AFM® achieves superior filtration efficiency, removing finer particles and microorganisms compared to traditional sand filters.
Its bio-resistant surface property prevents bacterial growth and biofilm formation, reducing operating cost and maintenance needs.
Along with its ability to remove contaminants more effectively than most other filter media as well as ensuring a longer filter life, making it a sustainable, effective and valuable choice in new and (sand) retrofit projects for ensuring safe and clean water supply and wastewater management practices.
• Fine Particle Removal:
AFM® can filter out smaller particles and microorganisms more effectively than traditional sand filters, leading to higher water clarity and reduced operating costs (e.g. reduced Ozone dosing).
• Turbidity Reduction:
Achieves lower turbidity levels, resulting in cleaner and clearer drinking water for municipalities to adhere to current and future regulations.
• Increased Flow Rates:
Allows for higher filtration rates without compromising water quality, making it suitable for varying demand levels.
• Enhanced Treatment Capacity:
Supports larger treatment volumes, making it effective for municipal scale operations.
• Water Savings:
Requires less water for backwashing, leading to water conservation and cost savings.
• Energy Efficiency:
Shorter backwash time and no need for air scouring minimizes backwash water consumption and energy, lowering operational costs.
• Bio-Resistant Surface:
Prevents bacterial growth and biofilm formation on the media, ensuring a more hygienic filtration process.
• Reduced Maintenance:
More efficient backwashing reduces energy consumption and operational costs.
• Durability:
Made from recycled glass, AFM® is more durable and has a longer lifespan (10-20 years) compared to conventional filter media such as silica sand.
• Consistent Performance:
Maintains high filtration performance over time without significant degradation.
• Environmental Benefits:
Reduced coagulant and flocculant dosing and the need for chemical disinfectants, making the filtration process more environmentally friendly.
• Safer Water:
Minimizes the introduction of additional chemicals into the drinking water supply.
In ground and surface water treatment, AFM® significantly outperforms sand in terms of particle removal and because of its unique surface properties, will efficiently remove heavy metals such as Iron and Manganese, organics and microplastics from water. In addition, AFM® strongly reduces the biological risk from bacteria, viruses and parasites.
In addition, AFM® strongly reduces the biological risk from bacteria, viruses and parasites.
Due to its bio-resistant surface, AFM® reduces the amount of disinfection chemicals required, such as chlorine, thereby minimizes the formation of disinfection by-products such as THM’s.
AFM®-ng offers a significant performance advantage over sand, where filtration performance is challenged in soft water with hardness.
Iron, manganese and arsenic are often found in borehole, tube wells and groundwater at varying concentrations depending on local geology. Manganese and arsenic are typically removed by co-precipitation and catalytic oxidation with precipitated iron. For the process to work, iron needs to be at least 5 times higher in concentration than manganese or arsenic. If water is deficient in iron, it can be compensated for by dosage of ferric chloride.
If the concentration of ferric is sufficient, then simple aeration of the water will oxidize the iron and coprecipitate manganese and/or arsenic. If aeration cannot be used due to tank size (retention time) and treatment volume limitations, an oxidizing agent such as chlorine or chlorine dioxide can be used, increasing the RedOx potential to 500mV to achieve effective iron precipitation in a short period of time.
Iron oxidation is best achieved through the aeration of the water using fine air bubbles. Water is aerated for a period of 15-30 minutes. For example, if water flow is 50 m3/h the compressed air required is 50m3/h in a tank with 25m3 of water.
For heavy metals precipitation and biological treatment processes, Dryden Aqua manufactures highly efficient (high oxygen transfer rate – OTR) fine bubble “drop in” tube air diffusers.
With iron oxidation arsenic concentration can be reduced through adsorption on iron oxide particles to around 0.01ppm (10ppb) as required to be within arsenic drinking water regulation.
AFM®s due to it’s negative surface charge is recommended for best in class iron and manganese removal.
AFM® clearly outperforms and therefore, replaces conventional filter media such as – but not limited to – quartz sand, pumice and garnet in pressure or rapid gravity filtration processes. In addition, AFM® provides unparalleled backwash process energy cost and water saving.
AFM®, as single layer or with different grade layers, is used as main filter media where it provides a superior, inorganic and organic suspended solids (TSS) removal down to 1µm with industry unmatched >95% removal efficiency (IFTS certified).
In traditional silica sand or zeolite filters, biofilm and biomass formation cannot be avoided. AFM® in contrast achieves stable filtration performance and avoids clumping and channeling.
With the combined high particles removal performance and biofouling resistant surface of AFM®, high-cost savings can be achieved, extending downstream cartridge filter lifetime as well as reducing membrane fouling and CIP’s, subsequently increasing MF/UF and RO membrane performance and lifetime.
Consequently AFM® is the superior filtration media for RO membrane pretreatment, closing the gap between conventional silica sand and MF/UF filtration
Municipal or industrial wastewater can contain high organic and bacteria load, which leads to biological growth in sand and other conventional filter media. This results in filter media clogging and channeling, requiring frequent backwashing including air scouring.
Over time, filtration performance cannot be restored using backwash, leading to a reduced availability and frequent filter media replacement.
AFM® replaces sand and other filter media in industrial and municipal wastewater treatment without the need for modifications. Substantial benefits are achieved using AFM®, including superior filtration efficiency (high TSS and bacteria removal), durability (stable filtration performance), cost-effectiveness (less disinfection chemical), and sustainability (reduced energy and media exchange rate). These advantages make AFM® an excellent choice for enhancing the performance and reliability of municipal sewage treatment systems using gravity or pressure media filtration processes.
In produced water treatment AFM® is typically integrated in the tertiary polishing step after the primary and secondary oil removal process. The typical oil-in-water concentration in the feed to the tertiary polishing step ranges from 10 to 200 ppm, along with total suspended solids (TSS) ranging from 10 to 100 ppm.
Besides efficient oil coalescing performance, AFM can remove oil droplet size down to 4Microns at >90% removal efficiency which is not achieved by traditional nutshell media.
In produced water treatment AFM® can be used to replace (retrofit) Nutshell in nutshell filters, thereby improving the oil and TSS removal performance and backwash efficiency (energy and water savings) and it typically achieves a longer lifetime than nutshell filter media.
By using AFM®, industrial facilities can improve water use efficiency, achieve better water quality for water reuse or reinjection into the reservoir (O&G), reduce operational costs and reach environmental compliance such as for use in irrigation, ultimately contributing to more sustainable and responsible resource management.
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Tsuihang New District, Zhongshan City,
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