WATER TREATMENT

PROCESSES
ECH 3501 LECTURE
WEEK 3
 CONTENTS
Overview of water treatment in Malaysia
Water quality and standards
Overall water treatment process
Coagulation and flocculation
Softening
Sedimentation
Filtration
Disinfection
Adsorption
Membranes
Water plant residuals management
 OVERVIEW OF WATER TREATMENT IN
MALAYSIA

Water treatment
Treatment is Falls under Water
privatizations e.g
under SPAN Services Industry
Air Selangor,
jurisdiction Act 2016 (Act 655)
Ranhill in Johore

All water Water intake

Most still using
treatment plant comes from
conventional
must obtain surface and
treatment methods
license from SPAN groundwater
● 
SPAN - Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara
a technical and economic regulatory body for the water supply and sewerage services in Peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territories of
Putrajaya and Labuan.

●  the commission regulates all entities in the water supply and sewerage services industry including public and private water supply and
sewerage services operators, water supply and sewerage contractors, permit holders and suppliers of water and sewerage products.

●  regulates the water services industry in accordance to the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Act 655) which was enforced on 1st
January 2008
 Water Supplies Coverage 2018

Bandar - urban
Luar bandar - rural
Purata - average
 Raw water source for treatment and WTP
statistics

Air permukaan - surface water

Empangan - dam
Air bawah tanah - groundwater
Loji rawatan air - water treatment plant (WTP)
Pengeluaran - production
Air mentah - raw water
Non-revenue water 2018
Treated Water Quality 2018
 WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS
●  presence of suspended material such as clay, silt, plankton
01 Turbidity ● 
● 
Unit is Nephlometric Turbidity Unit (TBU)
Clay or inert material may not has adverse effect on health

●  dissolved organic matter from decaying vegetation and

02 Color
● 
certain inorganic matter caused color in water
May not harm but less aesthetic

●  Caused by foreign matter such as organic compound,

03 Taste and Odor
● 
inorganic salts or dissolve gasses
Can come from domestic, agricultural or natural sources

●  Cool and does not fluctuate in temperature

04 Temperature ●  Cooler water is more palatable
 Chemical characteristic water qualities
●  caused by leaching of marine sediment deposit or by
pollution from seawater, brine or industrial or domestic
01 Chloride
● 
wastes
> 250 ppm Cl has noticeable taste in drinking water
●  domestic water should be < 100 ppm Cl
●  some area contain natural fluoride
●  At optimum level, it is beneficial for health
02 Fluoride ●  excessive amount cause fluorosis
●  level between 0.8 and 1.3 ppm is acceptable

●  Small amount frequently present due to large amount of

iron in geological material
03 Iron ●  Its presence gives brownish color and affects taste of
beverage such as tea and coffee

●  exposure can lead to severe health damage or death

04 Lead ●  present due to industrial wastes or surface water
runoffs

●  Imparts brownish color to water and cloth

05 Manganese ●  flavors coffee and tea with a medicinal taste
 Chemical characteristic water qualities
●  can affect person suffering from heart, kidney or circulatory
06 Sodium
● 
ailment
water softener may be of concern if added at large quantity

●  caused by leaching of natural deposits of magnesium

07 Sulfate
● 
sulfate (Epsom salt) or sodium sulfate (Glauber’s salt)
Undesirable because of laxative effects

●  cause by zinc ore deposits near mining area

08 Zinc ●  does not cause health problem but impart undesirable
taste to drinking water

●  Occurs naturally in the environment; also use widely in

09 Arsenic
● 
timber treatment, pesticides, glass and alloy industries
Can cause lung and urinary bladder cancer

●  NO3, cynides and heavy metals constitute major

10 Toxic Inorganic Substance
● 
classes of inorganic substances of health concern
Mostly come from industrial pollutants

●  over 120 toxic organic compounds listed under US

EPA pollutant list
11 Toxic Organic Substance ●  Include pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and
solvents
 Microbial Characteristics water qualities
Drinking water must be free from pathogens -
viruses, bacteria, protozoa and worms

some originate from fecal discharged from infected

individuals or animal discharge

Widely used test estimates the number of microbs of

coliform group - Escherichia coli (from feces) and
Aerobacter aerogenes (soil, leaves and grain)

Test called Total Coliform Test of all coliform group

Two protozoa of concern are Giardia cysts and

Cryptosporidium oocysts - carried by animals in the
wild and on farms
Drinking Water
Standard

https://
environment.com.my/
wp-content/uploads/
2016/05/Drinking-
Water-MOH.pdf
 OVERALL WATER TREATMENT PROCESS

Groundwater requires additional treatment such as adsorption or ion-exchange remove naturally

occurring contaminants and softening agent to reduce hardness
 1. Screen and balancing pond
Screens are placed at the inlet of balancing
pond to catch debris

Balancing pond is to provide flow equalization

Generally 3 days retention time provide further

preliminary treatment

Water then pump into the treatment plant

 2. Coagulation and Flocculation

Purpose: to increase pollutant particles (color, turbidity and bacteria) into larger flocs either
as precipitates or suspended particles

Coagulation - remove colloids by reducing their stability such that they can adhere to each
other and form larger floc particles

Flocculation - to bring particles into contact, stick together to larger size that will readily
settled

Mixing speed is important during coagulation-flocculation determining its efficiency

For groundwater this process is replaced with softening

 Coagulation
Colloids suspended in solution and cannot be
removed by sedimentation or filtration

Colloids are stable as they possess negative surface

charge the repels each other

To destabilize the particles, the charge must be

destabilized by addition ion of opposite charge

This ions in solution are called coagulant

Properties of coagulant for water treatment

1.  1. Trivalent cation - most efficient cation

2.  2. Non-toxic
3.  3. Insoluble in neutral pH range - so it precipitate
out of solution
 Coagulation
1. Aluminum

Liquid Alum Al2(SO4)3.[4H2O] approximately 48% alum. Higher concentration will

induce crystallization during transport and storage

Important parameters in coagulation are pH and dosage. Optimum pH is general

between 5.5 and 6.5. Both determined by Jar Test

Reaction of Alum in water containing alkalinity. The reaction reduce pH but the
alkalinity normally buffer this effect

Reaction of Alum in water without alkalinity resulted in large pH reduction due to

sulfuric acid production. Lime or sodium carbonate may be added.
 Coagulation
2. Ferum

Ferum can be purchased as sulfate salt (Fe2(SO4)3.xH2O) or chloride salt

(FeCl3.xH2O) (either dry or liquid forms)

The properties of ferum with respect to forming large complexes, dosage and pH
similar to Alum but wider range of effective pH (4-9)

Reaction of ferum in water without and without alkalinity is also similar to that of
Alum
 Coagulation
3. Coagulant Aid

a) pH adjuster - sulfuric acid to reduce pH; and either lime (Ca(OH)2) or soda ash (Na2CO3) to
increase pH

b) Activated silica - addition to water produces a stable solution with negative surface charge. It
unite with positively charged Alum or Ferum flocs, resulting in larger and denser floc for faster
settling.

especially useful for treatment of highly colored, low turbidity water as it adds weight to the flocs

c) clay - similar to activated silica

d) polymer - can be anionic (negative charge) or cationic (positive charge), polyamphotype (both)
or nonionic (neither)

It is a long chain carbon compounds of high MW with many active sites that adhere to flocs, join
them together, producing larger and tougher flocs following interparticle bridging
 Softening (for Ground water)

Purpose: to reduce the hardness of groundwater

Hard water - water that does not lather well and forming scum as Ca ion react with Mg in soap

Hardness - sum of all polyvalent cations (ppm of CaCO3 or meq/L), but predominantly Ca and Mg ions

Treatment provide hardness of 75 - 120 ppm of CaCO3 (moderately hard)

Total hardness, TH = Ca2+ + Mg2+

Softening using lime-soda (reaction) and ion-exchange resin (sodium based solid via adsorption)
 Mixing and
Flocculation

Mixing is important as mass transfer and reaction can happens once this
is achieved.

Rapid mixing - process where chemicals are quickly and uniformly

disperse in water

The chemical reaction during coagulation and softening in rapid mixing

produce precipitates

These precipitates agglomerate to form flocs - this contacting process

called flocculation accomplished by slow gentle mixing
 Rapid Mixing
Degree of mixing is measured by the velocity gradient, G. Higher G, the
move violent the mixing

Coagulation is completed in less than 0.1 s in vertical shaft mixer or

within pipe using in-line blender or in a pipe using a static mixer.
 Rapid Mixing Tanks
Volume seldom exceeds 8 m3 due
to mixing equipment and geometric
constraints

Either use radial-flow (more

turbulent) or axial-flow impellers

Tanks should be horizontally baffled

into at 2-3 compartments for
sufficient residence time.

Chemical is added below impeller.

Geometric ratio is use for the tank

design - basin depth, surface area
and impeller diameter
 Flocculation
Most important factor affecting particle-removal efficiency

Enough mixing must be provided to bring floc in contact and to keep floc from settling in floc
basin

But not too much that it will break the floc - velocity gradient must be controlled

Heavier floc, higher SS concentration requires more mixing to keep floc suspended

Generally 20 mins of flocculation time (at 20oC), lower temperature need more time.
Axial, Vertical, & Horizontal Paddled and Baffled
chamber flocculator
 Flocculation - power requirement
Different mixer has different power requirement. No power needed for baffled flocculator

Power (Rushton), P is for impeller type flocculator

impeller constant can be obtained from manufacturer. It is recommended that the tangential
velocity (tip speed) is limited to 2.7 m/s
 Assignment 2 - Group work

Explain the solutions of

Example 6.1 (Jar test) and find a real example

Example 6.11 (Rapid mixing and flocculation design)