Modular Horizontal-Flux Filtration for Stormwater Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gravity filter systems face inefficiencies in treating stormwater and wastewater due to complexities in filtration dynamics, uneven distribution of water flow, material clogging, and lack of monitoring, leading to reduced treatment performance and higher maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
The SWID system employs a horizontal-flux filtration and adsorption system with modular, watertight filtration cases and multi-parametric sensors for optimized filtration media efficiency, automated flow control, and remote monitoring, minimizing site remediation and energy costs while ensuring effective pollutant removal and emergency management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If conventional gravity filter systems are used, then the system is simple in structure, but the treatment efficiency is far lower than the potential capacity of the filter material
Solution Approach 1:
The filtration system is divided into multiple independent filtration chambers arranged in series, each chamber containing filter material of a specific grain size. This segmentation allows water to be distributed evenly across multiple filtration surfaces, maximizing the utilization of filter material capacity while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from traditional vertical gravity filtration to a multi-dimensional configuration where water flows through multiple chambers in sequence. This dimensional change enables better flow distribution and increases the effective filtration surface area without significantly increasing structural complexity.
2Ease of manufacture
If vertical stream filtration is used, then the system requires minimal infrastructure, but accurate control of flow velocity and filtration rate cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
Each filtration chamber is designed with specific local characteristics including calibrated inlet openings and tailored filter material grain sizes. This local quality optimization ensures that flow velocity and filtration rate are precisely controlled at each stage, while the overall system maintains minimal infrastructure requirements.
3Ease of operation
If water distribution is not optimized, then the system is simple to operate, but material clogging and preferential pathways occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs calibrated inlet openings with specific dimensional parameters and filter material with controlled grain size distributions. These parameter optimizations ensure uniform water distribution across the filtration surface, preventing clogging and preferential pathways while maintaining operational simplicity.
4Device complexity
If unilateral wastewater flux from top to bottom is used, then the system structure is simple, but the lower part of the filter is underutilized
Solution Approach 1:
The filtration system is segmented into multiple chambers with progressively coarser filter materials from top to bottom. This segmentation allows each chamber to handle specific fractions of the wastewater, ensuring uniform utilization of the entire filter material volume while maintaining a simple structural configuration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
SWID achieves high treatment performance with reduced costs and energy consumption, enabling efficient pollutant removal and extended filter media lifespan through optimized filtration and automated maintenance, ensuring environmental protection with enhanced monitoring and emergency response capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
conventional gravity filter systems, such as sand filters, quartz sand filters and active carbon filters
Implementation Method 2
employing a selected mixture of filter material in accordance with the nature of the pollutants to remove
Data Source
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AI summary
INTRODUCTION TECHNOLOGICAL SECTOR SWID technology can be classified under section CHEMISTRY, class TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE (C02) and under section FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS, class HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING, subclass HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING (E02B). MAIN TECHNICAL FEATURES OF THE INVENTION SWID technology aims to remove dissolved and undissolved, settleable and unsettleable pollutants from stormwater flowing on large, impermeable areas, taking advantage of the adsorption properties of porous materials. The main advantages of the system, which differentiate it from the filtration technologies already available on the Market, are the increased hydraulic efficiency, by inducing optimized and calibrated pathways for the stream, with the scope of taking advantage of the whole filtration material's mass available in the plant, and the increased treatment efficiency, by guaranteeing an optimal contact time between water and the filtration media. Each plant is equipped with a tank containing a series of modular filtration cases, installed vertically one on top of each other to create wheeled towers (Fig. 3). These towers are installed in parallel configuration inside the filtration sector. On the lateral sides of the filtration sector, two horizontal, bidirectional channels for feeding and discharge are installed, as depicted on Figure 4 and 5. Each modular case is filled with filter media, composed by a selected mixture of highly adsorbing materials, to maximize the performance. Each modular case is equipped, on its front and back sides, with a calibrated-pore system, in order to calibrate the entering and exiting flowrates of water and guarantee an adequate contact time between water and filtration media, thus enhancing adsorption performance and reducing headlosses (figure 2 and 5). SWID system can be managed and controlled remotely by means of a SCADA software,connected to a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) computing system, in order to monitor and control the whole treatment process at each phase, and manage emergencies and maintenance operations. A tank is located on the front side of the SWID plant for the storage of untreated water during maintenance, emergencies or exceptional contaminant spillovers. Another tank is available for the storage and settlement of the process sludge, collected during the cleaning process run at the end of each process cycle (Figure 9). When biodegradable organic pollutants (for example, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are present in water, SWID system is integrated with a process, based on Ozone, to regenerate the filtration media through the destruction of the organic substances. CONCLUSIONS With SWID technology, it is possible to manage and treat stormwater runoff flowing on large surface areas, and waste water, by means of highly performing plants, which are also volumetrically compacted, easily to move and without necessity of ground excavation.