OPTIMAL DESIGN OF HIGH RATE FILTERS

Abstract

Filtration is the most basic of water treatment process. Billions of rupees have been invested in existing water treatment unit through out the country and every year the investment cost is increasing at much faster rate. Nearly capital cost of the filter and filter building probably represent between 15 % to 45 % of the total cost of treatment plant. In the present design practice a feasible design is obtained by trial and error to satisfy the constraints based in experiences. There is no consideration of economy in such a- design. Hence using optimization techniques for filter design will result in considerable savings. As no literature exists on the optimal design of filters. In this dissertation optimization method Lagrangian method and geometric programming are used and design of rapid sand filter has been formulated as a geometric programming problem with single degree of difficulty. The solution of such a problem yields the i optimal design expressed as the closed form equations for the optimal cost and the corresponding cost dimensions.