Trickling Filters
Trickling Filters
Trickling Filters (TFs) are well-characterized wastewater treatment technology. TF
vessel is filled with solid inert materials such as gravel, rock, coke, ceramic, or
plastic.
Trickling filters have been a popular conventional aerobic biological treatment
process as a secondary treatment for wastewater.
As the wastewater flows through the media, the organisms attached to the surfaces
remove the organic matter from the flow.
The process is an attached-growth aerobic biological treatment method to remove
BOD and suspended solids.
Biological slime (precursor of biofilm) grows on the solid inert media and the
microbes (zooglea bacteria) on mature biofilm absorb the dissolved organic
compounds for their growth. Some metals can be adsorbed or another relevant
interaction is made to remove contaminant of wastewater (Pal et al., 2010).
Mechanism of Trickling Filters
The incoming influent is trickled over the filter, e.g., with the
use of a rotating sprinkler. In this way, the filter media goes
through cycles of being done and exposed to air.
Schematic Cross-Section of a Trickling Filter
Source: Tilley et a.l ( 2014)
Design Specification
The trickling filter consists of a cylindrical tank filled with
highly specific surface material, such as rocks, gravel,
shredded PVC bottles, or special pre-formed filter media.
The most widely used design was simply a bed of stones from
1 to 3 m deep through which the wastewater passed.
Rock filter diameter may range up to 60 m.
The rocks in a rock filter must be 25 to 100 mm in diameter
and, hence, have openings too large to strain out solids.
Trickling Filters (types of media)
Slime Growth
To address these constraints, such
as the increase of slime growth,
various materials are preferred for
filling the trickle filter. These
materials consist of corrugated
plastic sheets and plastic rings.
These mediums provide 90 square
squares for slime growth. There is
more surface area per cubic meter
of bulk volume (compared to 40-60
square meters for 75 mm rocks) and
improved void ratios for better
airflow.
Sludge retention : 100 days or more
Types of Trickling Filters
Trickling filters are classified according to the applied
hydraulic and organic load.
Hydraulic load may expressed as cubic meters of wastewater
per day per square meter of bulk filter surface area (m3/d*m2)
or, preferably, as the depth of water applied per unit of time
(mm/s or m/d).
Organic Loading is expressed as a kilogram of BOD5 per day
per cubic meter of bulk filter volume (kg/d*m3).
*Note: Common hydraulic and organic loadings for the various
filter classifications are summarized in Table 8-12.
Classification of Trickling Filters
Conventional Trickling Filters, also known as ordinary,
Standard, or low-rate filters (LRTF), are relatively simple
treatment units that normally produce a consistent effluent
quality even with varying influent strength.
Intermediate Rate Filters - The biological solids that slough
from an intermediate trickling filter are not as well digested
as those using a low-rate filter.
High-rate filters are generally loaded at the maximum organic
loading capabilities of the filter and receive total BOD5.
Super rate filters - also called (roughing filters). Plastic
media is used in this filter.
Roughing Filters - are designed to allow a significant amount
of soluble BOD to pass too quickly through the trickling filter.
Types of Trickling Filters
Design Recommendation
An important element in trickling filter design is the provision for returning a portion
of the effluent to flow through the filter. This practice is called recirculation.
The ratio of the returned flow to the incoming flow is called the recirculation ratio
(r).
Recirculation is practiced in the stone filter for the following reasons:
To increase contact efficiency by bringing the waste into contact more than
once with active biological material.
To dampen variation in loading over a 24-hour period. The strength of the
recirculated flow lags behind that of the incoming wastewater. Thus,
recirculation dilutes strong influents and supplements weak influents.
To raise the DO of the influent.
To improve distribution over the surface, thus reducing the tendency to clog
and also reduce filter flies.
To prevent the biological slimes from drying out and dying during the
nighttime period when flows may be too low to keep the filter wet
continuously.
Design Formulas
Empirical equations were developed to predict the filters' efficiency based on the
BOD load, the volume of the filter media, and the recirculation.
For a single-stage filter or the first stage of a two-stage filter, the efficiency is:
Design Formulas
For the second stage filter, the efficiency is:
Industry Application
Trickling filters are used in a wide range of sectors for treating wastewater.
Following are a few precise examples of how trickling filters are used in various
industries:
1. The Food and Beverage industry aims to extract organic matter, sediments, and
minerals from wastewater for recovery purposes.
2. The chemical industry uses filter aids to facilitate the decomposition of organic
contaminants and decrease chemical oxygen demand (COD).
3. The pulp and Paper Industry aims to eliminate lignin, organic compounds, and
suspended particles from the process.
4. Filters in the textile industry aid in the degradation of dye molecules and the
reduction of both the color and chemical content in effluent.
5. A municipal wastewater treatment plant aids in the decomposition of organic
debris, ammonia, and other pollutants found in home sewage.
References
1. Dubey, S. K., & Kashyap, A. K. (2022). Chapter 14 - Biofilm: A doable microbial
continuum for the treatment of wastewater. In G. H. Dar, R. A. Bhat, H. Qadri, & K.
R. Hakeem (Eds.), Microbial Consortium and Biotransformation for Pollution
Decontamination (pp. 321–345). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-
91893-0.00013-4
2. Davis, M. L., & Cornwell, D. A. (2008). Introduction to Environmental Engineering.
McGraw-Hill.
3. United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2000). Wastewater Technology
Fact Sheet: Trickling Filters. Municipal Technology Branch.
