CE6304: Theory of Sewage Treatment

Primary Treatment

Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Department of Civil Engineering, BUET
tanvir96@gmail.com
Wastewater Treatment Process

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Requirement for Primary Treatment
Removal of solids (heavier than water), particulate matter, and grit from
preliminary treated effluent using sedimentation mechanism.

Properly designed sedimentation tanks often remove 50-70% suspended

solids, and 25-40% BOD from wastewater.

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Typical Settling types of particles

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Configuration of a Sedimentation Tank

VS (Surface overflow rate) can

be defined as the settling
velocity of a particle that settles
through the total effective depth
H in theoretical detention time.

It is the settling velocity of the

slowest settling particle that is
100% removed.

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

 Tube and Lamella Clarifiers

• Tube settlers employ plastic modules, inclined and spaced uniformly.

• Lamella settlers comprise of uniformly spaced inclined panels
• The plates are usually spaced 50 mm apart, having an inclined length of
1-2 m.
• Angular arrangement to promote self-cleaning
Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed
Rectangular Tank Design Criteria

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Scour Velocity
To avoid resuspension (scouring) of the settled particles, horizontal
velocities through the tank should be kept low.

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Estimating BOD and TSS Removal

Using Empirical formula Using overflow rate

(graphically)

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Circular Basin for Wastewater Treatment
• Flow is directed upward through the inlet
• baffles are designed to be 10-20% of the basin diameter, extending
0.9-1.8 m below the wastewater surface
• Sidewall depth of 3 m; floor slope is typically 300 mm (horizontal) to 25
mm (vertical)
• Excessive weir overflow should never be a problem in these basins,
due to the usage of the entire circumference.

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Inlet arrangements: rectangular basin
Various baffled arrangement are used (objective is to distribute the flow as
uniformly as possible)

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Inlet arrangements: circular basin
The radial flow pattern of the wastewater from the inlet is inherently less
stable than the horizontal flow in a rectangular tank.

Careful design is needed to achieve a stable radial flow pattern.

Side-feed Vertical-feed Slotted

vertical-feed

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Design Problem
Design (a) rectangular sedimentation tank, and (b) circular tank employing
the following dataset:
o Average flow rate, Qav = 10,000 m3/d
o Peak flow rate, QP = 10,000 m3/d
o Specific gravity of the particles to be removed, s = 12.5
o Diameter of the particles, d = 100 µm
o Darcy-Weisback friction factor, f = 0.025
o Scouring material constant, k = 0.05

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

 Reference Materials for this lecture

Chapter 5
Environmental Sanitation, Wastewater
Treatment and Disposal (2nd Edition)

Theory of Sewage Treatment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed