Reusing pulverized solid wastes glass as a filtration medium

Abstract EN

The aim of this research is to find an economically and environmentally efficient way for reusing industrial solid wastes like glass as substitute for sand media to remove turbidity from aqueous solutions.

Three different parameters were used and they are; the gradation with its depth, the filtration rate, and influent turbidity to examine the ability of crushed glass as a filter medium.

The glass solid wastes for this study collected from different sources and treated by washing, crushing and sieving according to sizes of sand filter media (as a reference in the evaluation of results).

26 runs were made in pilot filtration unit to achieve these above parameters.

Every run time for each media was stopped at ratio of effluent turbidity/ influent turbidity ≥ 0.7.

Removal efficiency (or effluents quality) and run time of the glass media were better than that of the sand media where the run time of the filter medium is a function (index) of turbidity removal efficiency.

Many of the filtration curves showed that the sand medium had removal efficiency better than glass at the beginning operating and shortly thereafter but with the passage of time the glass filter medium had better removal and longer run time than the sand medium.

There was a superiority for glass filings on the sand media with regards to removal efficiency and the run time length, making them a good alternative for sand filter media.

Keywords: filter media, pulverized glass, reusing, turbidity and water filtration.