EXPERIMENT: DEPTH FILTRATION:

OBJECTIVE:

Depth filtration is a water treatment process that uses a deep filtration bed to treat water.Depth
filters are the variety of filters that use a porous filtration medium to retain particles throughout the
medium, rather than just on the surface of the medium. These filters are commonly used when the
fluid to be filtered contains a high load of particles because, relative to other types of filters, they
can retain a large mass of particles before becoming clogged.

THEORY:
 1. Treated water tank
2. Raw water tank
3. Raw water pump
4. Switch cabinet
5. Backwash pump
6. Magneto-inductive flow rate sensor
7. Temperature sensor
8. Differential pressure sensor
9. Bleed valve
10. Sand filter

Sand filters:

Colloide’s deep bed sand filter systems are a high performing and reliable solution for water and
wastewater treatment. Each of our filters are engineered to meet the specific performance
requirements of individual wastewater treatment plants.

The filters are designed with a filter bed depth of between 1000—2000 mm, and the media is
carefully selected with the correct size, uniformity coefficient, roundness and material qualities. The
media is supported on a bed of gravel to provide the necessary support during filtration and
distribution of water and air during the filter backwashing process.

The water travels downwards through the filter bed, the solids are captured by the filter media and
the clean water is discharged through the base of the filter.

In order to clean the filters, we use a state of the art backwashing system, backwashing with air and
water. An individual filter is taken off line, backwashed and then returned to service. The
backwashing process takes approximately 2 minutes to complete.

The filters are generally PLC controlled with an operator interface panel or PC used to all the
operator to view the plant operation and change parameters.
Treated flow rate
The flow rate is defined as the ratio of the driving force over the filter resistance. The two
conventional types of depth filter designs: the rapid and slow filters operate with velocities of 5–15
m/h and 0.1-0.2 m/h respectively;whereas pressurised sand filters have design flow rates of 238
L/min[14]. During operation the filter rate decreases due to increasing filter resistance as
particulates get lodged within the media. The rate of filtration affects the rate of clogging with high
filter rates causing faster build up. Pilot tests demonstrate that the higher the filter rate the lower
the filter area whilst increasing filter rate reduces the time to breakthrough, reduces the time to
head loss (increases head loss) and results in shorter runs and lower optimum depths. They also
demonstrate that higher filter rates can be achieved by using larger diameter media and increased
media depth. High filtration rates depend on media design with the highest filtration rate design in
service at 13.5gpm/ft2.

Backwashing in depth filters:

Backwashing is an important operation employed to remove filtered solids as this build up causes
resistance to filtration to increase with time. Backwashing involves inverting the direction of liquid
flow while using clean liquid.This process is employed for times in the range of 5–15 minutes with
typical flow rates per unit area in the range of 6.8- 13.6 L/m2.s. Most designs typically employ
backwashing once per day of operation.The operation of depth filters is inherently cyclic due to the
necessity of solids removal build up during the process, as such two or more units are typically used
so that backwashing does not interfere with the filtration. Effective backwashing occurs when the
filter medium is fluidized. Fluidization flow rates generally fall in the range of 20-50 gpm/ft2.

Separation efficiencies:
Rates of removal for pressurised sand filters with media typically in the range of 0.3- 0.5 mm have
been reported to be at 95 of particles as small as 6 µm with media size of 0.3 mm and 95% removal
rate of particles as small as 15 µm for media size of 0.5 mm.

Filter media:

There is a variety of filter media that can be employed in depth filter processes the most common
being sand. Choice of filter media has effects on filter rate, turbidity and filter surface area. Clean
bed head loss (pressure drop) is sensitive to media diameter where increasing media diameter
results in a longer time to design head loss. Increasing the media diameter and filter rate however
results in degradation of effluent turbidity.To compensate, media depth can be increased to reduce
the effects on effluent turbidity. The max value of media depth used in designs so far for high rate
filtration is 100 in, whilst the maximum media size used in pilots is 2mm in diameter. Sand,
magnetite, coke and anthracite are the most commonly used particle mediums in industry
particularly to their wide availability.

APPLICATIONS OF DEPTH FILTRATION:

● The use of deep bed sand filters as the final carrying step in municipal potable water
treatment has increased significantly over the past decade, with its application ranging from
clarification and processing of drinking water to wastewater treatment plants where the
wastewater is required to be polished before being discharged.
● The main advantage of depth filtration involves the ability to retain particles throughout the
medium channels, rather than purely on its surface. This significantly increases the filtration
ability of the medium in comparison to other types of filtration processes and allows
particles of different sizes to be filtered in the matrix.
● The prominent deep bed filtration processes currently used are direct filtration and contact-
flocculation filtration. Direct filtration involves a short period of pre flocculation stage
followed by the filtration process
● In sewage treatment plants, the majority of suspended solids and other contaminants are
successfully removed after the primary and secondary treatment stages. To remove the
remaining solids and organic compounds from the wastewater stream, direct filtration
method is utilised with prior flocculation.

DEPENDENCY OF THE FILTER RESISTANCE ON THE

FILTRATION VELOCITY:

PROCEDURE:
● Fill the raw water tank with tap water.
 ● Check whether the treated water tank is empty.
● Set the unit to filtration mode using the software.
● Enter a filtration velocity greater than zero in software.
● Start the raw water pump.
● Wait until the required filtration velocity has been established.
● Note the differential pressure PD displayed at measuring point.
● Repeat the experiment with different velocities.

RESULTS:

SR.NO Velocity DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE

(m/hr) (bar)

1 20 0.154

2 25 0.183

3 30 0.187

4 35 0.188

5 40 0.197

6 45 0.199

7 50 0.201

8 55 0.241

9 60 0.244

10 65 0.246

CONCLUSIONS:
The results indicates the dependency of differential pressure on filtration velocity.The differential
pressure increases with increasing velocity.

REFERENCES:
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_filter#Designs_available
● https://www.colloide.com/technologies/deep-bed-sand-filters/
● https://www.culliganindustrialwater.com/wp-
content/uploads/fundamentals_of_depth_filtration.pdf
● https://ertelalsop.com/depth-filtration-2/