LABORATORY MANUAL FOR FABRICATING AND USING SAND

FILTRATION COLUMN
Revision No: 1/2021 | Date: 08/09/2021

1.0 Introduction
Fabricating a sand filter for sand filtration of water samples.

2.0 Apparatus
Plastic bottle

Cutting equipment (knife, scissors, angle grinder)

Spatula/spoon

3.0 Materials
Fine sand

Cotton

4.0 Fabricating
1. The fine sand intended to use in filtering column needs to be washed thoroughly with a lot
of water to remove all dirt present in the sand matrix. The fine sand need to be washed until
the water used from washing appears clear from any dirt.
2. The plastic bottle need to be cut more than half its height from the bottom using any
available cutting equipment to make an empty column. Several drainage holes needs to be
punctured at the bottom of the plastic bottle.
3. Pad up the bottom of the column with some cotton and compress the cotton against the
bottom of the column. Then, fill the fine sand up into the column, filling more than half of
the column. Compress the fine sand and refill the fine sand until the compacted fine sand
reached more than half the column volume.

5.0 Usage
1. Before collecting filtered sample, the sand filter must be flushed through with the sample
water three times the volume of the fine sand used in the column. The volume of sample
water to be used for flushing can be calculated using the formula following:

m sand
Volume of water needed ( ml )=3 ×
ρ sand
where;
msand = mass of fine sand used (g)
ρsand = density of fine sand (g/ml) [ρsand = 1.540 g/ml]

2. Discard off the flushing water, the sand filter is now ready to be used for filtering the sample
water. Pour in the sample water slowly to avoid disturbing the sand bed. Collect the filtrate
for further analysis.
3. The sand filter is one-time use only. The used fine sand need to be removed from the
column and washed again to remove retentate in the fine sand. Discard the used cotton
padding below into garbage can and replace with a new cotton padding. The newly washed
or rewashed fine sand can be used to fabricate the sand filter.

Prepared by Verified by Certified by

Muhammad Anas Yuzairi bin Muhammad Abdul Aziz Ramzan Razali

Mohd Yusri Laboratory Executive Principal Chemist, CEO
Laboratory Officer 08 September 2021 08 September 2021
08 September 2021