The Enhancement of Pre-Storage Filtration Efficiency for the Rainwater Harvesting System in Malaysia

¹ School of Engineering, Taylor’s University, Malaysia
² Bina Plastic Industries Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia
³ 3Besstem Plastic (M) Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: Azadeh57ghadimi@gmail.com

Abstract

A conventional design of rainwater harvesting system collects and directs the rainwater through water piping from roof of building to the water storage. The filtration system which locates before the water tank storage and first flush bypass system is the main focus of the research. A filtration system consists of a control volume of filter compartment, filter screen (stainless steel mesh) and water piping that direct the water flow. The filtration efficiency of an existing filter “3P Volume Filter VF1” by industrial company is enhanced. A full scale filter design prototype with filter screen of 1000 μm stainless steel metal mesh is tested to compare with the original filter system design. Three types of water inlet setups are tested. Among the proposed water inlet setups, the 90° inlet setup with extension provides the best filtration rate per unit time, following by the 45° inlet setup. The 45° and 90° inlet setup has similar filtration efficiency at low to medium flow rate while 45° inlet setup has better efficiency at high flow rate. The filtration efficiency with the 90° inlet setup with extension is observed to maintain at highest value at medium to high flow rate. The overall filtration performance achieved by the 90° inlet setup with extension at low to high flow rate is between 34.1 to 35.7%.