The Physicochemical and Hydrodynamic Characteristics of the Desert Sands of Algeria to be Used in Water Treatment

In the Sahara sand dunes extend over large areas and seem to be an obstacle in the infrastructure of the urban development of the Sahara and an ecological barrier called desertification. We are interested in the sand filtration technique, as an essential phase for the water pretreatment, such processes are recognized as well-suited to rural areas, since they have a good quality treatment, a simple and relatively low maintenance operation. Knowing that the region of Bechar (1000 km from the capital) is a sandy area, preliminary work as the sand of Beni Abbes was taken as the filter bed. The goal is the development of this material abandonment in our region. It follows from the work at the laboratory scale, the studied sand has favorable characteristics for their use as filter bed, we can say that it is a fine sandy soil textures of an effective diameter (d10) of 0.17 mm and a uniformity coefficient (Cu) of 1.76, as well as their very low permeability of the sand which is in the range of 7.26 × 10-4 ms-1. Chemical analysis carried out on the overall fraction sand us to provide qualitative and quantitative information on the chemical composition of the sample. The results obtained indicate that the sand sample contains no manganese, the presence of aluminum and calcium iron oxide may be an indicator of the presence of these elements in different forms. Calcium oxide has important levels reached 1.15% and very probably due to the presence of calcite (CaCO3), quartz is the most represented mineral considered insoluble portion 97%.