A laboratory study on synthetic fiber filter for further treatment of turbid stormwater from construction sites

On the purpose of conform the more stringent government regulation for turbid stormwater from construction sites, the feasibility and availability of synthetic fiber placing after the conventional protection barrier were tested in this study. Initially, comparative work on the filtering performance of fiber media and conventional gravel filter was carried out, 27% higher filtration capacity was obtained under the similar operational conditions. The filter efficiency was about 20 to 52% with a varying filter depth of 5 to 15cm, presuming at extreme storm flow conditions (800-1500 m/day of filtration rates). Fiber filter was found to have a similar filtration prosperity as grain media; namely, the separation efficiency is directly and inversely proportional to filter depth and rate, respectively. The effects of filter aid (polyaluminium chloride) on filter performance was also investigated, it greatly affected the turbidity reduction at the dosage of 2 mg/L. At the time of breakthrough, a simple filter washing was carried out, herein, the solid recovery achieved over than 88% and greatly determined by operational parameters. Based on the operational data, the empirical models aimed for predicting filtration efficiency were established, which can effectively determine the required filter depth and filtration area in field.