Multilayer Media Bed Filter with Improved Backwash

Abstract

A multi-layer media bed filter with an increasing density of media from the finest media on the top to the coarsest media on the bottom is backwashed using air without significantly disrupting stratification of the media layers. When the air is stopped, the contaminants in the liquid above the finest media that were removed by the airflow are flushed away either with liquid injected above the media or by a liquid flow through the media that does not remove the finest media. The amount of contaminants that remain in the finest media with the stratification-maintaining air backwash is significantly less than when using liquid backwash alone, whether the liquid backwash uses a flow rate sufficient to suspend the micromedia or below a suspending flow rate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.