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.

    18/20
    the addition of lime, the resulting analysis being free ammonia 2-379 parts, and albumenoid ammonia ’4975 part. The gallons applied per acre per day were about 150,000; the effluent showed free ammonia varying from -0024 part to 1-985, and albumenoid ammonia varying from '0231 part to -0845. It is not necessary to pursue this subject farther at present; on another occasion we shall return to the volume before us, which is too important to be fully dealt with in relation to sewage only. We have, however, shown that Mr. Lowcock’s Filter treated sewage far stronger than that found at Lawrence, and that it did so most efficiently. If the final analysis did not reach the lowest figures obtained in Massachusetts, it must be remembered that the experiments were stopped just as the filter was getting into splendid working order, and it is possible that if they had been continued the result might have even been still better. Still they show what an immense increase of power follows the intro- duction of air into a filter. It seems very possible that both the depth of the filter and the pressure of the air might be increased with advantage, still further reducing the area required. The chief difficulty at present lies in the choking of the surface by solids, mostly fats, deposited from the sewage. It was this that caused the great variations in the flow, and necessitated the frequent stirrings of the surface of the filter. The choking, however, is con- fined almost entirely to the surface, and is now being investigated in America. We trust that in this country also this most interesting and valuable subject will be followed up on the lines inaugurated by Mr. Lowcock.