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Sand filters are used for water purification. There are three main types; rapid (gravity) sand filters, upward flow sand filters and slow sand filters

All three methods are used extensively in the water industry throughout the world. The first two require the use of flocculant chemicals to work effectively while slow sand filters can produce very high quality water free from pathogens, taste and odour without the need for chemical aids.

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Sand bed filtration in context
Sand Bed Filtration Concept - change title

A sand bed filter is a kind of depth filter. Broadly, there are two types of filter for separating particulate solids from fluids:
 * Surface filters, where particulates are captured on a permeable surface
 * Depth filters, where particulates are captured within a porous body of material.

In addition, there are passive and active devices for causing solid-liquid separation such as settling tanks, self-cleaning screen filters, hydrocyclones and centrifuges.

There are several kinds of depth filter, some employing fibrous material and others employing granular materials. Sand bed filters are an example of a granular loose media depth filter. They are usually used to separate small amounts (<10 parts per million or <10 g per cubic metre) of fine solids (<100 micrometres) from aqueous solutions. In addition, they are usually used to purify the fluid rather than capture the solids as a valuable material. Therefore they find most of their uses in liquid effluent (wastewater) treatment.

Particulate solids capture mechanisms
Sand bed filters work by providing the particulate solids with many opportunities to be captured on the surface of a sand grain. As fluid flows through the porous sand along a tortuous route, the particulates come close to sand grains. They can be captured by one of several mechanisms:
 * Direct collision
 * Van der Waals or London force attraction
 * Surface charge attraction
 * Diffusion.

In addition, particulate solids can be prevented from being captured by surface charge repulsion if the surface charge of the sand is of the same sign (positive or negative) as that of the particulate solid. Furthermore, it is possible to dislodge captured particulates although they may be re-captured at a greater depth within the bed. Finally, a sand grain that is already contaminated with particulate solids may become more attractive or repel addition particulate solids. This can occur if by adhering to the sand grain the particulate loses surface charge and becomes attractive to additional particulates or the opposite and surface charge is retained repelling further particulates from the sand grain.

In some applications it is necessary to pre-treat the effluent flowing into a sand bed to ensure that the particulate solids can be captured. This can be achieved by one of several methods:
 * Adjusting the surface charge on the particles and the sand by changing the pH
 * Coagulation – adding small, highly charged cations (aluminium 3+ or calcium 2+ are usually used)
 * Flocculation – adding small amounts of charge polymer chains which either form a bridge between the particulate solids (making them bigger) or between the particulate solids and the sand.

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Operating regimes
They can be operated either with upward flowing fluids or downward flowing fluids the latter being much more usual. For downward flowing devices the fluid can flow under pressure or by gravity alone. Pressure sand bed filters tend to be used in industrial applications and often referred to as rapid sand bed filters. Gravity fed units are used in water purification especially drinking water and these filters have found wide use in developing countries (slow sand filters).

Overall, there are several categories of sand bed filter:
 * 1) rapid (gravity) sand filters
 * 2) rapid (pressure) sand bed filters
 * 3) upflow sand filters
 * 4) slow sand filters.

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Construction

Rapid pressure sand bed filter design
 Combine "Rapid pressure sand bed filter design" and "Operating parameters for rapid pressure sand bed filters" 

Smaller sand grains provide more surface area and therefore a higher decontamination of the inlet water, but it also requires more pumping energy to drive the fluid through the bed. A compromise is that most rapid pressure sand bed filters use grains in the range 0.6 to 1.2 mm although for specialist applications other sizes may be specified. Larger feed particles (>100 micrometres) will tend to block the pores of the bed and turn it into a surface filter that blinds rapidly. Larger sand grains can be used to overcome this problem, but if significant amounts of large solids are in the feed they need to be removed upstream of the sand bed filter by a process such as settling.

The depth of the sand bed is recommended to be around 0.6-1.8 m (2–6 ft) regardless of the application. This is linked to the maximum throughput discussed below.

Guidance on the design of rapid sand bed filters suggests that they should be operated with a maximum flow rate of 9 m3/m2/hr (220 US gal/ft2/hr). Using the required throughput and the maximum flowrate, the required area of the bed can be calculated.

The final key design point is to be sure that the fluid is properly distributed across the bed and that there are no preferred fluid paths where the sand may be washed away and the filter be compromised.

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Operating parameters for rapid pressure sand bed filters
Rapid pressure sand bed filters are typically operated with a feed pressure of 2 to 5 bar(a) (28 to 70 psi(a)). The pressure drop across a clean sand bed is usually very low. It builds as particulate solids are captured on the bed. Particulate solids are not captured uniformly with depth, more are captured higher up with bed with the concentration gradient decaying exponentially.

This filter type will capture particles down to very small sizes, and does not have a true cut off size below which particles will always pass. The shape of the filter particle size-efficiency curve is a U-shape with high rates of particle capture for the smallest and largest particles with a dip in between for mid-sized particles.

The build-up of particulate solids causes an increase in the pressure lost across the bed for a given flow rate. For a gravity fed bed when the pressure available is constant, the flow rate will fall. When the pressure loss or flow is unacceptable the bed is back washed to remove the accumulated particles. For a pressurised rapid sand bed filter this occurs when the pressure drop is around 0.5 bar. The back wash fluid is pumped backwards through the bed until it is fluidised and has expanded by up to about 30% (the sand grains start to mix and as they rub together they drive off the particulate solids). The smaller particulate solids are washed away with the back wash fluid and captured usually in a settling tank. The fluid flow required to fluidise the bed is typically 3 to 10 m3/m2/hr but not run for long (a few minutes). Small amounts of sand can be lost in the back washing process and the bed may need to be topped up periodically.

Slow Sand Filter Design
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Uses in water treatment
All of these methods are used extensively in the water industry throughout the world. The first three in the list above require the use of flocculant chemicals to work effectively. Slow sand filters can produce very high quality water free from pathogens, taste and odour without the need for chemical aids.

Passing flocculated water through a rapid gravity sand filter strains out the floc and the particles trapped within it reducing numbers of bacteria and removing most of the solids. The medium of the filter is sand of varying grades. Where taste and odour may be a problem (organoleptic impacts), the sand filter may include a layer of activated carbon to remove such taste and odour.

Sand filters become clogged with floc after a period in use and they are then backwashed or pressure washed to remove the floc. This backwash water is run into settling tanks so that the floc can settle out and it is then disposed of as waste material. The supernatant water is then run back into the treatment process or disposed of as a waste-water stream. In some countries the sludge may be used as a soil conditioner. Inadequate filter maintenance has been the cause of occasional drinking water contamination.

Sand filters are occasionally used in the treatment of sewage as a final polishing stage (see Sewage treatment). In these filters the sand traps residual suspended material and bacteria and provides a physical matrix for bacterial decomposition of nitrogenous material, including ammonia and nitrates, into nitrogen gas.

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