finest at the
top.
• At the bottom size = 40 to 65 mm.
• At the top size = 20 to 40 mm.

• Inlet and outlet arrangements: Inlet chamber is constructed for

admitting effluent without disturbing the sand layers of the filter.
• Similarly a filtered water well is constructed at the outlet in order to
collect the filtered water
• Under-drainage system:
• It consists of central drain and lateral drains.
• The gravel base is on top a drain.
• Lateral drains are open-jointed pipe drains/porous drains.
• The lateral having a slope towards the central drain.
• Lateral drains collect the filter water and discharge into main drain
• It leads the water to filtered water well.
 Other parts

• Vertical air pipe through sand layers.

• Arrangements for controlling depth of water above sand
layer (1 to 1.5 m).
• A meter to measure the water flow.
• A gauge to measure the head loss known as (filter head)
Operation and cleaning of slow sand filters

• By removing 1.5 to 3 cm of top sand layer.

• Cleaned with fresh water.
• Cleaning is repeated until depth of sand is reduced to about
40 cm or so.
• Then more sand is added.
• A lot of manual labour is required for this process.
• Rate of filtration or rate of loading: 100 to 200 ltrs/hr/m2 of
filter area.
• Efficiency of slow sand filters: The extend of bacteria
removal is about 99 %.
• Use of slow sand filter:
• Best suited for smaller plants.
• Suitable for purifying water with low colours, low turbidity
and low bacterial contents.
• Its uneconomical because large area is required.
Problem: Design six slow sand filter beds from the following data:
Population to be served = 50000 people
Per capita demand = 150 lits/ head/day
Rate of filtration= 180 lits/hr/sq. m
Length of each bed = twice the breadth
Assume maximum demand as 1.8 times the average daily demand. Also assume that
one unit out of the six will be kept as standby.
Solution:
Average daily demand = population * per capita demand
= 50000 * 150 lits/day = 7.5 * 106 litres/day
Max. daily demand = 1.8 * 7.5 * 106 litres/day = 13.5 * 106 litres/day
Rate of filtration per day = (180 * 24) lits/ sq. m /day
So total surface area of filters required = (Max. daily demand)/(rate of filtration per day)
= (13.5 * 106 litres/day)/(180 * 24) lits/ sq. m /day
= 3125 sq. m

Now six units are to be used, out of them one has to be kept as stand-by, and hence only 5 units
should provide the necessary area of filter required
 Solution Contd……
The area of each filter unit = Total area required/5
= 3125/5 = 625 sq. m

Lets assume L = length and B = breadth of each unit, then according to question
L=2B
Thus 2B . B = 625
So B = 17.7 m = 18 m (say)
Now L = 2*18 = 36 m

Hence use 6 filter units with one unit as stand-by, each unit of size 36 m * 18 m
 Rapid sand filter (mechanical sand filter)

Rapid gravity filters Pressure filters

Uses large size sand particles Uses development of pressure

which allows greater rate of over filtering water and thereby
filtration. increase of filtration.

Used in large municipal Used for small installations such

supplies. as swimming pool.
Constituents of Rapid gravity filter
 Constituents of Rapid gravity filter
• Enclosure tank:

• Open water-tight rectangular tank made of masonry or concrete.

• Depth: 2.5 to 3.5 m.
• Area of filter unit: 10 to 80 m2 for each filter unit.
• No of filter units require in a plant is estimated by
N = 1.22 √Q , where Q is plant capacity in million litres per day
• There should be minimum two filter units in any plant.
• Each filter unit capacity should be less than one-fourth of total capacity
of the plant when, plant capacity > 9 million litres per day.
• Filter media:
• Sand layers of 60 to 90 cm deep placed over a gravel support.
• Effective size (D10) of the sand = 0.35 to 0.55 mm.
• Uniformity coefficient (D60/D10) varies from 1.3 to 1.7

• Base Material:
• Like slow sand filter, the base material is gravel.
• In addition to supporting sand layer, it distributes wash water and hence careful
grading is very important.
• Total 60 to 90 cm thick.
• Laid in 5-6 layer, starting from coarsest at the bottom to finest at the top.
• At the bottom size = 20 to 40 mm.
• Intermediate layer size = 12 to 20 and 6 to 12 mm.
• At the top size = 3 to 6 mm.
Under-drainage system:
Unlike slow sand filter, under drainage system for rapid gravity filters serves two
purposes.

• To receive and collect filter water.

• To allow back washing for cleaning of filter.

Therefore, design should consider collecting filter water during downward

journey as well as allowing wash water to move upward with sufficiently high
velocity.

• Rate of back wash water flow: 300-900 litres/min /m2 of filter area.
• Rate of filtration: 50-100 litres/ min/m2 of filter area.
• Therefore, rate of back wash water flow is 6-18 times greater than the rate of
filtration.
• The design of under drainage system depend on uniform distribution of back
wash water.
• Types of under-drainage system:
a) Manifold and lateral system (mostly used)
b)The wheeler bottom
c) Porous plate bottom

Two types of manifold

and lateral systems are
mostly used in India
i) Perforated pipe type
ii) Pipe and strainer type
i) Perforated pipe type :

• Lateral drains are provided with holes at the bottom side.

• Holes are 6 to 13 mm in dia.
• Holes make 30o angle with vertical.
• Holes are 7.5 to 20 cm c/c
• Holes are lined with brass coatings to reduce corrosion of the
surface of holes.
• 40-50 mm concrete blocks are placed under the perforated laterals.
ii) Pipe and strainer type
• Laterals are attached to the manifold
but strainer are provided instead of
drilling holes.
• Strainer is a small brass pipe closed
at its top by perforated cap.
• Strainers are provided on lateral at
15 cm apart.

• In pipe and strainer system, compressed air is used to back wash the filter,
hence saving the wash water.
• In perforated system ( when no strainers are used), the water jet is used for
back wash and the required velocity is very high – 600 to 800 litre/min/m2 of
filter area, known as high velocity wash.
• When strainers are used wash water is required at the rate of 250 to 300
litre/min/m2 of filter area because compressed air assists in agitating sand
particles , known as slow velocity wash.
Design considerations
• Total c/s area of perforations should be about 0.2% of the total filter area.

• For 10 mm and 5 mm dia. perforations, c/s area of each laterals should be

about 2 and 4 times to the c/s area of perforations, respectively.

• The c/s area of the manifold should be twice the c/s area of lateral drains.

• (Length/dia.) of lateral < 60

• Max permissible velocity in the manifold to provide required wash water is

1.8 to 2.4 m/s.
 Other components
Wash water troughs (gutters):
• Collects dirty wash water which comes out of the filter after cleaning it.
• made of concrete, steel or fibre glass.
• Square, V-shaped or circular
• Troughs are spaced 1.5 to 2.0 m apart
Air compressor:
• During back washing compressed air is used to agitate the sand particles.
• Agitation time : 4 min
• Rate of compressed air supply: 600 to 800 ltrs/min/ m2 of filter area
Rate (flow) controller
• Provide uniform rate of filtration irrespective of the head loss through filter.
• Ex- venturi rate controller
Head loss indicator
• To measure head differences between water resting on sand bed and the effluents
coming from the filter.
 Initial Head loss in clean filter bed
Head loss occurs in rapid gravity filters due to frictional resistance offered by
sand particles as well as the impurities gets arrested in pores. If there is no
impurity (clean filter), total head loss is due to the resistance offered by sand
particles only.

------------- Rose equation

Where,
hL is frictional head loss (m)
v is approach velocity or filtration velocity (m/s)
D is depth of filter (m)
Φ is shape factor for non-spherical particles
d is dia. of sand particles (m)
n is porosity
CD is drag coefficient
f is mass fraction of sand particles of dia. d
Working and cleaning of rapid gravity filters

Backwashing
• Valves 1 and 4 open (normal condition)
• Valves 5 and 6 open (1 & 4 closed)
• 5 closed
• 2 open
• Valves 1 and 3 open (6 & 2 closed)
• 3 closed 4 open
 Working and cleaning of rapid gravity filters
• Back washing require about 15 min time.
• Amount of water required for back wash vary from 2 to 5 % of total
amount of water filtered.
• Rapid gravity filters are required to wash every 24 to 48 hrs.
• Rate of filtration: 3000 to 6000 ltrs/hr/m2 of filter area.
• Efficiency: 80 to 90% efficient in bacteria removal, therefore less efficient
than slow sand filter.
• Rapid gravity filters are best and most economical, therefore, most widely
used.
• However, it is less safer as compared to slow sand filter and hence require
further treatment before supply.
 Operational difficulties in rapid gravity filters
• Formation of mud balls
• Accumulation of mud on the sand surface.
• if inadequate washing is done, mud may sink into the sand bed and
stick to the sand grains, thereby forming mud balls.
• Size of mud balls gradually increases.
• May sink down to gravel layer and interfere with upward movement of
water during back wash.
• Mud balls may be broken by mechanical rakes, using water stream or
injecting compressed air.
• Sometimes caustic soda, is used to soak the filter bed for 12 hours,
then agitated with air-wash.8 hours later filter bed is washed until clear
water comes out.
• If filter gets badly clogged, entire filter bed may be replaced
• Cracking of filters:
• Shrinkage cracks develop at the wall junctions when fine sand
contained in the top layers shrinks.
• Cracks gradually propagates through filter sand.
• The floc, mud and other impurities get arrested in the crack and thus
effecting both washing of filter and rate of filtration.
Problem: Design a rapid sand filter unit for 4 MLD of supply.
Water required per day = 4 ML
Assuming that 4% of filtered water is required for washing of the filter every day, we have
Total filtered water required per day = 1.04 * 4 ML = 4.16 MLD
Further assuming that 0.5hr is lost everyday in washing the filter, we have
Filter water required per hour = 4.16/23.5 = 0.177 ML/hr
Also assuming rate of filtration to be 5000 litres/hr/sq.m, we have
The area of filter required = (0.177*106/5000) m2 = 35.4 m2
Assuming L = 1.5 time B, two beds, the total area provided
2*(L*B) = 35.4
3 B2 = 35.4
B = 3.43 m
L = 1.5 *3.43 = 5.14 m (say 5.2 m)
B = 35.4/5.2 = 3.4 m
Hence adopt 2 filter units each of dimension 5.2 m * 3.4 m
 Comparison of Slow Sand Filter and Rapid Sand Filter
SSF
• No pre-treatment (coagulation,
flocculation or sedimentation) required
• Base material is gravel of size 3-65 mm
and 30-75 cm in depth
• Effective size of filter sand is 0.2-0.4
mm and uniformity coefficient 1.8-2.5
• Under drainage system is laid to
receive filtered water
• Size of each unit is large 100-2000 m2
• Rate of filtration is small, 100 to 200
lits/hr/sq m
• High initial cost of land and material
RSF
• Required
• Size 3-40 mm and depth 60-90 cm
• 0.35-0.55 and 1.2-1.8 respectively
• to receive clear water as well as to
pass water for back washing
• small size 10 to 80 m2
• large 3000 to 6000 lits/hr/sq m
• Low initial cost but high cost of
operation and maintenance
 Comparison of Slow Sand Filter and Rapid Sand Filter
SSF
• Very efficient in removing bacteria
upto 99 % but less effective in
removing turbidity and colour
• Almost obsolete
• Post treatment requirement is less
• Construction is simple
• Cleaned by scrapping top layer
• Cleaned at intervals 1 to 3 months
RSF
• Efficient in removing turbid, coloured
water but less efficient in removing
bacteria (80 to 90 %)
• Universally adopted
• Post treatment like disinfection is a
must
• Construction is complicated and
skilled supervision is essential
• Cleaned by backwashing
• Cleaned frequently at 1 to 3 days
Pressure filters
• Pressure filters are like small rapid gravity filters placed in
closed vessels and the water to be treated is passed
under pressure.

• As the applied pressure > atmospheric pressure, the

filters are located in air-tight vessels.

• The raw water supplied through pumps. The developed

pressure vary between 30 to 70 meter head of water i.e.,
300 to 700 kPa.
Construction of pressure filters
• May be horizontal or vertical pressure filters depending on the position
of installation.
• Length/ height: 3.5 to 8 m
• Dia. : 1.5 to 3 m
• Inspection windows are provided at the top

Vertical pressure filter

Horizontal pressure filter

Operation of pressure filters
• Works similar to that of rapid gravity filters except that raw water
is neither flocculated nor sedimented before entering the filters.
• Cleaning is done by back washing.
• Pressure filters may require more frequent cleaning because the
impurities that are removed in sedimentation tank are also
removed in pressure filters.

• Rate of filtration: 2 to 5 times higher than rapid gravity filters –

6000 to 15000 ltrs/hr/m2 of filter area.

• Efficiency: Less efficient than RSF in bacteria and turbidity

removal and not used for public water supply.
Advantages of pressure filters
• Pressure filter is a compact device and can be handled easily. Automatic
units are also available.

• Require lesser space and filtering material for treating same quantity of
water because rate of filtration is 2 to 5 times greater than rapid gravity
filters.

• Sedimentation and coagulation tanks are avoided.

• More flexible, as rate of filtration can be changed by changing the pumping

pressure.

• Economical for treating smaller quantities of water (for ex. Swimming pools).

• Since the water coming out with sufficiently high head re-pumping of the
filtered water is not required.
Disadvantages of pressure filters
• Although rate of filtration is high, filter unit being smaller, overall
capacity of the plant is small.

• Less efficient in bacteria turbidity removal.

• Costlier for treating large quantity municipal water.

• Since the filtration and back washing takes place in closed container,
proper quality control is not possible.

• Cleaning and replacement of filter material is difficult.

Due to these disadvantages, pressure filters are generally not used for
treating municipal supplies and RSF are almost universally used
Other types of filters
• Roughening filters/double filters
• It is a rapid sand filter using coarser sand than the ordinary RSF
• Used to reduce the load on slow sand filter by partly removing the
impurities.
• Raw water (without coagulants) is passed through the roughening
filter and then made to pass through SSF
• Enhance rate of filtration of slow sand filter
• Thus good quality water is obtained at a higher rate

• Diatomite filters
• Raw water is allowed to pass through a diatomite deposit
(sedimentary deposit of silica) that acts like a filter
• Small potable filters developed by Army.
• Useful for field applications.
Disinfection or Sterilisation
• The filtered water obtained from slow/rapid sand filters may contain
harmful disease producing bacteria.

• Presence of a single harmful organism may be dangerous because that

will spread various diseases and their epidemics and hence disinfection/
sterilisation is the most important in water treatment process.

• Disinfection is the process of killing these harmful bacteria and the

chemicals used are known as disinfectant.

• In case of emergencies such as water supply for army during war times;
sedimentation and coagulation can not be done, however, sterilisation is
the only treatment process applied in raw water.
• Disinfection not only removes existing bacteria from the water, but also
ensures its immediate killing even afterwards in the distribution
system.

• The amount of disinfectant used should provide residual sterilising

effect for a longer period of time, to prevent contamination during
transit from plant to consumer.

• Chlorine is the most ideal disinfectant and thus this process is also
known as Chlorination.
Other minor methods of disinfection
• Boiling of water
• Effective for removal of bacteria but further contamination can not be
avoided.
• Treatment with excess lime
• Excess lime kills bacteria, however before consuming excess lime needs
to be removed from water.
• Treatment with ozone
• Ozone breaks into O2 and free oxygen which is a very good disinfectant.
However, it is very costly.
• Treatment with iodine and bromide
• Used as pills to kill the bacteria, not useful for large municipal water
treatment
• Treatment with ultra-violet rays
• Very effective as disinfectant, however, costly.
• Useful for small domestic plant, hospitals etc.

• Treatment with potassium permanganate

• Popular for treating well water in villages. Can not remove 100%
bacteria.

• Treatment with silver

• Metallic silver ions are introduced into water by passing it through a
tube containing silver electrodes which is connected to a D.C supply.
This is also costly.