ESE 525

ADVANCE WASTE WATER ENGINEERING

DEPTH FILTRATION
James Alferez
Marijane Fortin
Paul Michael Garcia
Eduardo Crisostomo
What is DEPTH FILTRATION?

• involves the separation of a suspended particle or liquid

droplet from its carrying fluid within the depth (thickness) of
the filter medium.

• The solid (dirt) particles are being retained by a combination

of adsorption and straining.

• Used to achieve supplemental removal of suspended solids to

reduce the mass discharge of solids.

• A conditioning step for the effective disinfection of the filtered

effluent.

• Is a batch process.
• Depth filtration consists
of passing a liquid,
typically containing only a
small amount of
solids, through a porous
bed where the solids
become trapped

• Solid entrapment occurs

within the entire filter
bed or a significant part of
it
Basics of Depth Filtration

• Physical features of a conventional granular medium depth filter.

• Filter medium characteristics.
• Filtration process.
• Operative particle removal mechanism.
• Backwash process.

Physical features of a conventional granular medium depth filter

• describe the operation and flow of the filtration cycle.
• Water to be filtered enters from an inlet.
• Filtered water is to be collected in the underdrain system, which
is also used to reverse the flow to backwash the filter.
Filter Medium Characteristics

• Grain size affects the filtration operation

• If too small a filtering medium is selected, much of the

driving force will be wasted in overcoming the
frictional resistance of the filter bed.

• If too large, many of the small particles in the influent

will pass directly through the bed.

• The size of the filter material is usually determined by

sieve analysis.

• Effective size of filtering medium is 10% based on

mass.
In depth filtration, the solid particles are
separated inside a filter medium layer.
The filter medium layer may be
composed of larger grains (bulk) or of
fibres. The solid particles are smaller
than the pore width of the filter
medium. They penetrate through the
pores into the filter medium, where they
are captured. Over time, the pores
become more and more filled with the
separated solid. This increasing loading
of the filter is identifiable by a rising
pressure loss. When a certain maximum
pressure loss has been reached and the
capacity of the filter exhausted, the filter
medium layer must be replaced or
cleaned. Cleaning is usually carried out
by way of back-flushing. Depth filtration
is used mainly in water treatment, but
also in the clarification of other liquids,
such as beverages.
Filtration Process
Filtration Process
• As the water passes through the filter bed, the suspended matter
in the wastewater is removed by a variety of removal
mechanisms.
• Material accumulates within the spaces of the granular medium.
• After some period of time, the operating head loss or effluent
turbidity reaches a predetermined head loss value, the filter must
be cleaned.
Particle Removal Mechanisms
• Straining is the principal mechanism that is operative in the
removal of suspended solid during the filtration.
• Removal of smaller particles found in wastewater must
accomplished 2 steps:
1) The transport of the particles to or near the surface where they
will be removed.
2) The removal of particles by one or more of the operative
removal mechanism.
6 Major Removal Mechanisms.
Backwashing of Depth Filters

• Because of the solid build-up within or on the filter

medium the resistance offered to filtration increases
with time
• Backwashing is an operation conducted to remove
the filtered solids by inverting the direction of the
liquid flow while using clear liquid
• In conventional filters in which the slurry velocity is
downward backwashing produces a lifting of the
filter medium with consequent dislodging of the
filtered solids that can be collected from the top of
the filter
Classification of Solid Medium Particles
During Backwashing

• During backwashing the larger medium particles

tend to sediment to the bottom of the filter while
the lighter particles rise to the top

• When the filter is put back into operation the

incoming slurry encounters the smaller particles
first. This is clearly undesirable since, as a result,
the filtering action will be provided primarily by
the top layer where the smaller particles are

• Dual- and multi-media systems are designed to

reduce the magnitude of this problem
Dual and Multimedia Systems
• Such systems (working in downward flow) utilize
as filter media small heavier particles (typically
sand) at the bottom and lighter butlarger particles
(typically coal) on top

• During backwashing the lighter, larger particles

will sediment more slowly than the smaller but
heavier particles and will remain at the top

• This will result in a more appropriate solid

distribution in which the slurry will first encounter
the larger particles as it enters the filter from the
top
Backwash Process
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