How can I build a high volume water filtration system for ag-processing?

[Jake Platt]

My ag-processing company needs to filter 1200 gpm of water. This is beyond the capacity of most commercial systems we've researched. The water has high turbidity, suspended organics, sediment and ammonia (from agricultural biomass breakdown). Any recommendations how I can build my own system?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Use multiple commercial systems in parallel.

 

[Baluncore]

Your waste water has known characteristics and should be cleaned before release to the environment. So, it would seem more sensible to first recycle the majority of your own waste water rather than to use 100% from the external supply.

I would consider building two parallel systems, each with identical modules. When one system was being cleaned or serviced, the other would supply the processing plant. It would have cross flow lines between the systems to guarantee continuous operation under fault conditions. I expect each system would begin with mechanical aeration and sedimentation, followed by chemical balancing.

 

[Q_Goest]

Hi Jake, Your water purification system doesn't sound unusual to me. Check ThomasNet for suppliers in that industry. Looking at the first page of that site, I'd suggest contacting Siemans, Koch, Everfilt, and others. Spend some time talking to these suppliers on the phone first, maybe have a sales person come for a visit. They may not be able to help you but they might also give you the names of companies who can. Once you understand a bit more about it, put everything you know into a specification for the design and get it out to a few places. Keep talking to the sales folks in those companies and use the information you find to improve your specification. You may want to put it out a second time if the first round doesn't work out well.

Creating a system like that yourself requries considerable experience, without which you will find all sorts of pitfalls that you don't need on a large project. Good luck!