Trickling Filter – Principles

and Design
Dr. Izharul Haq Farooqi
Professor and Incharge, Environmental Engineering Section
Department of Civil Engineering, Z.H. College of Engg. & Tech.
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
 Trickling Filter

Recycle

Final
clarifier

Final
Influent effluent

Primary Waste
clarifier sludge
Trickling
filter

Flow Diagram
General
• It is an attached growth biological treatment
system wherein wastewater is sprinkled
uniformly over a bed of packing material.
• The packing material may include rock, gravel,
slag, sand, redwood, and a wide range of plastic
and other synthetic materials.
• Aerobic conditions are maintained by splashing,
diffusion, and either by forced air flowing
through the bed or natural convection of air if
the filter medium is porous.
• The filter media is typically chosen to provide a
very high surface area to volume.
• Settled sewage flows into a dosing device (arm)
and discharged through a series of holes pointing
downwards which propels the arms around
distributing the liquid evenly over the surface of
the filter media.
BOD Removal Mechanism
• During the course of operation, the organic
material present in the wastewater is
metabolized by the microorganisms attached
to the surface of the medium. The biological
slime grows in thickness as the organic matter
abstracted from the flowing wastewater is
synthesized into new cellular material.
• The bio-film that develops in a trickling filter
may become several millimetres thick and is
typically a gelatinous matrix that contains
many species of bacteria, cilliates and
amoeboid protozoa and many other micro
fauna. This is very different from many other
biofilms which may be less than 1 mm thick.
Sloughing
• As the microbial thickness becomes thick, the microorganisms near the
surface of the media do not get substrate and oxygen and go under
endogenous phase.
• As a result they become inactive and looses adherence to the media
surface.
• This coupled with increase in velocity due to narrowing of pore space
between two adjacent media surface results in sloughing off microbial film
into the liquid flow which is collected by an underdrainage system.
• A new film develops and the process continues.
• Trickling filter is generally followed by a clarifier for the separation and
removal of the sloughed film.
Types of Trickling Filter
• Recirculation is generally practiced in High Rate Trickling filters and
not adopted in low/standard rate trickling filters.
• A well operated low/standard rate trickling filter may remove 75 to
90% BOD and produce a highly nitrified effluent. It is suitable for
treatment of low to medium strength domestic wastewaters.
• The high rate trickling filter, single stage or two stage are
recommended for medium to relatively high strength domestic and
industrial wastewater. The BOD removal efficiency is around 75 to
90% but the effluent is only partially nitrified.
• Two stage trickling filters consist of two trickling filters in series with
clarifiers.
 Design Criteria for Trickling Filters
Table 10.5
Typical Design Criteria for Trickling Filters
Item Low-rate filter High-rate filter Super-rate filter
Hydraulic loading (m3/m2-d) 1-4 10 - 40 40 - 200
Organic loading (kg BOD5/m3-d) 0.08 - 0.32 0.32 - 1.0 0.8 - 6.0
Depth (m) 1.5 - 3.0 1.0 - 2.0 4.5 - 12.0
Recirculation ratio 0 1-3 1-4
Filter media Rock, slag, etc. Rock, slag,
synthetics
Filter flies Many Few, larvae are Few or none
washed away
Sloughing Intermittent Continuous Continuous
Dosing intervals < 5 min < 15 s Continuous
Effluent Usually fully Nitrified at low Nitrified at low
nitrified loadings loadings
Design
• Generally empirical equations are used for the design of trickling
filters. They are formulated on the basis of the performance of the
working trickling filters. Following equations are generally used for
the design.
• NRC Equation (National Research Council of USA)
• Rankins Equation
• Eckenfelder Equation
• NRC Equation is the most preferred equation whereas Rankins
equation is generally used for high rate filters.
NRC Equation (Single Stage Filter)
• The efficiency of BOD removal (E) is given by
•E= 100
• 1 + 0.44 (QSo/VF)0.5
• Q = Flow of wastewater m3/d
• So = Inlet BOD to the filter mg/L
• Where QSo =BOD loading to the filter in Kg/d
• F is a factor that depends upon recirculation ratio F = (1 +R)/(1 +0.1R)2
• R = Recirculation ratio
• V is the volume of the filter in m3
NRC Equation (Two Stage High Rate Filter)
• E1 = Efficiency of BOD removal from first Filter
• E2 = Efficiency of BOD removal from second Filter
• S1 = Inlet BOD to first filter; S2 = Inlet BOD to second filter
• V1 = Volume of first filter ; V2 = Volume of second filter
• E1 = 100
• 1 + 0.44 (QS1/V1F)0.5

• E2 = 100
• 1 + 0.44 (QS2/V2F)0.5
• (1 – E1/100)
Design Example
• Design a two stage high rate trickling filter for the treatment of 5 MLD of
municipal wastewater having BOD5 of 300 mg/L. It is desired that the BOD
of the treated effluent from second filter should not exceed 30 mg/L.
Assume R = 1
• Inlet BOD to first filter = 0.7 x 300 = 210 mg/L (30% removed in primary
treatment
• Solution F =(1 + R)/(1 + 0.1R)2 = 1.65
For equal BOD removal efficiency
BOD outlet from first filter = (BOD inlet to First filter x BOD outlet from second filter)0.5
S2 = (210 x 30)0.5 = 79.37 mg/L
E1 = (210 -79.37) /210 = 62.2%, E2 = (79.37 – 30)/79.37 = 62.2 %
• BOD load to first filter = 5000 x 210/1000 = 1050 Kg/d
• 62.2 = 100/[1 + 0.44(1050/V1x1.65)0.5] ; V2 = 333.586 m3
• Assume depth of filter as 2.0 m ; Area = 166.79 m2
• 1 2 /4 D1= 14.57 m
• BOD Load to second filter = 5000 x 79.37/1000 = 396.85 Kg/d
• 62.2 = 100/[1 + 0.44 (396.85/V2 x 1.65)0.5]
• (1 – 0.622)
• V2 = 882.39 m3 A2 = 441.195 m2, D2= 23.70 m