AIR

Sprinkler
FEED PIPE
TRICKLING FILTER
0.9-
3.5m
Diameter : 30 to 60 m
0.1-0.2
mm
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 grow.

5. Further growth of slimy layer shall limit the penetration of 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 a function of organic and hydraulic loading of
the filter
ATTACHED GROWTH PROCESS
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 any
particular point of time.
Types of Systems
Partial
BOD
removal
Intermediate- and High-Rate Filters
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.
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 is altered by a lack of moisture.
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 of length is
achieved near the periphery of the filter than at the center. Headloss
through the distributor is in the range of 0.6 to 1.5 m.
The underdrain system for a rock filter usually has
precast blocks of vitrified clay or fiberglass grating
laid on a reinforced-concrete subfloor
Underdrains
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 to produce a
minimum velocity of 0.6 m/s
at the average daily flowrate.
Underdrains may be open at both ends, so that they may be inspected easily
and flushed out if they become plugged
Airflow
Natural ventilation has historically been
the primary means of providing airflow,
but it is not always adequate and forced
ventilation using low-pressure 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 the pores..
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.
If the wastewater is colder than the ambient air, the pore air will be cold and the
direction of flow will be downward. If the ambient air is colder than the
wastewater, the flow will be upward.
FILTER
Primary Clarifier
Secondary Clarifier
ONE-STAGE WITH RECIRCULATION
FILTER
STAGE 1
Primary
Clarifier
Secondary
Clarifier
Secondary
Clarifier
TWO-STAGE WITH RECIRCULATION
FILTER
STAGE 2
Q
r
Q, S
i
Q, S

Process Design For Trickling Filter
For Trickling Filters with Rock Media: (NRC Equation): Single Stage
VF
W
E
44 . 0 1
100
+
=
E= efficiency of BOD removal in the filter
W= BOD loading to the Filter, kg/day
V= volume of the filter media, m
3
F= Recirculation Factor
R= Recirculation ratio

2
) 10 / 1 (
1
R
R
F
+
+
=
Q
Q
r
=
For Trickling Filters with Rock Media: (NRC Equation): Two Stage
21 21
21
21
44 . 0 1
100
F V
W
E
+
=
E
21
= efficiency of BOD removal in the first
filter of two stage process
W
21
= BOD loading to the Filter1 of 2 stage
process, kg/day
V
21
= volume of the filter media, m
3
F= Recirculation Factor
R
21
= Recirculation ratio in filter 1 of 2 stage
filtration

22 22
22
21
22
1
44 . 0
1
100
F V
W
E
E

+
=
For Trickling Filter Made of Plastic Media
Eckenfelders Equation
] ) ( exp[
n
v
m
a
i
Q D KS
S
S

=
Germains Equation
] ) ( exp[
, 20
n
v D
i
Q D k
S
S

=
S= BOD
5
of the settled effluent, mg/L
S
0
= Total BOD5 of wastewater influent to
the filter, mg/L
D = Depth of the filter. M
Q
v
= Q/A
A= surface area of the filter
S
a
= Specific surface area of the filter,
= surface area/ volume.
K= observed reaction rate constant, m/d
k
20,D
= treatability constant for a filter with a
specific depth D
n= experimental constant, usually 0.5
x= 0.5 for vertical and rock media filters
=0.3 for cross-flow plastic media filters

Temperature correction for k is same as
that of BOD, but = 1.035 (not 1.047)
x
D D
D
D
k k
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
2
1
1 , 20 2 , 20
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 keeping a recirculation ratio of 1.4.
Influent BOD5 = 75% of 250 mg/L =187.5 mg/L
Effluent BOD5= 30 mg/L
Efficiency, E =
% 84 100 *
5 . 187
30 5 . 187
=

VF
W
E
44 . 0 1
100
+
=
2
) 10 / 4 . 1 1 (
4 . 1 1
+
+
= F
846 . 1 =
W= BOD loading to the Filter, kg/day
=4.5*10
6
*187.5/10
6

=843.75 kg/day
846 . 1 *
75 . 843
44 . 0 1
100
84
V
+
=
3
m 96 . 2438 = V
Assume a depth of 1.5 m
m 5 . 45
5 . 1
96 . 2438 4 4
= = =
t t H
V
Dia
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 out the effluent BOD
5
.
3 3
22 21
m 5 . 1219 2 / m 96 . 2438 = = =V V
2
22 21
) 10 / 4 . 1 1 (
4 . 1 1
+
+
= = F F
846 . 1 =
21 21
21
21
44 . 0 1
100
F V
W
E
+
=
W
21
= BOD
5
loading to the first Filter, kg/day
=4.5*10
6
*187.5/10
6

=843.75 kg/day
% 77 . 78
846 . 1 * 5 . 1219
75 . 843
44 . 0 1
100
21
=
+
= E
W
22
=BOD loading of the 2
nd
filter =BOD of wastewater in the effluent of first stage
% 11 . 63
846 . 1 * 5 . 1219
05 . 179
1
44 . 0
1
100
21
22
=

+
=
E
E
Effluent BOD
5
= (1-0.631)*39.80
= 14.68 mg/L
Effluent BOD
5
after 1
st
stage
= (1-0.7877)*187.5
= 39.80 mg/L
=(1-0.7877)*843.75= 179.05 kg/day
Design a two stage trickling filter process for wastewater with influent BOD
5
=250
mg/L. The treated effluent should have a BOD
5
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. Assume that efficiencies of the two filters are the same.
Overall efficiency = E =
% 88 100 *
250
30 250
=

2 1
E E =
FILTER
STAGE 1
FILTER
STAGE 2
S
i
E
1
S
e1
S
e
E
2
Overall efficiency =E

i
e i
S
S S
E

=
i e
S E S ) 1 ( =
i e
S E S ) 1 (
1 1 ,
=
i e e
S E E S E S ) 1 )( 1 ( ) 1 (
1 2 1 , 2
= =
i i
S E E S E ) 1 )( 1 ( ) 1 (
1 2
=
65 . 0
2 1
= = E E
Overall Efficiency
After First Stage,
After second Stage,
Equating S
e
from above
Stage 1
2
22 21
) 10 / 2 1 (
2 1
+
+
= = F F
083 . 2 =
W
21
= BOD
5
loading to the first Filter, kg/day
=8000*10
3
*250/10
6

=2000 kg/day
21 21
21
21
44 . 0 1
100
F V
W
E
+
=
083 . 2 *
2000
44 . 0 1
100
65
21
V
+
=
3
21
m 02 . 641 = V
m 2 . 20
2
02 . 641 4 4
21
21
= = =
t t H
V
D
Stage 2
W
22
= BOD
5
loading to the second Filter, kg/day
=8000*10
3
*250(1-0.65)/10
6

=700 kg/day
22 22
22
21
22
1
44 . 0
1
100
F V
W
E
E

+
=
083 . 2 *
700
65 . 0 1
44 . 0
1
100
65
22
V
+
=
3
22
m 76 . 1831 = V
H
21
= 2 m
m 14 . 34
2
76 . 1831 4 4
22
22
22
= = =
t t H
V
D
H
22
= 2 m
1. Compute BOD
5
loading to each of the filters
2. Compute hydraulic loading onto each of the filters