Évolution du nombre de particules dans l'eau filtrée d'une filière de filtration directe utilisant le polychlorure d'aluminium
This text presents and discusses the performances of direct filtration evaluated by means of particle counts and turbidity of raw water in periods of low and high turbidity. It also deals with the relationships between the removals of particles measuring from 2 to 150 µm (total counts) and those of particles in the other size ranges, which vary from 2 to 5 and from 5 to 15 µm. The tests were carried out on a pilot plant (20 m3/h) that treats waters from the St. Lawrence River (Canada) using the polyaluminum chloride (PACl) coagulation method followed by rapid filtration at 10 m/h. The results show that when the turbidity of the raw water is low, it is not always possible to predict a filter breakthrough based on the turbidity of its effluent, whereas it is possible to do so by observing the evolution of the particle counts. There exist good correlations between the removals of the total particle counts (2-150 µm) and those of the counts of particles in the other size ranges (2-5 and 5-15 µm). Furthermore, the evolution of all these ranges of particle size reveals the same tendencies with respect to the quality of the filtered water.Key words: direct filtration, in-line filtration, filtration, particle counts, turbidity, polyaluminum chloride.