D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College.

2019

PREFACE
This study material is intended for B.Sc., students of Manonmaniam Sundarnar University, Tirunelveli who are studying
Water Management as their NME course. This material discusses about various waste water treatment in the IIIrd unit of
Water Management paper in a simplified manner according to the needs of the students. The primary objective of this
material is to help the slow learners preparing for their university examinations. This material must be used for
examination purpose only and the students are advised to read the prescribed reference book for in-depth details of the
subject.

The omissions, corrections if any and suggestions are most welcome.

D. JIM LIVINGSTON.
Asst. Professor of Chemistry,
St. John’s College.

Preliminary Treatment

It consists of removal of floating material (like dead animals, tree branches, papers, plastics,
wood pieces, vegetables peels etc) and also the heavy settleable inorganic solids (grit etc)

The three major types of equipment-screeners, grit chambers, and skimming tanks.

Screeners

A screener is a device with openings (usually uniform in size) to remove the floating materials
and suspended particles. The process of screening can be carried out by passing sewage through
different types of screeners. The screeners are classified as coarse, medium or fine, depending on
the size of the openings.

Coarse screen

Coarse screens remove large solids, rags, and debris from wastewater, and typically have
openings of 6 mm (0.25 in) or larger. Types of coarse screens include mechanically and
manually cleaned bar screens, including trash racks.
 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Fine screens

Fine screens have clear openings less than 6 mm. They consisted of perforated plates, wire cloth,
wedge wire elements that have smaller openings. They are also used to remove the fine solids
present in the primary effluent.

Grit Chambers

The heavy inorganic materials (specific gravity 2.4-2.7) like sand, ash and others can be removed
by using grit chambers. This technique is based on the process of sedimentation due to
gravitational forces. A grit chamber may be horizontal flow or vertical flow and is manually or
mechanically cleaned.
 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Skimming Tanks

It is used to separate grease and oil and other floating matters. The floating matters may be
collected by continuous mechanical process or by hand manually. They have baffled entrance
and outlet.

Primary Treatment:

Primary treatment is aimed at the removal of fine suspended organic solids that cannot be
removed in the preliminary treatment. Primary treatment basically involves the process of
sedimentation or settling. In the normal process of sewage treatment, sedimentation is usually
carried out twice-once before the secondary treatment and then after the secondary treatment. It
is sometimes necessary to use chemical coagulants to facilitate or aid sedimentation, and this
process is referred to as chemical precipitation

Principle of Sedimentation:

The solid particle of the sewage tends to settle down due to gravity. However, most of the solid
particles of organic compounds remain in a suspended state in a flowing sewage. If the flow of
the sewage is stopped and if it is stored in a tank referred to as sedimentation tank, the solid
particles can settle down at the bottom. The process of sedimentation is influenced by several
factors. These include the size, shape and specific gravity of particles, besides viscosity and flow
velocity of sewage.

The clarification of sewage by the process of sedimentation can be brought about in specially
designed tanks called sedimentation tanks. Primary sedimentation tanks or clarifiers may be
round or rectangular basins, typically 3 to 5 m deep, with hydraulic retention time between 2 and
3 hours.

Chemical Coagulation

Very fine suspended particles present in wastewaters cannot be removed in plain sedimentation
as their settling velocity is very low, Hence coagulation is needed before sedimentation. For this
purpose, certain chemical compounds such as ferric chloride, ferric sulphate, alum etc. called
coagulants are added to the wastewater which on thorough mixing form a gelatinuous precipitate
 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

called floc. The fine mud particles and other colloidal matter present in wastewater gets absorbed
in these flocs, forming the bigger size flocculated particles. The process of addition and mixing
of chemicals is called coagulation. The coagulated sewage is then passed through sedimentation
tank where the flocculated particles settle down and are removed.

Chemicals used for coagulation

alum Al2(SO4)3 18H2O , sodium aluminate (Na2Al2O4), copperas FeSO4.7H2O, chlorinated

copperas - combination of ferric sulphate and ferric chloride.

Secondary treatment of wastewater

Secondary treatment of the wastewater could be achieved by employing biological processes

(aerobic or anaerobic) where microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa) are used for removal of
contaminants. The objective of the biological treatment of wastewater is to remove organic
matter from the wastewater which is present in soluble and colloidal form. The microorganisms
(principally bacteria) are used to convert the colloidal and dissolved carbonaceous organic matter
into various gases.

Secondary biological processes can be aerobic or anaerobic, each process utilizing a different
type of bacteria.

Aerobic Treatment

Aerobic processes use bacteria that require oxygen, so air is circulated throughout the treatment
tank. These aerobic bacteria then break down the waste within the wastewater.

Anaerobic Treatment

Anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that live in environments that contain no oxygen) transform organic
matter in the wastewater into biogas that contains large amounts of methane gas and carbon
dioxide.

There are a variety of secondary treatment processes; the following are conventional processes
used by treatment plants:

Activated sludge

Trickling filter

Oxidation ponds
 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Activated sludge

Process:

In this process, the effluent from the primary treatment flows into an aeration tank, where it is
mixed with microorganisms. Oxygen or air is supplied from the bottom of the tank into the
wastewater so that the microorganisms have an adequate supply of oxygen needed to breakdown
the organic matter that remains in the effluent. The effluent then flows into secondary settling
tanks. In the secondary settling tank, the sludge is settled at the bottom. This sludge can go in
two ways; either back to the aeration tank, or to the sludge digester. The sludge goes to the
aeration tank is called as activated sludge this is because the sludge contains a large amount of
microorganisms that will rapidly breakdown organic matter.

Figure1: Activated Sludge process

Advantages:

Low construction cost

Occupies small area

Relatively low odor

Removes a high percent of BOD

Disadvantages:

High operating cost (air pumps)

High energy expenses for oxygen demand

 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Trickling filter

Process:

A trickling filter or sprinkling filter is an artificial bed of stone over which the waste water is
allowed to sprinkle. The bed medium is made up of rocks, stones, plastics, or salts. The most
modern trickling filters use a type of rockwool. The effluent flows through the material at slow
enough rates. This allows microbial growth on the surface of the media creating a zoological
layer of film and oxidation of organic matter takes place under aerobic condition. Oxygen is
supplied by suitable ventilation facilities in the body of the filter. The spacing of the media allow
air to circulate throughout the trickling system. Trickling filters may be circular or rectangular in
shape, but circular form is more common.

Figure 2: Trickling Filters

 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Advantages:

Low construction cost

Cheap oxygen delivery

Non-electric systems available

Disadvantages:

Temperature Dependent

Vulnerable to congestion, which can lead to flooding and system failure, low oxygen supply, and
restricted water flow

Can occupy a larger area than activated sludge

High Maintenance on some older types

Oxidation ponds

Process:

Oxidation ponds are large and shallow pond of depth range from 1-2.5m. The ponds are
composed of microorganisms, which feed on the organic matter received from primary effluent.
Algae are a key feature in the oxidation pond system. Algae deliver a steady flow of oxygen to
the bacteria. The algae require sunlight to produce oxygen via photosynthesis. Overall the
process is slow and requires large areas of land. Typically oxidation ponds are used in areas with
small populations where land is readily available.

Figure 3: Oxidation pond

 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Advantages:

Small energy input

Degrades nitrogen and phosphorus

Disadvantages:

Occupies a large area

Possible odors

Slow process

Long retention times

Climate dependent

Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion is a secondary treatment process of waste water in which microorganisms

break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic digestion is widely used
as a source of renewable energy. The process produces a biogas, consisting of methane, carbon
dioxide, and traces of other ‘contaminant’ gases. This biogas can be used directly as fuel. The
nutrient-rich digestate also produced can be used as fertilizer.

This treatment is mainly used for sludge digestion. Sludge from the sedimentation tank undergo
slow fermentation by anaerobic bacteria in a sludge digester. The sludge is maintained at a
temperature of 350C at a pH of 7-8 for about 30 days. There following are four types of
anaerobic digesters used for sludge stabilization.

1. Standard rate anaerobic digesters

2. Standard high rate anaerobic digesters

3. Two-stage anaerobic digesters

4. Separate anaerobic digesters

 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Figure 4: Anaerobic digeters

Advantages:

1. 70% volume of organic wastes are reduced.

2. The digested sludge is used as manure.

3. The digester gas can be used as a fuel and also for power generation.

4. Its operation and maintenance costs are cheaper than other methods.

Tertiary Treatment:

Tertiary treatment is the final cleaning process that improves wastewater quality before it is
reused, recycled or discharged to the environment. The objectives of tertiary treatment are,

Removal of fine suspended solids

Removal of bacteria of faecal origin.
Removal of dissolved inorganic solids.

The following methods are used in tertiary treatment of waste water.

Evaporation:

It is a process in which the water from secondary treatment are evaporated to water vapour
leaving behind the impurities. The water vapor is then condensed back into clean water. The
wastewater evaporation process may be carried out naturally in solar evaporation ponds (a very
slow process involving a great deal of land area) - or - by mechanical evaporators. This process
is effective only when the recovered solids or concentrated solutions are reused or only when the
volume of waste water to be treated is less.
 D. JIM LIVINGSTON, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, St. John’s College. 2019

Adsorption:

This method involves the adsorption of dissolved substances on the surfaces of the
adsorbent.Activated charcoal, peat mass, brown coal and cellulose material can be used as
adsorbent materials.

The following are the two types of adsorption process.

I. Static adsorption:

In this adsorption certain amount adsorbent is added to the given amount of water. The
concentration of the solute decreases to equilibrium.

II Dynamic adsorptoion:

This method involves the adsorption on the surface of the adsorbent when the sewage passes
through the filter packed with the adsorbent. During this process the concentration of the solute
decreases gradually as the water passes through the adsorption bed.

Chemical precipitation:

It involves the removal of dissolved solids, particulates and heavy metal ions by precipitating as
their hydroxides with chelating agents like lime.

References:

https://www.appropedia.org/Secondary_wastewater_treatment

https://greentumble.com/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-wastewater-treatment

Industrial Chemistry – B.K. Sharma, Goel Publishing House, Meerut.

Engineering Chemistry – A.K. Pahari, B.S. Chauhan., Laxmi Publications, 2006.

http://www.fao.org/3/t0551e/t0551e05.htm
http://www.biologydiscussion.com/waste-management/waste-water-treatment/processes-of-
waste-water-treatment-4-process-with-diagram/10989
Wastewater engineering– objectives of wastewater treatment, primary treatment of wastewater
Dr. Asha Gupta