Evaluation of drip emitter clogging with reclaimed wastewater irrigation

With the growing utilization of drip irrigation with wastewater, emitter anti-clogging capability becomes a critical problem. Six representative type drip emitters were tested with 360 h reclaimed wastewater irrigation. The influence of emitter path dimensions in the clogging process was tested using statistics methods, and the sediments in the flow path were analyzed by environmental scanning electron microscope(ESEM) after the whole irrigation. The results indicated that the different type of emitter showed the different discharge decline process and the range of discharges reduction in this experiment is 14.4%-72.2%. Hydraulic diameter, length, dentation space, dentation height of flow path had the influences on the clogging process and the hydraulic diameter showed the inverse relationship on the plugging process in the respective regions. The particles in the matrix of the bacteria (biofilm) coupling extracellular polysaccharides and forming flocculation were found in the emitter flow path and the clogging process started from microorganism sediment in this experiment. The results were helpful to the emitter anti-clogging design for the reclaimed wastewater application on drip irrigation.