TRICKLING

FILTER

Sprink
ler
FEED
PIPE

AIR

0.10.2
mm

Diameter : 30 to
60 m

0.93.5m

ATTACHED GROWTH
PROCESS

Organic present in wastewater

is degraded by a population of
microbes attached to the filter
media.
1. Organics will be adsorbed
onto the biological slimy
layer (0.1-0.2 mm thick)
2. the organics gets degraded
by aerobic microorganism s.
3. Thickness of slime layer
increases as the organisms
grow in number
4. Oxygen will be consumed
before it can penetrate full
depth, anaerobic situation
will grow, and anaerobes
5. Further growth of slimy layer shall limit the penetration of
grow.
food. Food will get exhausted before it can go to the
anaerobes
6. Anaerobes then die and no longer can cling to the media
surface. The whole slimy layer breaks out and comes out with
the treated wastewater. This is called Sloughing. Sloughing is

Wastewater trickles through a bed

of highly permeable porous media
of plastic or rock containing
microbes and treated water gets
collected at the bottom. It
resembles like a filter bed but
operationally it is much different.
Recirculation of wastewater is
not for the same reason as
Activated sludge process. It
does not help to increase the
efficiency of the system.
Recirculation is done only to
ensure a low-strength influent and
constant hydraulic loading rate to
maintain a thin layer of biofilm on
the media and avoiding the
periodic sloughing of the
microbes. Recirculation helps to
maintain a minimum wetting ratio
so that they do not run dry at
certain points inside the filter at

Types of Systems

Partial
BOD
removal

Low-Rate Filters
Dosing tanks are small, usually with only a 2-min
detention time based on twice the average design flow,
so that intermittent dosing is minimized. Even so, at
small plants, low night-time flows may result in
intermittent dosing and recirculation may be necessary
to keep the packing moist. If the interval between
dosing is longer than 1 or 2 h, the efficiency of the
process deteriorates because the character of the
biological
slime isand
altered
by a lackFilters
of moisture.
IntermediateHigh-Rate
Recirculation of the filter effluent or final effluent
permits higher organic loadings, provides higher dosing
rates on the filter to improve the liquid distribution and
better control of the slime layer thickness, provides
more oxygen in the influent wastewater flow, and
returns viable organisms. Recirculation also helps to
prevent ponding in the filter and to reduce the
nuisance from odors and flies.

Distribution Systems
Clearance of 150 to 225 mm should be allowed between
the bottom of the distributor arm and the top of the bed.
The clearance permits the wastewater streams from the
nozzles to spread out and cover the bed uniformly. The
maximum diameter is 60 m. Hence the designer should
consider this fact while fixing the size of the trickling filter
units.
Nozzles are spaced unevenly so that greater flow per unit

Underdrai
ns
The underdrain system for a rock filter
usually has precast blocks of vitrified
clay or fiberglass grating laid on a
reinforced-concrete subfloor

The floor and

underdrains must have
sufficient strength to
support the packing,
slime growth, and the
wastewater and should
slope to a central or
peripheral drainage
channel at a 1 to 5
percent grade. The
effluent channels are
sized
produce
a
Underdrains may be open at both ends, so
thattothey
may be
minimum
velocity of 0.6
inspected easily and flushed out if they become
plugged
m/s at the average daily

Airflow
Natural ventilation has
historically been the primary
means of providing airflow, but it
is not always adequate and
forced ventilation using lowpressure fans provides more
reliable and controlled airflow.
In the case of natural ventilation,
the driving force for airflow is the
temperature difference between
the ambient air and the air inside
If the wastewater is colder than the ambient air, the pore air will
the pores..
be cold and the direction of flow will be downward. If the ambient
air is colder than the wastewater, the flow will be upward.
upward flow means the air enters from the bottom ventilation port
and flow upwards. As it flows upwards, the DO shall get consumed
and when it reaches at the top it will be much depleted. This
situation is undesirable because the wastewater at the top has the
highest oxygen demand and there the concentration of oxygen
shall be the least.

Primary
Clarifier

Q
Q,
Si

Secondary
Clarifier

FILTE
R

Q,
S

ONE-STAGE WITH
RECIRCULATION

Primary
Clarifier
FILTER
STAGE
1

Seconda
ry
Clarifier

TWO-STAGE WITH
RECIRCULATION

Secondar
y Clarifier
FILTER
STAGE
2

Process Design For

Trickling
FilterFilters with Rock Media: (NRC
For Trickling
Equation):
E= efficiency of BOD removal in
100Single Stage
E
the filter
W
1 0.44
W= BOD loading to the Filter,
VF
kg/day
1 R
Qr
3
F
V=
volume
of
the
filter
media,
m

(1 R / 10) 2
Q
F= Recirculation Factor
R= Recirculation ratio
For Trickling Filters with Rock Media: (NRC
Equation): Two StageE = efficiency of BOD removal in
100
21
E21
the first filter of two stage process
W21
1 0.44
W21= BOD loading to the Filter1 of 2
V21 F21
stage process, kg/day
V21= volume of the filter media, m3
100
E22
F= Recirculation Factor
0.44
W22
1
R21= Recirculation ratio in filter 1 of 2
1 E21 V22 F22
stage filtration

For Trickling Filter Made of

Plastic
Media
Eckenfelders
S= BOD5 of the settled effluent,
Equation
S
mg/L
exp[ KS am D(Qv ) n ]
Si
S0= Total BOD5 of wastewater
influent to the filter, mg/L
D = Depth of the filter. M
Germains
Qv = Q/A
Equation
S
A= surface area of the filter
exp[k 20, D D(Qv ) n ]
Si
Sa = Specific surface area of the
filter,
= surface area/ volume.
K= observed reaction rate
constant, m/d
x
D1
k20,D= treatability constant for a

k 20, D 2 k 20, D1
filter with a specific depth D
D2
n= experimental constant, usually
0.5
x= 0.5 for vertical and rock media

Design a trickling filter using rock media to treat wastewater with

flowrate 4.5 million liters per day. BOD of the raw sewage 250
mg/L. BOD removed in the primary clarifier is 25%. The treated
wastewater needs to discharged to a surface water body where
the regulatory limit for BOD5 is 30 mg/L. The fluctuation in the
wastewater flowrate can be controlled by keeping1a 1
recirculation
.4
F

Influent
BOD5 = 75% of 250 mg/L =187.5 mg/L
ratio
of 1.4.
(1 1.4 / 10) 2
Effluent BOD5= 30 mg/L
1.846
187.5 30
W= BOD loading to the Filter,
*100 84%
Efficiency, E
187.5
kg/day
=
=4.5*106*187.5/106
100
100
84
E
=843.75
kg/day
V 2438
.96 m 3

W
1 0.44
VF

1 0.44

Assume a depth of
1.5 m

Dia

843.75
V *1.846

4V
4 2438.96

45.5 m
H
1.5

It is proposed to use a two stage plant instead of the single stage

plant in the previous example. The total volume of filter media
remains the same and gets equally divided, (i.e each filter is to
contain half of the filter media as earlier). Use the same
recirculation ratio. Find 3out the effluent
BOD5.
1 1.4
V21 V22 2438.96 m / 2 1219.5 m 3
F21 F22
(1 1.4 / 10) 2
1.846
100
E21
W21= BOD5 loading to the first Filter,
W21
1 0.44
kg/day
V21F21
=4.5*106*187.5/106
=843.75 kg/day
100
E21
78.77%
Effluent BOD5 after 1st
843.75
1 0.44
stage
1219.5 *1.846
= (10.7877)*187.5
nd
W22=BOD loading of the 2 filter =BOD of wastewater
in themg/L
= 39.80
effluent of first stage
=(1-0.7877)*843.75= 179.05 kg/day
100

E22

0.44
179.05
1 E21 1219.5 *1.846

63.11%

Effluent BOD5 = (1-0.631)*39.80

= 14.68 mg/L

Design a two stage trickling filter process for wastewater with

influent BOD5=250 mg/L. The treated effluent should have a
BOD5 of 30 mg/L. For both the filters use same depth of 2 m and
recirculation ratio 2. The quantity of wastewater is 8000 cum/day.
AssumeEthat efficiencies
of the Overall
two filters are the same.
E
1
2
Efficiency
S
S
S S
i

FILTER
STAGE
1

FILTER
STAGE
2

Overall efficiency
=E
After second

Se E

Si

After First
Stage,

S e (1 E ) Si

S e ,1 (1 E1 ) S i

S e (1 E2 ) S e ,1 (1 E2 )(1 E1 ) Si

Stage,
(1 E ) S i (1 E2 )(1 E1 ) Si
Equating Se from
above 250 30 *100 88%
E1 E2 0.65
Overall efficiency
E1 E2
250
=E=
Stage W21= BOD5 loading to the first Filter, F F 1 2
21
22
(1 2 / 10) 2
kg/day
1
=8000*103*250/106
2.083
=2000
100 kg/day
100

E21

1 0.44

W21
V21F21

65

1 0.44

2000
V21 * 2.083

V21 641.02 m 3

D21

4 V21
4 641.02

20.2 m
H

H21 = 2
m

Stage W22= BOD5 loading to the second Filter,

kg/day
2
E22

=8000*103*250(1-0.65)/106
=700
100 kg/day

0.44
W22
1
1 E21 V22 F22

65

100

0.44
700
1
1 0.65 V22 * 2.083

V22 1831.76 m 3
4 V22
4 1831.76
D22

34.14 m
H 22

H22 = 2
m

1. Compute BOD5 loading to each of the filters

2. Compute hydraulic loading onto each of the filters