South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 28 (2019) 39–45

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South African Journal of Chemical Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sajce

Using KDF material to improve the performance of multi-layers filters in the T

reduction of chemical and biological pollutants in surface water treatment
Hasan Shaker Majdia,∗, Mahdi Shanshal Jaafarb, Azher M. Abeda
a
Al-Mustaqbal University College, Babylon, Iraq
b
Ministry of Science and Technology, Iraq

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Multi-layers filters are usually used in conventional water treatment plants to purify water, reduce turbidity, and
Multi-layers filters remove plankton and undesired odours. Multi-layers filter consists of basic layers represented in graded sand and
KDF supporting gravel layers. This research aims to study the efficiency of such filters after the addition of new layers
Chlorine made of copper and zinc particles by 50% per each with high purity, which are traditionally called KDF (Kinetic
Heavy metals
Degradation Fluxion). The purpose of adding such layers is to increase the efficiency of filters in the removal of
Water treatment
diverse chemical contaminants of heavy elements (Lead, Nickel, iron, etc.), and chlorine to use them in tradi-
tional or advanced filter stations, such reverse osmosis plants or ion exchange water filters. A glass tube was
filled with KDF, sand and gravel layers and used as a multi-layer's filter, and tests were carried out on a water
sample that has been prepared in the lab with concentration of 2 mg/l for heavy elements and 5 mg/l for
chlorine. Flow rates of the tested water sample were 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 l/hr. The results show a very high
efficiency of such filters to remove of chlorine from the treated water by 90% and more, while the efficiency of
the modified filter to remove lead, nickel and iron was 92%, 88%, and 67% respectively; however, there was no
significant records in removing the biological contaminants.

1. Introduction 2015). Researchers continued to provide disinfection methods and

Multilayer filters are used in conventional water treatment plants to
treat the small suspended particles and reduce the turbidity for drinking
water or industrial purposes. Most of the disinfection processes are
carried out on treated water when it used for drink, and they include
physical and chemical methods to kill Bacteria and other pathogenic
microbiology, which cause many diseases to human. Such processes are
associated with side effect products called as (Disinfection By-products)
as a result of reaction of chlorine with organic materials which exist in
water sources and one of these materials is Tri-Halo Methane's THMs
which considered as carcinogenic material (Tian et al., 2017). Chlorine
in all its kinds is considered the main chemical disinfectant, which have
been used in sterilizing water in 1908, and since that date chlorine was
used as an effective sterilizer which helped in limiting the spread of
diseases and epidemics that water was the main factor in their trans-
mission. Though, it exceeded the amount of Penicillin and other anti-
biotics in saving the lives of people (Laubusch E, 1971).
However, the use of chlorine showed side effects that resulted from
the reaction of chlorine with the existing organic components in water
Total Organics Carbons TOC (Hubrig and Innovation Services Inc,
materials, which has less or no side effects to human and environment.
And one of these methods is using new techniques and new materials to
increase the efficiency of multi-layers’ filters' performance by reducing
the side effects on hand and reducing costs on other hands (Xiony,
2004). Multi-layer filters differ in their components and design de-
pending on the main purpose of using them in filtration plants. The
most used material as filtering medium are sand which is used in special
granular gradients and gravel as a supporting layer to the sand, which
used to increase the efficiency of multiple filters. Other filtration
mediums are added such as anthracite or activated carbon in its two
types (granules and powder) to clear water from odours and undesir-
able gases and reduce dissolved organic compounds to a minimum
acceptable amount. A thin layer of activated carbon (sometimes fine
carbon powder) could be added above the fine sand layer during the
treatment process called absorptive treatment, in which gases and or-
ganic materials are absorbed. Despite of the high efficiency of activated
carbon in reducing and removing the soluble organic materials (Total
Organic Carbon), the cost of re-activate and use it may not be useful
especially when materials' concentration is more than 40% (Tobiason
et al., 2011). The addition of extra filtration medium to multi-layer

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: hasanshker1@gmail.com, azhermuhson@gmail.com (H.S. Majdi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajce.2019.01.003
Received 31 October 2018; Received in revised form 13 January 2019; Accepted 22 January 2019
1026-9185/ © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
H.S. Majdi, et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 28 (2019) 39–45

filters is based on the main purpose of filtration. A number of attempts environmental pollutants to protect human health and save the en-
were made to develop the performance of filters, and addition to the vironment, hence; a layer of a chemically active material called kinetic
filtration process, some filters are designed to do other functions when degradation fluxion (KDF) was added to the multi-layers’ filters. This
chemical or biological mediums are added for the purposes of disin- layer is a combination of copper and zinc granules at a certain rate and
fection and removal of organic compounds (Zeppenfeld, 2010). The high purity, and it helps increasing filters’ effectiveness in the elim-
researcher Labso noticed during his study, the effect of some metals on ination of soluble pollutants and heavy elements such as lead, nickel
water properties when they are used to disinfect water. He found that and iron. In addition, the study aims to determine the ability of this
when water passes on the surface of silver, the taste and odour of water material in minimization of residual free chlorine concentration and
are acceptably changed as a result of the effect of silver ion oxides on some biological organisms in water.
water properties and microbiology. That clarify the use of silver tubes
or silver coated tubes to save water through old trips of commercial 2. Experimental part
ship (Shuval et al., 1995). In 2004, NASA has introduced an innovative
system for water purification and disinfection using electrolytic ioni- KDF are used for a variety of pretreatment, primary water treat-
zation of silver used in the Apollo spacecraft (Sanchez et al., 2018). The
ment, and industrial treatment processes. They are generally used in
performance of metals or chemical active compounds was not limited place of, or in conjunction with, granular activated carbon filters, even
by sterilizing only, but also the mineral compounds were found to have
carbon block or inline filters. KDF water filter media extend the life of
the ability on reducing contaminants in water such as heavy elements granular activated carbon (GAC) while protecting the carbon bed
and other dissolved ions. They can achieve such goal by mixing certain
against fouling by bacterial growth. The KDF mechanism is as fol-
ratios of minerals' grains (with a high degree of purity) to form an alloy lowing:
that causes an ion exchange reaction (oxidation and reduction reac-
tions) in aqueous solutions, in addition to the ability of such metal
combination on oxidizing micro-organisms. The reason of this adding
had been confirmed by researcher Wangman by using a combination of
Copper and Zinc powder (with a high degree of purity). He explained
that free energy of the surface has a significant effect on the movement
and transmission of ions in aqueous solutions, where these solutions
provide electrolyte medium that helps activating the ions exchanging
process. This technique has been used in reducing sediments in stream
boilers, and the combination of such mineral compounds was laterally
renamed as kinetic degradation fluxion (KDF) (Barakat, 2011). The
Environment Protection Agency EPA has considered KDF as one of the
materials, which are used in elimination of biogenic pollutants (algae,
fungi and bacteria), in addition to its effectiveness in reducing heavy
elements through oxidation and reduction processes. This material was
also investigated to have the ability in removing mercury from water
wells or other water sources by depending a specific combination of
Zinc and Copper (AGENCY, 2009). Kinetic Degradation Fluxion (KDF)
is a high-purity copper-zinc formulation that uses a basic chemical
process known as redox (oxidation/reduction) to remove chlorine, lead,
mercury, iron, and hydrogen sulfide from water supplies. The process
also has a mild anti-bacterial, algaecidic, and fungicidic effect and may
reduce the accumulation of lime scale (Spiegel et al., 2018). The KDF is
environmentally friendly material; it can be washed by reverse washing 2.1. Materials
way to reactivate and reuse again, and it has an operating life longer
than other mediums in the multi-layers’ filters (Jeakle). The efficiency KDF material supplied by a US company; which is composed of a
of such material is affected by the design factors of filters such as flow mixture of high purity grains of copper and zinc, 50% per each. The
rate and surface area of the used material and its layer thickness, Also, volumetric gradient of the mixture grains ranges from 0.146 to 2.0 mm.
the pH value has an impact on the efficiency and performance of this This material causes chemical reactions when it used in aqueous solu-
material (Tijing et al., 2010). Grains size for the combination of KDF tions such as Redox (Reduction and Oxidation), which are activated
material and the distribution method has a significant effect on its during the passing of water on this material, leading to a change in the
performance and efficiency and the success of the backwash during the properties of dissolved matters in the water. Oxidation of some material
process of reactivating multi-media filter, and it appeared through ex- could happen while the reduction of other materials is in progress, thus
periments that the addition of an appropriate layer of metal medium dissolved pollutants are turned into insoluble sediments, which can be
does not affect the pressure drop rates during the work of the multi- easily separated and disposed by reverse washing. In the case of
filter if used within standard operating flow rates for filtration (T. F. L. chlorine, the reduction process turns it into undissolved chlorides, and
B, 2003). with the same principle other dissolved elements gets oxidized and
The KDF redox process works by exchange electrons with con- turned into insoluble elements in the water, such as lead, iron and
taminants. This give and take of electrons converts may contaminants nickel. Fig. 1 bellows shows the general shape of the KDF used in the
into harmless components during the reaction, electrons are transferred rest of research and Table 1 shows X-ray analysis of KDF which have
between molecules, and new elements are created. Some harmful been carried in the laboratories of the Department of Chemistry and
contaminants are changed into harmless components. Free chlorine Materials Physics.
KDF filters are used most often in conjunction with an activated carbon The sand filter was used with a granular gradient of 0.5–1.5 mm for
filter. Similarly, some heavy metals such as copper, lead, mercury and the first layer, 1.5–2.5 mm for the middle layer and 2.5–3.0 mm for the
others, react to plate out onto the medium's surface, thus being effec- last lower layer. The gravel was prepared with gradients ranging from
tively removed from the water supply (Roy and Hydroviv, 2018). 3.0 to 10.0 mm for use in the filter tube as a supportive layer for above
This study aims to improve the quality of filters and reduce sand layers according to its granular gradient. All layers were supported

40
H.S. Majdi, et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 28 (2019) 39–45

Fig. 1. KDF, Gravel and Sand grains used in the multi-media filter.
Table 1
Chemical and physical properties of kinetic Degradation Fluxion
Material.KDF.
Colour Golden
Physical form Granular
Screen size (U.S. mesh) −10 + 100
Particle size range 0.149 mm–2.00 mm
Apparent density 2.4–2.9 g/cc
Zn% 50
CU% 50
by puncturing a plate at the bottom of the filter tube to prevent leakage
or slippage of sand and gravel layers. The filter consists of a cylinder
glass tube of 120 mm diameter and 60 mm height. Sand and gravel were
washed with water and acid several times to ensure that all salts and
contaminations are completely removed, which may affect the results
of tests for water produced after treatment.
2.2. Sample collection and preparation
Contaminated water samples were prepared by adding 2 mg of
heavy elements (Lead, Iron and Nickel) in one litter of water. While
chlorine samples were prepared with 5 mg/l.
According to the standard method of water and wastewater treat-
ment (American Public Health Association, 1998), the following de-
vices and equipment were used in this research methodology:
a. Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer: To measure concentrations
of heavy metals (lead, iron, nickel) before and after treatment.
b. Turbidity meter: In order to measure the turbidity of treated water, a
WTW device was used for this test.
c. PH measure: To measure the acidic function of treated water, a
WTW device was used for this test
d. Sand filter column: 12 mm and 120 mm glass column. The filtration
layers are sand and gravel. Entry and exit holes are connected with
rubber tubing to pump raw water.
e. Flow Meter: To measure flow rates by pumping water at different
flow rates
f. Free chlorine test: used for determine the residual free chlorine
g. TDS meter: To measure total dissolved salts in water, a WTW device
was used for this test.
2.2.1. Method
Several experiments were carried out on water after the addition of
specific contaminants. Some water samples were containing chlorine
with a concentration 5 mg/s, while others were prepared with 2 mg/l of
heavy elements (lead, iron and nickel). The flow rate was determined at
a range of 20–80 L/hour, and water were flowing down by gravity to a
sand filter from a tank placed at the top of the filter tube. KDF layer was
added with a thickness 50 mm and placed above a 140-mm sand layer
which was supported by a 60 mm layer of gravel at the bottom. After
each experiment, the samples were withdrawn by the adoption of the
aforementioned various flow rates, then the samples were examined by
the atomic spectrometer to measure the concentrations of heavy ele-
ments. While the free chlorine was measured by the chlorine test kite,
besides other specifications of synthetic water, such as the pH, tur-
bidity, and concentration of dissolved salts and water hardness, were
also examined.
After each experiment the medium's layers were replaced to prevent
the interacting of the previous experiments' contaminants with the new
sampled water, and to ensure that they are not affecting the results of
another metal removing tests. Then water was pumped into the filter
with different operational flow rates (80, 60, 40, 20 l/hr); thereafter,
chemical and physics tests were made after each experiment to study
the effect of the new metal layer on performance of a filter towards
contaminates reduction.
3. Results and discussion
Experiments were carried out on water samples with the specifica-
tions shown in Table 2, which were prepared in a laboratory using a
new multi-media filter. The results of the treated samples which contain
5.0 mg/l of chlorine were measured and presented in Fig. 2. Fig. 2
shows a high efficiency of the multi-layer filter in removing chlorine
from the water; it reveals that the flow rate has a significant impact on
chlorine reduction ratio in the treated water since the time of detention
of water in the filter is inversely proportional to flow rate as contact
time decreases by increasing the flow rate. Hence, the ion exchanging
rate between chlorine and the KDF layer is dropping at a short deten-
tion time due to incomplete reaction. However, the slow flow rates are
not always the optimal or most efficient in design since the process of
reaction activation requires an appropriate amount of water solution to
ensure the ion exchanging. It can be concluded from results that the
highest rate of chlorine removal occurred when using a 40 L/hour flow
rate.
Conversely, other water samples were prepared with a constant flow
rate (40 L/hour) and results were taken at different time to determine
the effect of the detention time on filter efficiency. Fig. 3 shows that the
efficiency of the filter in removing chlorine was dropped down as a
result of consumption of great part of the active material in chlorine
reactions in addition to its interaction with contaminants that exist in
water such as suspended pollutants and other chemical contaminants.
The efficiency of filter is decreasing when increasing the detention time
above 25 min, and with increasing time to 65 min the efficiency sig-
nificantly decreased. The results obtained from laboratory-tested
models have been tested for the purpose of imposing or evaluating the
Table 2
Chemical and physical properties for water samples used for experiments.
Water specifications Sample 1 Sample 2
pH 6.8 7.2
Turbidity, NTU 2.5 3.6
TDS (total dissolved salts), mg/l 420 415
Electrical conductivity Ec. 808 821
μs/cm
CHLORINE DOSE 5 3
TH (total hardness as CaCO3),mg/l 220 268

41
H.S. Majdi, et al.
Fig. 2. The effect of a flow rate on the efficiency of multi-layers’ filters in removing chlorine.
efficacy of KDF, which is different from the actual models of production
stations, which differ in terms of their composition of different com-
ponents in compounds and pollutants as well as large quantities of
wastewater. The reverse washing process has been carried out at a
constant rate 60 L/hour after each operation to reactivate the filter and
compensate the filtration mediums in the when filtration layers get
decreased.
Fig. 4 reveals that the treated water has a significant reduction in
Lead concentration ranges from 80% to 92% in all operational flow
rates, and the removal efficiency of filter is proportionally increases at
high flow rates of treated water and its drops back at very high flow
rates. That means the rate of lead ions reduction is affected by the time
of contact between Filter layers and water passing; the best flow rates
were found to be within the limits of 60–80 L/hour. To determine the
appropriate periods for reverse washing, reactivating and replacing the
materials used in filtration (including the effective metal layer) a flow
rate 60 L/hour was taken to determine the optimum time periods/the
operation age of the filter and KDF layer. The tests were conducted at
Fig. 3. The effect of detention time on the efficiency of the filters.
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South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 28 (2019) 39–45
different time intervals of 20 min on water samples after each period of
time and examined by the atomic spectra-transmitter. Fig. 5 reveals that
the filter's efficiency decreased with increasing operating time; it
dropped down from its optimum value 92% at 5 mins to 88% at 25 mins
and keeps around that ratio to start decreasing again sharply after
45 mins to reaches its lowest value 83% at 65 mins.
Using the same flow rates for the water used in the experiments, a
filter's efficiency in Nickle removal was examined in the previous pre-
pared water in a laboratory with nickel concentration of 2 mg/l. The
results shown in Fig. 6, reveal that the new filter has a good possibility
to remove or reduce the nickel concentration with efficiency ranges
from 83% to 88%, also the filter which is supplied with an effective KDF
layer has shown the same behaviour as the filter used to reduce lead
concentration, which is affected by high operational flow rates and a
decrease in efficiency when it reaches the upper limits of the flow rate
100 L/hour, while the low readings of flow rates were recorded at 62%.
Additionally, the tests were made to determine the operational de-
tention time using a constant flow rate (80 L/hour) and examine nickel
H.S. Majdi, et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 28 (2019) 39–45

Fig. 4. The impact of the operational flow rate on the efficiency of a filter in lead reduction.

Fig. 5. The effect of detention time on the efficiency of a filter for lead reduction.

Fig. 6. The effect of flow rate on the efficiency of a filter in Ni removal.

43
H.S. Majdi, et al.
Fig. 7. The effect of the operating time on the efficiency of a filter in Ni removal.
Fig. 8. The effect of flow rate on the efficiency of a filter in Fe removal.
element concentration in treated water by applying various time in-
tervals of 20 min. The results shown in Fig. 7, reveal that the filter's
efficiency or KDF layer reduces over time as the treatment process
continues due to the consumption of the active material and the large
part oxidation of it. On the other hand, it works on absorbing parts of
the components associated with water, which results in saturation and
inability to react with other dissolved elements, which requires re-ac-
tivation by the reverse washing process (Backwash) or replace it if re-
quires (adsorbent catalyst) (Abouali, 1996).
The multi-layered filter efficiency in Fe removal did not show the
same behaviour as in lead and nickel reduction, where Fig. 8 shows that
the removal efficiency of iron from treated water reached a maximum
of 67% although the literature refers to the effectiveness of those ma-
terials in iron reduction and reduce its concentration. But, the presence
of the iron with triple oxidation number Fe + 3 requires treatment with
a mixture of this substance in which the ratio of copper grains is higher
than the ratio of zinc grains to increase the capacity of this substance on
the interaction with iron ions (Tobiason et al., 2011). It is clearly re-
duced in high flow rates due to short contact time in such cases.
4. Conclusions
The results indicate that the KDF can be used as an additional layer
to improve the performance of multi-layered filters, as it is useful to
reduce design costs of processing units, particularly in the treatment of
industrial water. It can be also used in reverse osmosis water treatment
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South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 28 (2019) 39–45
plants since they have high efficiency in chlorine reduction. They are
useful in ion exchanges for their efficiency in reducing and removing
certain heavy elements and chlorine, also can reduce the cost of
maintenance and increase the operational age of the ion exchanger.
Additionally, the use of KDF layer in traditional filters helps to reduce
the cost and extend the operational life of the filters’ media especially to
the activated carbon layer, and is an environmentally friendly material.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their thanks to Al-Mustaqbal
University College (http://www.mustaqbal-college.edu.iq/) for their
financial support.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.sajce.2019.01.003.
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