Wastewater and Waste

Treatment Processes

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
Criteria vs. Standards in Water and
Wastewater Treatment Processes
These two terms are sometime used
interchangeably. However, each one of them has
a specific meaning.
Criteria are requirements that a water source
must satisfy in order to be used for a particular
purpose. In other terms, criteria are
specifications indicating the minimum quality
level that the water must have to support a
predefined use.
Criteria are important in defining the
characteristics of inlet water streams.
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Criteria vs. Standards
Different criteria exists for different water uses.
Water Use Water Quality Criteria
Drinking Water Microbial count, pH, color, turbidity,
dissolved oxygen, organic content, pH,
toxic compounds, temperature, salts,
metals, etc.
Swimming, fishing Similar to drinking water criteria but
not as stringent
Industrial pH, suspended solids, temperature,
dissolved oxygen
Cooling, navigation Floating solids, suspended solids, pH
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Criteria vs. Standards (cont.’d)
Standards are the characteristics that the
wastewater must satisfy to be lawfully
discharged to a receiving body of water or
to a POTW.
In other terms standards refer to the
quality of the outlet water, after its
intended use.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Criteria vs. Standards (cont.’d)

Criteria Water
Use

Water Wastewater
Treatment Treatment

Environment Standards

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Types of Discharges of
Industrial Wastewaters

• Direct industrial discharges to

freshwater or saltwater streams
• Industrial discharges to a Publicly
Owned Treatment Works (POTW)

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Classification of Wastewater
Treatments Processes
Wastewater

Pretreatment

Primary Secondary Tertiary

Treatment Treatment Treatment

Treated
Sludge
Wastewater
Treatment
Discharge
and Disposal

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Classification of Wastewater
Treatments Processes
Pretreatment usually refers to any treatment the
wastewater is subjected to before entering a
conventional wastewater treatment plant, such as a
POTW. Pretreatment typically involves operations
connected to separation of very coarse or easily
separable materials and/or water conditioning before
discharging to a treatment plant (e.g., equalization).
Pretreatment of industrial wastewaters commonly refers
to any treatment required to make the water acceptable
for discharge to a POTW.

After Armenante, Chapter 4: Bioreactors, in Biotreatment of Industrial and

Hazardous Waste, Levin and Gealt (ed.), 1993, p. 66
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Classification of Wastewater
Treatments Processes (continued)
It is common practice to classify wastewater treatment
processes in three categories:
Primary treatment pertains to the removal of easily
separable materials such as oils, floating solids, or
quickly settling solids, and the preparation of the
wastewater (e.g., pH adjustment) for subsequent
treatments. Primary treatment involves operations such
as equalization, neutralization, sedimentation, oil
separation, and floatation.

After Armenante, Chapter 4: Bioreactors, in Biotreatment of Industrial and

Hazardous Waste, Levin and Gealt (ed.), 1993, p. 66

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Classification of Wastewater
Treatments Processes (continued)
Secondary treatment is typically the most important part
of the process, and is used primarily to remove the bulk
of the suspended solids, organic materials (both
hazardous and non-hazardous), and other soluble
materials. Biological treatment constitutes the process
of choice during secondary treatment of wastewater.
Tertiary treatment, involving processes such as sand
filtration, reverse osmosis, adsorption, and
electrodialysis, is used (if necessary) to remove any
residual contaminants not eliminated during the previous
treatment processes.
After Armenante, Chapter 4: Bioreactors, in Biotreatment of Industrial and
Hazardous Waste, Levin and Gealt (ed.), 1993, p. 66
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Classification of Wastewater
Treatments Processes (continued)
Sludge treatment and disposal includes all the
operations connected with the concentration,
stabilization, and final disposal of the semi-solid
sludge produced during the primary, secondary
and tertiary treatments.
Sludge treatment and disposal includes
operations such as gravity thickening, air
flotation, aerobic and anaerobic digestion,
chemical or heat stabilization, centrifugation,
drying, filtration, incineration, wet oxidation, and
disposal in landfill or on soil.
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Technologies for Industrial
Wastewater Treatment

After Sundstrom and Klei, Wastewater Treatment, 1979, p. 30.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Technologies for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

After Eckenfelder, Industrial Water Pollution Control, 1989, p. 34.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Typical Activated Sludge Treatment Plant

After Droste, 1997, Theory and Practice of Water and Wastewater Treatment, p. 232.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
Technologies for Sludge Treatment and Disposal

After Sundstrom and Klei, Wastewater Treatment, 1979, p. 390.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Unit Operations in
Wastewater Treatment
 Unit Operations in
Wastewater Treatment
(continued)
 In-Plant Wastewater Treatment
Industrial wastewater typically contain a number of
heavy metals, halogenated organic compounds, and
other priority pollutants. Therefore, industrial facilities
must process their wastewaters before discharging to
either a body of water (under NPDES permit) or a POTW.
Typically, these pollutants are removed from the
wastewater using a variety of pretreatment processes,
especially physical and chemical processes.
Examples include coagulation, flocculation precipitation,
sedimentation, filtration, ion exchange, air stripping,
membrane separation activated carbon adsorption, wet
oxidation and photochemical oxidation.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Example of Physical-Chemical
Wastewater Treatment Process
Incoming Wastewater

Screening Equalization Oil Neutralization

Separation

Adsorption Filtration Flocculation Precipitation

Treated Effluent

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
Typical Physical-Chemical
Treatment Plant
 Physical Separation Processes
• Activated carbon adsorption
• Distillation
• Electrolytic recovery
• Hydrolysis
• Ion exchange
• Solvent extraction
• Membrane separation technologies
• Air stripping and steam stripping
• Thin film evaporation
• Freeze-crystallization
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Selected Physicochemical Separation Processes

After James M. Montgomery, Inc., Water Treatment, 1985, p. 80.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
Selected Mechanical Separation Processes

After James M. Montgomery, Inc., Water Treatment, 1985, p. 81.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Operations Involved in the Removal
of Suspended Solid in Wastewaters
• Screening and comminution
• Grit removal
• Sedimentation
• Floatation
• Filtration and centrifugation
• Coagulation/sedimentation

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Operations Involved in the Removal
of Biodegradable Material in
Wastewaters
• Activated sludge treatment
• Trickling filters
• Rotating biological contactors (RBC)
• Aerated lagoons
• Anaerobic lagoons
• Facultative lagoons
• Anaerobic treatment
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Operations Involved in the Removal
of VOCs in Wastewaters
• Adsorption
• Absorption
• Air stripping
• Condensation
• Freezing
• Incineration
• Combustion
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Operations Involved in the Removal
of Nitrogen in Wastewaters
• Biological nitrogen utilization in
activated sludge process
• Biological nitrification and
denitrification
• Air stripping of ammonia
• Chlorination
• Adsorption
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Operations Involved in the Removal
of Phosphorus in Wastewaters
• Biological phosphorus utilization
in activated sludge process
• Chemical additions (metal salts or
polymers)
• Lime addition
• Biological/chemical treatment

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Operations Involved in the Removal
of Organic Priority Pollutants in
Wastewaters
• Aerobic biological treatment
• Anaerobic biological treatment
• Biological treatment/activated
carbon adsorption (PACT)
• Chemical oxidation
• Adsorption
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Operations Involved in the Removal
of Heavy Metals and Dissolved
Inorganic Solids in Wastewaters
• Chemical oxidation/reduction and
precipitation
• Ion exchange
• Reverse osmosis
• Ultrafiltration
• Electrodialysis
PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Example of Heavy Metal Removal
Wastewater Oxidation/
Reduction

Precipitation

To discharge
or POTW
Filtration

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
Example of Organic Chemical Removal
Wastewater Reactant
Addition

Oxidation

To discharge
or POTW
Adsorption

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Classification of Hazardous Waste
Treatment Processes

• Physical
• Chemical
• Biological
• Thermal
• (Disposal)

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
Physical and Chemical Processes for
Hazardous Waste Treatment
• Filtration and separation
• Chemical precipitation
• Photolysis
• Chemical oxidation and reduction
• Dehalogenation
• Ozonation
• Evaporation
• Solidification and stabilization

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Biological Processes for Hazardous
Waste Treatment
• Aerobic processes
• Anaerobic digestion
• Composting of industrial wastes
• Land treatment of industrial wastes
• Biodegradation of environmental pollutants
• Enzymatic systems

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Thermal Processes for Hazardous
Waste Treatment
• Liquid injection incineration
• Rotary kilns
• Fluidized-bed thermal oxidation
• Hazardous wastes as fuel for burners
• Cement kilns
• Wet oxidation
• Pyrolisis processes
• Oceanic incineration

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Thermal Processes for Hazardous
Waste Treatment (continued)
• Molten glass processes
• Deep shaft wet air oxidation
• Supercritical water extraction
• Plasma systems
• Mobile thermal treatment systems
• Catalytic incineration
• Infectious waste incineration

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Land Storage and Disposal of
Hazardous Wastes
• Hazardous waste landfilling
• Subsurface injection of liquid hazardous
wastes
• Surface impoundment
• Disposal in mines and sand domes
• Aboveground disposal

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT
 Additional Information and Examples on
Wastewater and Waste Treatment Processes
Additional information and examples can be found in the following
references:
• Droste, R. L., 1997, Theory and Practice of Water and Wastewater
Treatment, John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 219-242.
• Eckenfelder, W. W., Jr., 1989, Industrial Water Pollution Control,
McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 33 - 39.
• LaGrega, M. D., Buckingham, P. L., Evans, J. C., 1994, Hazardous
Waste Management, McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 405 - 444.
• Metcalf & Eddy, 1991, Wastewater Engineering: Treatment, Disposal,
and Reuse, McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 121 - 146.
• Sundstrom, D. W. and Klei, H. E., 1979, Wastewater Treatment,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, pp. 28 - 40.
• Wentz, C. W., 1995, Hazardous Waste Management, 2nd edition,
McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 153 - 248.

PIERO M. ARMENANTE
NJIT