A novel CFD model to predict effluent solids concentration and pressure drop in deep bed granular filters for water treatment

• Published in: Separation and purification technology Vol. 295; p. 121232
• Main Authors: Fernandes del Pozo, David, Ahmad, Arslan, Rehman, Usman, Verliefde, Arne, Nopens, Ingmar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.08.2022
• Subjects: Concentration; Modelling; Porosity; Pressure drop; Rapid sand filter; Solid deposition; SS; CFD; BC; RT; SW; Solid deposition; E-L; UDS; DBF; Concentration; GW; Pressure drop; Rapid sand filter; UDF; Modelling; Porosity; E-E
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2022.121232

•Development of a CFD model to simulate deep bed granular filtration processes.•Concentration and pressure profiles are simultaneously solved.•An assessment is performed by comparison with literature data.•Comparison with experiments highlight the complexities of CFD modelling filtration. Rapid sand filtration is a widely used technology to remove suspended solids in drinking water and wastewater treatment plants. One of the challenges of the rapid sand filtration is to reliably predict the removal efficiency of suspended solids and pressure drop as a function of filtration time. In this study we put forward a novel CFD model to simultaneously predict the solids concentration in the effluent and hydraulic resistence build-up in rapid sand filters. The CFD model is assessed against lab scale filtration data at different filter media grain sizes and filtration velocities. Our results show an overall satisfactory agreement with the observations. Finally, we highlight the complexity and need for further work in developing general CFD models for rapid sand filtration.