Characterization of the Relationship between Ceramic Pot Filter Water Production and Turbidity in Source Water

Abstract

Ceramic pot filters represent a common and effective household water treatment technology in developing countries, but factors impacting water production rate are not well-known. Turbidity of source water may be principal indicator in characterizing the filter's lifetime in terms of water production capacity. A flow rate study was conducted by creating four controlled scenarios with different turbidities, and influent and effluent water samples were tested for total suspended solids and particle size distribution. A relationship between average flow rate and turbidity was identified with a negative linear trend of 50 mLh-1/NTU. Also, a positive linear relationship was found between the initial flow rate of the filters and average flow rate calculated over the 23 day life of the experiment. Therefore, it was possible to establish a method to estimate the average flow rate given the initial flow rate and the turbidity in the influent water source, and to back calculate the maximum average turbidity that would need to be maintained in order to achieve a specific average flow rate. However, long-term investigations should be conducted to assess how these relationships change over the expected CPF lifetime. CPFs rejected fine suspended particles (below 75 μm), especially particles with diameters between 0.375 μm and 10 μm. The results confirmed that ceramic pot filters are able to effectively reduce turbidity, but pretreatment of influent water should be performed to avoid premature failure.

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Second Department

Materials Science and Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Ceramic pot filter; Drinking water; Flow rate; Suspended solids; Turbidity; Bandpass filters; Ceramic materials; Developing countries; Effluents; Particle size analysis; Potable water; Water treatment; Linear relationships; Premature failures; Suspended particles; Total suspended solids; Water production rate

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0043-1354

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Nov 2016

Link to Full Text

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