https://youtu.be/djhhGwJb4VA?

si=rE41GBdL-oBCcrRr   Mechanism of
filter

https://sear.unisq.edu.au/363/1/LAW_Bee_Bee-2005.pdf

Some Parameters:

PHValue of pH is the measurement of acidity and alkalinity of waters. Most

of the natural waters have pH value range from 4 to 9. Acidic water of low pH
tends to be more corrosive, water results a sour taste if the pH value is very
low. Malaysian river waters have pH value less than 7 with 60 % of them
having value between 6.5 and 8.5. The recommended value for pH of water
is in the range of 6.5 to 9.0.

HardnessHardness is the measure of polyvalent cation contents present in

water due to calcium, magnesium, strontium and barium. Total hardness
consists of temporary hardness and permanent hardness. Temporary
hardness is precipitated by boiling and forms the scale found inside kettles.
Permanent hardness is due to calcium, magnesium sulphates and chlorides
which are not precipitated by heating. According to the research,
consumption of hard water may have some health benefits. Consumption of
water without mineral in long term may result in the lowering of the bone
calcium saturation level. In Malaysia, most of river waters are soft with less
than 60 mg/l of hardness. In raw water, hardness of up to 500 mg/l is
permitted.

Ways of reducing contamination in water:

 Activated Carbon

The most common base materials used to produce carbon are wood, coal,
and coconut shell. These materials are subjected to carbonization process
where the base material is heated to the high temperature. In order to
activate the carbon, base material is subjected to a second heat and
steam treatment

The effectiveness of activated carbon depends on:

Physical Properties:
The amount and distribution of pores determine how well contaminants
are filtered. Size of pores must large enough to admit contaminant
molecules because contaminants come in all different sizes

Chemical Properties:

The surface of filter interacts chemically with organic molecules. The

chemical nature of adsorbing surface will affect the adsorption
effectiveness. Different chemical properties of carbon filters make them
more or less attractive to various contaminants.

Contamination process:

Adsorption process is affected by concentration of organic contaminants.

Most organic chemicals are effectively adsorbed to carbon surface due to
the similarity of materials. Smaller organic molecules are held the tightest
because they can fit into smaller pores.

Water temperature and pH:

Low pH value and low temperature result in better adsorption because

organic chemicals are in more adsorb able form

Exposure time:

The longer the contact time of carbon surface with contaminants in water,
the greater amount of contaminant will be removed from water. Contact
time can be improved by increasing the amount of activated carbon and
reducing the flow rate of water through filter.

Adsorption Mechanism:

Activated carbon is a porous material which has a high surface area for
the contaminant adsorption. Activated carbon removes contaminants in
two mechanisms, namely as adsorption process and catalytic reduction
reaction. Adsorption process is a process where the contaminants in water
attached to the surface of carbon. Adsorption involves both adsorbent and
adsorbate. Adsorbent is the adsorbing phase (carbon) and the material
concentrated or adsorbed at the surface is adsorbate. The most important
characteristic of an adsorbent is the quantity of adsorbate it can
accumulate. There are two principal types of adsorption, i.e. physical and
chemical adsorption. Physical adsorption is caused by Van der Waals
forces and chemical adsorption is commonly resulting in a transformation
of the adsorbate.

Example:

Granular Activated Carbon Filter

Mechanism:

Activated carbon surface are both

hydrophobic (water hating) and oleophilic
(oil loving), where they hate water but
love oil. This type of filter is used with a
sediment filter to remove larger particles
such as dust and rust and therefore
protects the carbon filter from being
clogged. Water flows through the
sediment filter before entering carbon
filter. When water flows through the
carbon filter, dissolved organics in water
are adsorbed to the carbon surface.

Powdered Activated Carbon Filter

 Mechanism:

This is a simple filtration

system where only one
cartridge is used to treat
the water. Carbon in powder
form is fixed into a
cartridge. Water enters the
filter from the bottom end
and flows through the

Advantages and Disadvantages of activated carbon:

Activated carbon is not a universal treatment, only limited number of

contaminants will be removed. Carbon filter can be used to remove
organic contaminants, chlorine, some organic chemicals such as
trihalomethanes (THM), pesticides and industrial solvents.

Carbon filters do not remove iron content and heavy metals such as
silver, copper and lead. Offensive taste, odour and colour in supplied
water also can be removed by carbon filter.

Activated carbon filters can be a breeding ground for microorganisms.

Non pathogenic bacteria that do not cause diseases have been regularly
found in carbon filters. In order to flush out the bacteria that have been
built up in the filter, let the water run for 30 seconds prior to use
especially if filter is not used for several days. Some manufacturers add
silver to carbon filters to prevent bacteria growth. Activated carbon filters
only suitable for use on bacteria free water

 Membrane Filter:

Membrane filtration process has been used for many years in water
treatment process. The typical membrane materials used are polymer and
ceramic. Membrane is a thin film of porous material that allows water to pass
through and traps contaminants larger than pore size on the top surface of
the membrane. Membrane can be used to prevent larger and
undesirable molecules such as virus, bacteria, salt and metal .
Membranes are increasingly being used in water treatment process
because:

 Membranes remove particulates by physical staining above a

target size, so they are able to remove microbial contaminants such
as Giardia, Cryptosporidium and viruses.

 Membranes may reduce the disinfection chemicals.

 Membranes are able to remove organic precursors and leading to

more biologically stable water.

Membranes can be classified into three main types, namely as micro

filtration, ultra filtration and nano filtration. Nano filtration (NF) is a lower
pressure process that removes substances with molecular weight above 100-
500 and is capable of removing hardness, pathogens and originally derived
colour. Ultra filtration (UF) is a low pressure process for removal of
microorganisms, colloids, and high molecular weight compounds while salts
and water will pass through. Micro filtration (MF) is similar to ultra filtration
except that the pore size is slightly larger and operating pressures are lower.
Micro filtration can remove contaminants in the range of 0.025 to 10.0 µm
from fluid by passage through the micro- porous
medium. Mechanism:

Water flows into a cartridge at high

pressure and makes its way into the
fiber stem. The tightly wrapped
fibers form a cylinder around a
tubular opening and pressure forces
water through the wrappings to the
inner opening that leads to the
faucet. The fiber will then filter out
the larger particles such as organic
matter, sand, mud and silt. After
that, filtrate will pass to the
opening that leads to the faucet.
Normally, the flow rate is high with
higher pressure as it is on the main
pipe.
 Mechanism: This filter used
ceramic as the membrane to
filter the feed water. The
pressure and flow rate of the
water are relatively lower
than the point of entry. Tap
water will flow into the filter
via an input hose, and then
the pressure in the cartridge
will force water into the
ceramic stem to retain the
unwanted contaminants.
Ceramic filtration technology
is often called dead end
filtration. The filtrate in the
stem will flow out through
the output hose and use for
cooking and drinking
purposes.

 Reverse Osmosis:
Reverse osmosis is a water purification process where untreated water flows
thorough several filters and elements, and one of them is semi-permeable
membrane. Reverse osmosis system is effective in removing impurities in
water such as heavy metals, chemical toxin, pesticides, bacteria and viruses.
This system is used to separate the pure water from salt and other
contaminants.

R.O. Membrane :

The membrane used in R.O. system is a thin micro- porous surface that
rejects all impurities but only allows water molecules to pass through. The
three types of commonly used membranes are tubular, spiral wound and
hollow fiber

Spiral wound membrane:

Hollow fiber membrane:

 Distillation
Distillation is a process to produce pure water by removing almost all
impurities
from the water. Distillation process is able to remove nitrate, bacteria,
sodium,
 hardness, dissolved solids, most organic compound and heavy metals
from water.
This process used distiller which is made of stainless steel, aluminium
or plastic
materials, this is because they do not absorb impurities from water and
easy to clean.

 Ultraviolet Light (UV light)

Ultraviolet light is also one of the common techniques used in water

treatment systems. UV light has been used for many years as an
environmental friendly route to water disinfection. Sun is the main source
of natural UV light on the earth. Apart from sun, stars also produce some
amount of UV light. Earth’s atmosphere produces natural UV light when
the very energetic particles from sun strike the air molecules. UV light is
invisible to human eye, the short wave light having wavelength ranging
from x-ray region (100 nm) to blue end of visible light (400 nm(

 Combination Filter:
Combination water treatment systems use a few kind of treatment into
one. Filtrate from these kinds of systems usually can be consumed
straight away. The combination filter consists of several cartridges, water
need to pass through those cartridges one by one and finally reach at
consumers.

Mechanism: This treatment system consists of six filters as below:

• Filter1, ceramic membrane filter- pore size of 0.9 micron with silver
element used to filter the residues and bacteria in supply water.

• Filter 2, activated carbon filter- remove chlorine, odour, colour, organic

chemicals and remaining residue inside the water. It also prevents growth
of bacteria

. • Filters 3, silver carbon- enhances remove chlorine, organic chemicals

and prevent bacteria from breeding.

• Filter 4, sediment- resin bond cellulose used to filter multi chemical

compounds and suspended particles.

• Filter 5, post carbon- further improves any unpleasant smells of traces

of organic waste.

• Filter 6, bio-energy converter- to break molecules structure and provide

energy rays that regulate and active cells.

Advantages and disadvantages:

This treatment system added silver to the activated carbon filter to

prevent bacteria growth, therefore boiling is not necessary. This system
used activated carbon repetitively; there are three activated carbon filters
in the whole system of six filters. With so many times of carbon filtration,
no doubt the water is clean. Mineral stones used in filter 6 are said to
provide minerals and calcium to the drinking water, but it is not sure that
the stones are really omit minerals. It may become the bacteria breeding
ground which is harmful to human health

Turbidity:
Turbidity of water indicates the interference of light passage through the
water. Presence of solids, organic particles, microorganisms or other
materials in water can block and adsorb the rays of light. Turbidimeter is
the apparatus used for measuring turbidity of water. Turbidity is measured
as NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units). The turbidimeter is in the range
from 0 to 4000 NTU in the nearest three decimal places. Turbidimeter is
operates on the nephelometric principle of turbidity measurement. The
optical system is consisted of a tungsten-filament lamp, lenses and
apertures to focus the light, a 90˚ detector, forward-scatter light detector
and a transmitted light detector. The microprocessor of instrument uses a
mathematical calculation to ratio signals from each detector.

Chlorine:

Chlorine is commonly used in disinfection of drinking water. It is effective

in preventing the spread of water-borne diseases. However, chlorine is
also very reactive towards the natural compounds present in water and
therefore forming new, complex and dangerous chemicals. Hence, it is
very important to monitor the concentration of chlorine in the form of
hypochlorite ion or hypochlorous acid as it may form harmful by-products.
Chlorine is easily detected with DPD (N, N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine) to
form pink colour which is proportional to the concentration of chlorine in
the sample solution

Result of Some Samples