Candle Filter

A PERFORMANCE STUDY OF CERAMIC CANDLE FILTERS IN

KENYA INCLUDING TESTS FOR COLIPHAGE REMOVAL

By

Amber Franz

B.S. Chemistry

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004

Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Partial Fulfillment of

the Requirements for the Degree of

MASTER OF ENGINEERING IN CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

at the

MASSACHUSET TS INSTITUTE

OF TECH IOLOGY

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MAY 3 1.2005

JUNE 2005

LIBRARIES

© 2005 Amber Franz. All rights reserved.

The authorhereby grants to MIT permissionto reproduceand to distributepublicly paper and

electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part.

Signature of Author

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Amer Franz

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

May 12, 2005

Certified by

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I-·

Susan Murcott

Lecturer, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Thesis Supervisor

Certified by

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tl

Martin Polz

Associate Professor, Department of Qiviljnd Environmental Engineering

Thesis Supervisor

Accepted by

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Andrew Whittle

Chairman, Departmental Committee on Graduate Students

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A PERFORMANCE STUDY OF CERAMIC CANDLE FILTERS IN

KENYA INCLUDING TESTS FOR COLIPHAGE REMOVAL

By

Amber Michele Franz

Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering on May 12, 2005 in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in Civil and

Environmental Engineering

ABSTRACT

Approximately 80% of all diseases in the developing world are caused by contaminated water

(GDRC, 1999). In response to this crisis, decentralized point-of-use systems, such as ceramic

candle filters, have emerged as viable options for improving water quality at the household level.

This thesis evaluates the performance of five brands of ceramic candle filters that are locally

available in the developing nation of Kenya: the AquaMaster (Piedra candle),...