The purification of sewage and water by microbes : with a description of Lowcock's Patent system of filtration, as carried out by the Sewage and Effluent-Water Filtration Co., Ltd., 35, Waterloo Street, Birmingham.

  • Sewage and Effluent-Water Filtration Company.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The purification of sewage and water by microbes : with a description of Lowcock's Patent system of filtration, as carried out by the Sewage and Effluent-Water Filtration Co., Ltd., 35, Waterloo Street, Birmingham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    5/20
    The illustration on the opposite page shows the construction of the Filter. The liquid to be filtered is run evenly over the surface by means of sunk channels, and passes downwards to the drains shown in the bottom layer of pebbles, whence it flows away in a purified condition. In the upper layer of pebbles are imbedded perforated pipes, or pipes laid with open joints, by means of which air is forced into the Filter by a blower or other similar arrangement, and finds its way through the whole body of the Filter and out with the purified liquid through the drains, which have a free discharge. In its passage through the Filter the liquid is only allowed to percolate slowly down by the top layer of sand, after passing which it travels some- what faster in thin films over the grains of the coarser material below, and thus presents an enormous surface to the purifying organisms and to the air contained in the interstitial spaces. The air pressure required is so slight that the requisite power and the cost is very small indeed: about i J horse power being sufficient to supply the air necessary for the purification of a million gallons of sewage. The surface of the Filter is divided up into small areas by divisions extending a short distance below the top layer of sand; the liquid to be filtered can thus be diverted at will from any one of these spaces by shutting down the sluices in the divisions, so as to allow of the surface of any section or sections being cleaned without interfering with the working of the lower part of the Filter. The following analyses by Mr. Alex. E. Tucker, F.I.C., F.C.S., show the extraordinary success attained with this Company’s system when crude sewage was applied to the Filter:— Sewage. Effluent from Filter. Free Ammonia 465 ••• '°4 1 Parts per Albumenoid Ammonia 2-40 •036 J 100,000. Totals 7'°5 •076 These constituents may be taken as a measure of the relative impurities of the two liquids, and it will be seen that the impurities in the sewage have been reduced 99 per cent. description Filter. Cleaning Surface. Results obtained. Measure of Impurities.