Sand Filter

A sand filter is a kind of depth filter. Broadly, there are two types of filter for separating particulate solids from fluids:

Surface filters, where particulates are captured on a permeable surface
Depth filters, where particulates are captured within a porous body of material

There are several kinds of depth filter, some employing fibrous material and others employing granular materials. Sand bed filters are an example of a granular loose media depth filter. They are usually used to separate small amounts (<10 parts per million or <10 g per cubic metre) of fine solids (<100 micrometres) from aqueous solutions. In addition, they are usually used to purify the fluid rather than capture the solids as a valuable material. Therefore they find most of their uses in wastewater treatment.

There are three main types;

1. rapid (gravity) sand filters
2. upflow sand filters
3. slow sand filters

All three methods are used extensively in the water industry throughout the world. The first two require the use of flocculant chemicals to work effectively while slow sand filters can produce very high quality water free from pathogens, taste and odour without the need for chemical aids.

They can be operated either with upward flowing fluids or downward flowing fluids the latter being much more usual. For downward flowing devices the fluid can flow under pressure or by gravity alone. Pressure sand bed filters tend to be used in industrial applications and often referred to as rapid sand bed filters. Gravity fed units are used in water purification especially drinking water and these filters have found wide use in developing countries (slow sand filters).