DESIGN OF RAPID

SAND FILTER
Rapid sand Filter
• Used for large town
• Uses large sized particles
• High rate of filtration = 3000 – 6000 liter/hour/m2 (3 – 6 m3/hr/m2)
• Water from coagulation sedimentation tank is used
• The filtered water is treated with disinfectants
• Less efficient in removing bacteria and turbidity
• Removes bacteria only upto 80 – 90%
• Remaining bacteria is removed by disinfection methods
• Turbidity removes only upto 35 – 40 mg/l
Construction

Enclosure tank
• Open rectangular tank
• Made of masonry or concrete
• Depth = 2.5 – 3.5 m
• Area = 10 – 80 m2 for each unit

Filter media
• Sand layer = 60 - 90 cm thick
• D10 = 0.35 - 0.55 mm
Cu = 1.3- 1.7mm
• Coarser particles at the bottom and finer particles at the top
Base material: Gravel
• It act as supporting media and distributes the wash water.
• Gravel = 60 - 90 cm thick
• Used as 5 – 6 layers of each 10 – 15 cm thick
• Coarsest size (40 – 60 mm) – Placed in the bottom
• Intermediate size – 40mm – 6 mm
• Finest Size (3 – 6 mm) – placed at the top
Under drainage system

• It receive and collect filtered water

• It allow back washing for cleaning
• It consist of manifold and lateral drains

Manifold or main drain

• 40 cm diameter main drain running along the center
Lateral drains
• 10 cm diameter laterals spaced at 10 – 30 cm apart
Laterals may be
1. Perforated pipes system
2. Pipe and strainer system

1. Perforated pipes system

• Lateral drains with holes at the bottom
• 6 – 13 mm diameter holes at 300 with vertical
• Spacing of holes = 7.5 – 20 cm

2. Pipe and strainer system

• Lateral drain with strainer pipe having perforated cap
• Strainer pipe at 15 cm apart on lateral pipe
Other appurtenance
Wash water trough
• To collect dirty wash water comes out of filter after cleaning it
• It can be square, v-shaped or semi-circular in section
• It is made of concrete, steel or fiber glass
• Spacing = 1.1 – 2 m apart
• Discharge through wash water trough is given by

b- width in m and y- water depth in m

Air compressor
• For agitating filter during back washing
• It should be able to provide compressed air at a high rate
Rate controller
• Commonly used venturi rate controller
• To obtain uniform rate of filtration
Working of Rapid sand filter
• Effluent from coagulation sedimentation tank enter into the inlet
chamber
• It get filtered as it percolates through the sand layer
• Then it passes through gravel layer and finally collected in the under
drains
The filtered water is then taken out from the drains
Cleaning of Rapid sand filter
Cleaning of rapid sand filter is done by back washing and surface
washing

Back washing
• Wash water and compressed air is sent back upward through the
filter bed
• This will agitate the sand particles and remove impurities
• This dirty water after cleaning is collected in wash water troughs
After cleaning, the filter is again set to work, but the filtered water
cannot be
used for sometimes as it contains some impurities.
• The entire process of back washing takes 15 minutes
• Amount of water for back washing = 2 – 5% of total filtered water
• Rapid sand filter have to be washed every 24 – 48 hours
• Rate of washing = 15 – 90 cm/minutes(generally 45cm/minute)
• Pressure for washing = 40 kN/m2

Surface wash
• Clean filtered water applied to the sand bed from above using nozzle
• It scour the particles and clean the surface
E