International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering

and Research
www.ijmter.com
e-ISSN No.:2349-9745, Date: 28-30 April, 2016
Improving the Initial Filtrate Quality of Rapid Sand Filter by
Optimizing Coagulant Dose During Backwashing and Ripening
Operation for Water Treatment Plant-A Review
C.H.Wagh1,Dr. A. Z. Chitade2
1Research Scholar of Civil Department, Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering, Research and Technology, Chandrapur (M.S) India,
chandrakant.wagh@walchandsangli.ac.in
2Professor & HOD, Civil Department, Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering, Research and Technology, Chandrapur (M.S) India, achitade@gmail.com

Abstract- Need of water purification was realized by human in early stages of civilization. So,
the Central and State Governments are making efforts to provide adequate and safe drinking
water to the society by constructing water treatment plants in India. In India rapid sand filters are
used in water treatment plant for filtration process through which fine particles are removed. The
filtration process undergoes degradation at initial and last phase which affects the initial water
quality of filtrate after backwashing. There are some ways to deal with this initial filtrate quality
problem as filtrate to waste, delayed start, slow start and filter conditioning by coagulation
during backwashing and ripening.
Keywords- water treatment plant, rapid sand filter, backwashing, ripening, initial filtrate quality
_____________________________________________________________________________
I. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction:
The sources of water are lake, river and ground water. The water is available in the lake or
river. At the source, water is contaminated with the pollutants. This raw water is purified at water
treatment plant (WTP). The raw water undergoes different processes such as aeration,
coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and chlorination at the water treatment plant.
1.1.1 Water Treatment Units and Process:
The figure 1.1 demonstrates the units and processes of Water Treatment Plant.

Fig.1.1: The Flow Diagram of different units in WTP for surface water treatment.

 Coagulation: Aluminum or iron salts and chemicals are rapidly mixed with the turbid


water so that the particles in the water stick together.
Flocculation: The coagulated particles are slowly mixed so that they can collide and
form larger particles known as floc.
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 International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and Research (IJMTER)
Volume 3, Issue 4, [April 2016] Special Issue of ICRTET’2016
 Sedimentation: Water flows through a large tank which allows the floc to settle down to


the bottom of the tank then removed as sludge.
Filtration: Water is passed through filters made up of sand and anthracite coal to filter


out remaining particles.
Disinfection: Chlorine is added to water which kills bacteria and other disease-causing
organisms. This process ensures the good water quality throughout the distribution pipe


system.
Rapid Sand Filter: The water treatment plant has filtration unit which plays an important
role in purification process of raw water which is named as Rapid Sand Filter (RSF). In
India, due to high filtration rate, the most of the water treatment plants prefer to Rapid
Sand Filter (RSF). The RSF removes the flocs. The filer media gets clogged due to
deposition of flocs. Hence the backwashing is required to remove these deposited flocs.
After back washing the ripening of the filter begins. During the ripening process there is a
sudden increase in turbidity due to presence of remnants in a sand media and above the
sand media.

1.1.2 Initial Filtrate Quality during Ripening Period:

The ripening process continues till the turbidity of filtrate reaches its permissible limit as
shown in Fig.1.2. During the ripening process the initial quality of water having high turbidity is
not allowed and water is wasted for certain period. This introduces a delay in resuming the filter
operation. In India, most of the RSF has these problems. The turbidity spike during the ripening
process degrades the initial filtrate quality. The turbidity spike can be minimized by modifying
back washing system.

Fig.1.2: Effluent Characteristics during Ripening of Filter

1.1.3 Ripening Control Methods:

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Filter-to-Waste: The quality of water is not acceptable during initial stages (T1, T2, and T3)
of the filter due to turbidity spikes. So the filtered water is wasted for some period till it reaches
to the acceptable quality of water (T3 and T4).
Delayed Start: The normal operation of the filter is delayed for some time so that the
remnants present above the media get settle down. This is called as delayed start of the filter.
Slow Start: The remnants present above the media are allowed to mix with filter inflow and
turbidity is diluted. Thus turbidly spike is reduced by controlling the operation of the control
valves in a slow manner.
Coagulant or Polymer Addition to Backwash Water: The coagulants or polymers are
added during backwashing of filter which results in improved initial quality of filtrate.
Coagulant or Polymer Addition to Filter Influent (Settled Water): The coagulant or
polymer is added immediately the filter operation begins. This allows the settling of remnant
present above the media mixed with filter inflow which accelerates deposition of collectors in the
filter media. The ripening time is reduced and improves the initial quality of filtrate.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Following literatures were reviewed regarding research topics and discussed in brief as below:
2.1 Amirtharajah and Westein , 1980, they have studied the initial degradation of effluent
quality for a granular media filter and its important application for the design of rapid sand filter.
It was hypothesized that when the bed was brought back to the fixed bed state, the collision
between media particles would release some of the suspended solids remaining on the media to
the water within the pores of the media. It was anticipated that this release would cause the
greatest degradation of initial effluent quality during the next filtration run. Assuming the
phenomenon to be a mechanism contributing to the initial degradation, it was also hypothesized
that enhancement of the collisions by sudden valve closure would increase the magnitude of the
peak.

2.2 Raymond, 1987, he has suggested the different coagulants that interact with the particle
surface and serving to reduce or eliminate the short range repulsive force that retards the
aggregation and deposition.

2.3 Robert, 1987, has explained the theory of filter conditioning of rapid sand filter with
improving techniques for initial effluent quality of rapid sand filter.

2.4 Cranston and Amirtharajah, 1987, he has developed the conceptual theory for filter
ripening and evaluated the effect of adding coagulants during backwashing of rapid sand filter.
The purpose of the research described in this article was to develop a revised conceptual theory
for filter ripening and to evaluate the effect of adding various coagulants to backwash water as a
means of reducing the magnitude and duration of the filter ripening sequence. It was found that
the use of coagulants in backwash water can be very effective improving initial effluent quality,
with the optimum coagulant type being alum or the primary coagulant. The time for injection of
the coagulant into the backwash water, the volume of water used for backwashing, and the
remnant volume above the filter media after backwashing were also optimized.

2.5 James and Amirtharajah, 2003, they have investigated the technique of extended terminal
sub fluidization wash (ETSW) with little or no bed expansion. ETSW is a procedure that
involves extending the normal backwash duration at a sub fluidization flow rate (with little or no
bed expansion) for an amount of time sufficient to displace the entire volume of water contained
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within the filter box. Increasing the duration of high rate fluidization is generally assumed to
reduce the number of additional collectors remaining in a filter at the conclusion of backwashing,
but the differences in filter effluent turbidity following 5 min and 10 min fluidization washes
were minimal.
2.6 John, etal., 2003 they have suggested that the water used during backwashing and ripening
can be reused by recycling at the water treatment plant which required less coagulant dose.

2.7 Lin et al.’s, 2011, in his study he has explained for improve the initial effluent quality of
filtrate he has arranged three coagulants which were in series with rapid sand filter. In his re-
search with down flow pre-treatment, three coagulants, alum, poly-aluminum chloride (PACl),
and ferric chloride (FeCl3), were utilized to artificially modify a sand medium by adding metal
hydroxide precipitates onto the top of the filter before filtration. Alum and PACl retreatment,
achieved a 96% particle removal of turbidity without coagulation and flocculation of the
suspended solids. This study also showed that using alum generated less head loss than using
PACl and FeCl3.

2.8 Lin et al.’s, 2012 he observed that the effect of an alum dose in pretreated filter and found
that the removal of an untreated clay suspension(60 NTU) better than 99.98 % with filter effluent
turbidity below the detection limit of 0.01 NTU. He also observed that the adsorption of Humic
Acid to clay particles and medium sand grains increases electrostatic repulsion and steric
hindrance of clay particles, impairing their removal.

2.9 Lin et al.’s, 2012, has examined that the fluidized-bed pre-treatment with alum can
significantly improves particle removal efficiency at the cost of a modest increase in the head
loss. He further observed that the alum flocs retained in the sand medium pores after pre-
treatment act as an additional filter and improves the overall filter performance.

III. DISCUSSION \ SUMMERY

It is found that the researchers have carried out a lot of work on improving the initial filtrate
quality of rapid sand filter. They have recommended different ways to optimize the ripening
period of rapid sand filter and its initial filtrate quality.
The mechanism is responsible for poor effluent appears to involve an interaction between the
backwash stage and initial stages of filtration, during which a degradetive phase is followed by
an improving phase (A. Amirtharajah and Daniel P. Wetstein,1980)
Turbidity solids removal with an extending the backwashing operation time was only about 10%
less than that for the same duration of fluidization washing; but the water savings amounted to
25%. Final backwash water effluent turbidity was approximately five to ten times lower for
extended time of backwashing operation than for standard backwash procedures (James and
Amirtharajah, 2003).
During the filter ripening sequence, an initial peak of turbidity occurs at approximately 1 min,
the magnitude of which is apparently a function of the dosage of alum used. This peak occurs in
the remnant phase of the ripening sequence and is most likely due to the formation of microflocs
of aluminum hydroxide. Toward the end of the remnant and into the influent mixing and particle
stabilization stage, the turbidity is drastically reduced compared with the control run. Because
alum is not as likely to form bridges among filter media grains as is polymer, and because the
memory effect was not observed during these tests, the reduction in the second peak is probably
due to the destabilization of particles that had become partially stabilized in the influent mixing
stage, or to the increased concentration of particles caused by aluminum hydroxide in the
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backwash water, or both. The reduction in the magnitude of the filter ripening sequence is most
likely due to the properly destabilized particles being quickly attached to the media grains,
thereby accelerating the capture of further particles, or to the strengthening of the initial influent
flocs by a longer contact time with the coagulant, or both (Cranston and Amirtharajah, 1987) .
The addition of alum, ferric chloride and polyaluminium chloride as a percent to sand filter
resulted in greatly enhanced removal of clay relative to the untreated sand medium. It improves
the performance of sand filter. It also improves the initial filtrate quality of rapid sand filter (Lin
et al.’s, 2011 and 2012).

IV. CONCLUSIONS

The based on above findings it important that the coagulation through backwash water also needs
to be investigated to obtain desired reduction in value of turbidity spike. In the next stage,
combination of both ways during ripening and backwash will be employed to determine the
optimum dose of coagulants. The optimum dose and its way of adding are to be considered for
preserving desired initial filtrate quality. All experimental studies will be carried out on the lab
scale model and result shall be applied to existing water treatment plant. The configuration of
filter media column shall be designed similar to prevailing rapid sand filters in India. The usual
operation of filtration and backwashing shall be carried out along with monitoring of head losses,
turbidity as well as duration of different cycles.

REFERENCES
[1] Ahmet M. Saatci and C.S. Oulman, (1980), “The Bed Depth Service Time Design Method for Deep Bed
Filtration”, American Water Work Association, 18(7), 524 – 528.
[2] A. Amirtharajah and DanialP.Weastein, (1980), “Initial Degradation of Effluent Quality During Filtration”,
American Water Work Association, 18(7), 518 – 523.
[3] Robert D.G. Monk, (1987), “Design Options For Water Filtration”, American Water Work Association,
79(11), 93-106.
[4] Raymond D. Letterman, (1987), “An Overview of Filtration” American Water Work Association, 79(11),
26-32.
[5] Kelly O. Cranston and A. Amirtharajah, (1987), “Improving The Initial Effluent Quality of a Dual Media
Filter By Adding a Coagulants in Backwash”, American Water Work Association, 79(11), 50-63.
[6] James E. Amburgey, A. Amirtharajah, Barbara M. Brouckaert, WD Neeal. C. Spivey, (2003),“An
enhanced Backwashing Techniques For Improved Filter Ripening” American Water Work Association,
95(12), 82-94.
[7] Po-Hsun Lin, Leonard W. Lion, and Monroe L. Weber-Shirk, (2011), “Comparison of the Ability of Three
Coagulants to Enhance The Filter Performance” Journal of Environmental Engineering,
ASCE/May2011/37.
[8] John E. Tobiason, James K. Edzwald, Benzamin R. Levesoue, Gary K. Kaminski,
Howard J. Dunn and Peter B. Galant, (2003), “Full Scale Assessment of Waste Filter Backwash Recycle”,
American Water Work Association, 95(12), 82-94.
[9] Po-Hsun Lin, Leonard W. Lion and Monroe L. Weber-Shirk,(2012), “Enhanced Particle Capture through
Aluminum Hydroxide Addition to Pores in Sand Media” Journal of Environmental Engineering,
ASCE/January2012/138.
[10] Po-Hsun Lin, Leonard W. Lion; and Monroe L. Weber-Shirk,(2012), “Enhanced Filter Performance by
Fluidized-Bed Pretreatment with Aluminum Hydroxide: Observation and Model Simulation” Journal of
Environmental Engineering, ASCE/April 2012/138.

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