• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.289-298
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• 2008

Because of their simplicity, efficiency, and economy, slow sand filters are appropriate means of water treatment for small water systems. Biological activity within the sand bed have the strongest influence on removal efficiency of pollutants by slow sand filtration. This report investigated the microorganisms(algae) of slow sand filtration pilot plant at Y water treatment plant. Data were collected at inflow and slow sand filtration from May to October, 2007. The results indicated that the light exposure was influenced on microorganism in slow sand filtration according to the formation of algal biofilm. The relative contribution of biomass and accumulated particulates to head loss development in slow sand filters requires further study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2009

Slow sand filtration (SSF) was the first engineered/mechanical filtration process used in drinking water treatment. In SSF, untreated water slowly percolate through a bed of porous sand. Biological activity within the sand bed have the strongest influence on removal efficiency of pollutants by slow sand filtration. In this study, the microbial population distributions in slow sand filters operated at the various operation conditions was evaluated. The concentrations of $10^4$ to $10^5$ CFU per g dry wt. were observed. No significant differences were seen between the number of filter-covered materials. The data indicate that the temperature has affect on population distribution. Also, the light exposure was influenced on microorganism in slow sand filtration according to the heterotropic plate counts. The role of microorganism within the sand media requires further study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.461-466
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• 2008

Because of their simplicity, efficiency, and economy, slow sand filters are appropriate means of water treatment for small water systems. In this study, the effect of filtration velocity and dirty skin (Schmutzdecke) was evaluated on the performance of turbidity removal. Also, removal characteristics of particulate were investigated in the case of the usage of non-woven fabric on the surface of sand and the application of PCF as pretreatment process. Comparative column tests were carried out for the various operation condition. From the result of column tests, filtration velocity had little effect on the turbidity removal rate. The formation of algal biofilm on the surface of media is helpful in turbidity removal, while non-woven fabric is not as effective as expected. The relative contribution of biomass and accumulated particulates to head loss development in slow sand filters requires further study.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.103-115
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to establish acceptable criteria for the design of simple water treatment plant in rural areas. To develop efficient simple water treatment methods for rural areas, water quality in the study areas was investigated and rapid and slow filtrations in pilot-scale were tested under various conditions. The main results of this study are as follows. It was found that the water qualities of the study areas exceed the drinking water standards, which implies that some treatments are required in rural areas. Treatment efficiencies of both rapid sand and dual-media (sand and anthracite) filtration without pre-treatment such as flocculation and sedimentation are very low, which were turned out to be unadequate for the rural areas. Treatment efficiencies of both vertical and horizontal slow filtration without chlorination are very high for consumed $KMnO_4, NH_3-N, NO_3-N$, turbidity, and very low for coliform and bacteria. Treatment efficiencies of both vertical and horizontal slow filtration with chlorination are very high over the most pollutants. A slow filtration with chlorination is efficient for the rural areas. An adequate depth of sand layer is over 60 cm. A horizontal filtration is more economical than a vertical filtration. A horizontal filtration can be operated for a relatively long periods of time without sand washing or replacement because clogging is removed by simple back-washing.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.160-170
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• 2003

A pilot study was performed to examine the feasibility of intermittent slow sand filtration for agricultural reuse of reclaimed water. The effluent of biofilter for 16-unit apartment was used as influent to the slow sand filtration system at 0.6 $m^3$/day loading rate using 15 seconds spray in every 10 minutes on the about 1 $m^2$ surface area and 0.5 m depth. The influent concentrations of total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC) and E. coli were in the range of 10.000 MPN/100 mL. and they were reduced to less than 1,000 MPN/100 mL after filtration with average of 320, 270, and 154 MPN/100 mL, respectively, showing over 95 % removal. Turbidity and SS were improved effectively and their average concentration was reduced to 0.8 NTU and 1.7 mg/L, respectively, and removal rate was about 50 %. Average BOD and COD concentrations were also reduced substantially to 2.6 and 25.8 mg/L with about 55 and 21 % removal rate, respectively. Nutrients removal was relatively low and removal rate for T-N and T-P was low however, remaining nutrients might be beneficial and less concerned in case of agricultural reuse. The concentration of biofilter effluent used in this experiment was in the range of secondary treatment effluent but slightly stronger than the one from existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Therefore, intermittent slow sand filtration might be also applicable to the effluent from WWTPs as long as its agricultural reuse is available. Considering stable performance and effective removal of bacterial indicators as well as other water quality parameters, low maintenance, and cost-effectiveness, the intermittent slow sand filtration was thought to be an effective and feasible alternative for agricultural reuse of reclaimed water. This paper is a preliminary result from pilot study and further investigations are recommended on the optimum design parameters before full scale application.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.209-213
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• 2005

Slow sand filtration processes amended with 5 and 10cm GAC layers at top was compared to same process at bottom in a pilot study for humic substances removal. In case of 5cm GAC layer, the process amended at bottom was superior to the process at top in DOC and UV254nm removal and same trends were observed in case of 10cm GAC layer. Head loss developments of the process GAC at bottom were higher than the process GAC at top so that maintenance of the process GAC at top is easier than the process GAC at bottom.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.873-878
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• 2014

The applicability of carbon nanotube (CNT) to slow sand filtration for the removal of bacteria was studied using scanning electron microscope and column experiments. The morphology of CNT were investigated using scanning electron microscope and the CNT looked like a skein serving bacteria favorable site for adhesion. Column experiments were performed over a range of CNT filter depth, pH, and ionic strength. Bacteria removal efficiency was found to increase from 44.15% to 99.95% as the CNT filter depth increased from 1 cm to 5 cm, and 3 cm of CNT filter depth was required for significant removal of bacteria. pH increase from 5.5 to 8.5 decreased the bacteria removal efficiency, due to the electrostatic repulsion between bacteria and CNT at higher pH. Bacteria removal efficiency decreased from 97.25% to 70.90% as the ionic strength increased from 0 mM to 50 mM. This study demonstrated that the CNT can be applied to slow sand filtration for treating microbially contaminated water.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.359-366
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• 2007

Slow sand filtrations have been widely used for water treatment in small communities, however their capacity is often limited by high turbidity in the raw water. For this reason, several pre-treatment facilities were required for a slow sand filter. Turbidity removal from the highly turbid raw water was investigated in roughing filters as a pre-treatment process. The roughing filters followed by rapid mixing tank were operated in the form of a contact filtration. In several jar tests, the predetermined optimum aluminium sulfate (alum) doses for turbid water of 30 and 120NTU were 30 and 50mg/L, respectively. At the optimum alum dose, physically optimum parameters including G value of $220sec^{-1}$ and rapid mixing time of 3 minutes were applied to the contact filtration system. Without addition of alum, the filtrate turbidity from the roughing filters, packed respectively with different media such as sand, porous diatomite ball and gravel, was in the range of 5~30NTU at filtration velocities of 30 and 50m/day. However, the application of a contact filtration to roughing filters showed stably lower filtrate turbidity below 1.0NTU at filtration velocity of 30 m/day. Although the filtration velocity increased to 50m/day, filtrate turbidity was still below 1.0NTU in both single and double layer roughing filters. At influent turbidity of 120NTU, the filtrate turbidity was over 5 NTU in the triple layer roughing filter, which shortened the filter run time. The flocs larger than $10{\mu}m$, formed in the rapid mixing tank, were almost captured through the roughing filter bed, while the almost flocs smaller than $10{\mu}m$ remained in filtrate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.754-760
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• 2010

Geosmin removal by biodegradation was investigated in lab-scale slow sand filtration column with different empty bed contact times (EBCTs) and water temperature. Schmutzdecke layer was built up after 30 days operation and biomass and activity were $4.5{\times}10^6\;CFU/g$ and $3.42\;mg{\cdot}C/m^3{\cdot}hr$, respectively. The attached bio-film microorganisms in schmutzdecke layer were isolated and identified. The dominant species was Pseudomonas sp. that had occupied 56%. Removal efficiencies of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and geosmin were 27% and 95% after 30 days operation. In lab-scale slow sand filtration column, geosmin and DOC removal efficiencies were 62% and 10% at $5^{\circ}C$, respectively. And increasing water temperature ($15^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$) increased the geosmin and DOC removal efficiencies (88~100% and 25~42%) in lab-scale slow sand filtration column. Geosmin and DOC biodegradation rates (k) in the schmutzdecke layer (in the upper 5 cm filter bed) were $1.842{\sim}15.965\;hr^{-1}$1 and $0.253{\sim}1.123\;hr^{-1}$, respectively. It were about 18~32 times and 20~51 times of the rates in the deeper filter bed (5~60 cm).

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2005

It was evaluated that the effect of turbidity removal by Pore Controllable Fiber Filter(PCF) installed in NS(Naksang) small water treatmant plant(system) using under flow water as raw water in the study. The results of the study are as the followings. Firstly, the removal efficiency of turbidity by PCF without coagulation(in operation mode not using coagulants) was mostly below 20 percent. On the other hand, when operation using proper coagulants, that of turbidity was mostly over 80 percent. Secondly, slow sand filtration after PCF, total turbidity removal efficiency of final treated water was 84.3 percent, and the contribution by PCF was 57.1 percent and that of slow sand filtration was 27.7 percent. Therefore the introduction of PCF as pre-treatment process would be helpful to reduce the loading of high turbidity of slow sand filtration. Thirdly, the results of particle counter measurements showed that when operated PCF with coagulants, fine flocs captured or adsorbed at the pore of PCF were flow out into the effluents from 120 minutes after backwashing because of the increase of headloss of PCF. Therefore the decision of backwashing time should made consideration into the outflow of fine flocs from PCF. Fourth, coagulant dosages on PCF at the same turbidity was largely variable because of the effect of the raw water characteristics and the turbidity increase velocity at rainy days, therefore flexible coagulant dosages should be considered rather than fixed coagulant dosage by the influent jar-test result.