Effects of Backwashing on the Characteristics of Sand Filtration Effluents: Organic and Microbial Analyses

Abstract

In this study, the head loss, turbidity, particle size, and zeta potential were monitored from the effluent of the sand filtration system after backwashing located in Cheng-Ching Lake (CCL) Water Treatment Plant. Moreover, the non-purgeable dissolved organic matter (NPDOC) and excitation emission fluorescent matrix (EEFM) were measured for the collected water samples with or without the pretreatment process. Results indicate that the turbidity of the influent dropped to 0.06 NTU and remained stable after flowing through the sand filter during the 4-hr operation period. However, a continuous increase of the head loss and sand particle size for the sand filter was observed. This phenomenon was opposite with the absolute value of zeta potential. The water samples were collected from the effluent of the sand filter and were treated by a 0.2 μm membrane filter. Thus, higher NPDOC values of sample without pretreatment were observed in comparison with sample with treatment. Results indicate that the sand filter was able to remove NPDOC, and bacteria might proliferate among the sand filter in rapid filtration. Results from the EEFM analyses show that effluents without membrane filtration pretreatment contained a higher percentage of aromatic protein. Compared to the water samples without pretreatment, more humic-like substance was found in the effluent. This reveals that microbial products or bacteria were detached from the fillers after the backwashing process.