Treatment of spent filter backwash water using dissolved air flotation

There is increasing interest in treating recovered spent filter backwash water in the drinking water industry. In the USA the Filter Backwash Recycling Rule will come into effect in the near future. The purpose of the Rule is to prevent the concentrated pathogenic agents, potentially in the filter backwash water, from being returned to the head of the water treatment works without some form of treatment or dilution. By treating this flow both public health and financial liability can be better managed by the operating utility. Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) was investigated as a possible technology alternative to simple or advanced sedimentation techniques. This application is not widespread but sits somewhere in between the two normal applications of DAF as a high solids sludge thickener and a low turbidity clarification system. Given this a pilot plant program, supported by jar testing, was undertaken to determine the process capability and the design parameters for this application. DAF proved to be very suitable for backwash water recovery. DAF effluent turbidities of < 1.0 NTU could be easily obtained, when raw water turbidities were in excess of 50 NTU. Chemical requirements were low with only a single low dose of polymer required to bind the floc particles to form a solids matrix suitable for flotation. Flocculation contact times ranged from 0-10 minutes depending on the nature of the raw water. Recycle rates as low as 5% performed satisfactorily with no significant improvement when increased to 20%. Sludge solids of 3.5-9.6% dry solids were found and very low volumes of sludge, < 0.1% of the incoming flow make the DAF solids handling system very compact.