THENI KAMMAVAR SANGAM PUBLIC SCHOOL KODUVILARPATTI, THENI.

BIOLOGY PROJECT
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT -VISALATCHI.S
CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Mr. /Ms. _____________________________________of class
XII of Theni Kammavar Sangam Public School ,Theni, has completed his/her project work
entitled,_______________________________________ under my supervision and guidance. He/She
has taken proper care and shown utmost sincerity in completing this project. I certify that this is up to
my expectations and as per the guidelines issued by CBSE. Place: Theni Date: _________
________________________ (Name & Signature of the teacher incharge)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am extremely thankful to our Principal, Mrs.A.Chitradevi and My Biology
teacher Mrs.S.Sabeshini for giving me this opportunity to accomplish this important project on the
topic: “SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT.”Iam highly obliged and gratified for their continuous support
and guidance during the completion of this project. I extend my hearty thanks to my parents and
friends for their support and encouragement while this project was being made, and who helped me to
complete this wonderful and challenging task in the limited time period. I have learnt a lot while
researching on the given topic for this project. I am thankful to all those, because of whose support,
guidance and encouragement, this project was possible to complete.
Abstract A sewage treatment plant is quite necessary to receive the domestic and commercial waste
and removes the materials which pose harm for general public. Its objective is to produce an
environmentallysafe fluid waste stream (or treated effluent) and a solid waste (or treated sludge)
suitable for disposal or reuse (usually as farm fertilizer). The growing environmental pollution needs
for decontaminating waste water result in the study of characterization of waste water, especially
domestic sewage.
TABLE OF CONTENTS  INTRODUCTION  WHAT IS SEWAGE?  ORIGINS OF SEWAGE 
GENERAL PROCESSES  PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT  MICROBIAL PROCESSES  KEY
MICROORGANISMS  MICROBES IN SEWAGE TREATMENT  SEWAGE TREATMENT 
PROCESS STEPS  PRETREATMENT  PRIMARY TREATMENT  SECONDARY TREATMENT
 TERTIARY TREATMENT  FOURTH TREATMENT STAGE  SLUDGE TREATMENT AND
DISPOSAL  CONCLUSION  WEBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION Sewage treatment is a process in which the pollutants are removed. The ultimate
goal of sewage treatment is to produce an effluent that will not impact the environment. In the
absence of sewage treatment, the results can be devastating as sewage can disrupt the environment.
WHAT IS SEWAGE? Waste material (such as human urine and faeces) that is carried away from
homes and other Buildings in a system of pipes. Waste matter from domestic or industrial
establishments that is carried away in sewers or drains for dumping or conversion into a form that is
not toxic.
ORIGINS OF SEWAGE Sewage is generated by residential, institutional, commercial and industrial
establishments. It includes household waste liquid from toilets, baths, showers, kitchens, and sinks
draining into sewers. In many areas, sewage also includes liquid waste from industry and commerce.
The separation and draining of household wast0e into greywater and black water is becoming more
common in the developed world, with treated greywater being permitted to be used for watering plants
or recycled for flushing toilets. Sewage may include storm water runoff or urban runoff. Sewerage
systems capable of handling storm water are known as combined sewer systems.Industrial waste
water include Toxic chemical, Organic wastes, Heavy metals.
GENERAL PROCESSES The general processes of sewage treatment are primary, secondary and
tertiary treatment.  Primary treatment involves physical separation of sewage into solids and liquid
by using a settling basin.  The liquid sewage is then transferred to Secondary treatment which
focuses on removing the dissolved biological compound by the use of micro-organisms. The
microorganisms usually use aerobic metabolism to degrade the biological matter in the liquid sludge.
 Then Tertiary treatment is required to disinfect the sewage so that it can be released into the
environment. The solid sewage separated from primary treatment is transferred to a tank for sludge
digestion which involves anaerobic degradation using micro organisms.
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT The environment of the sewage treatment plant has to be controlled
precisely because bacteria are sensitive to the oxygen level, pH level, temperature, and level of
nutrient. In order for efficient degradation of biological matter to occur, these factors are controlled
manually. Sewage composition: Sewage is composed of organic matter such as carbohydrates, fats,
oil, grease and proteins mainly from domestic waste. It also contains dissolved inorganic matter such
as nitrogen species and phosphorous species mainly from agricultural waste . Microbes is essential to
remove the nutrients before they are released to the environment because it interferes natural
habitats by altering the chemical composition such as pH or oxygen level both directly and indirectly.
Oxygen level: Oxygen level is an important factor to secondary and tertiary treatment processes.
Secondary treatment, oxygen is required as a terminal electron acceptor in organic matter
degradation. For example, nitrification by Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter species requires dissolved
oxygen to occur . Oxygen in secondary treatment
is provided manually by pumping oxygen into the sewage continuously which occurs in an aeration
tank . In tertiary treatment, the removal of excess organic matter is enhanced by settling the sewage
in a lagoon. This process is also aerobic, but it depends on the diffusion of oxygen because most
organic matter has been degraded by secondary treatment. pH: Acidity plays a crucial role in the
breakdown of organic matter because pH affects the solubility of compounds which indirectly affect
the accessibility by bacteria. Also, bacteria responsible for organic matter degradation are sensitive to
the pH of the environment. Extremely high or low pH levels are able to kill bacteria, deposition of
organic matter occurs due to lack of degradation. Hence, the pH of sewage treatment is controlled to
be around 7. A nitrifier in secondary treatment, Nitrosomnas requires a pH between 6-9 in order to be
viable . Temperature: The effect of temperature is influential for secondary treatment, but it is not
important in primary treatment. Bacterial growth is sensitive to temperature because high temperature
can increase the fluidity of the phospholipid bilayer which leads to cell lysis. However, bacteria are
known to have higher enzymatic activity at higher temperature because of increased thermal energy.
Nutrients for microbes: There are a lot of nutrients available in the sewage because of human waste
and agricultural runoff. Bacteria can harvest the electron from organic matter and transfer it to a
terminal electron acceptor which results in the breakdown of organic matter and energy conservation.
MICROBIAL PROCESSES Aerobic After primary treatment, liquid and solid phases are physically
separated. The liquid phase is treated with aeration to allow aerobic degradation of the nutrients. The
two important microbial processes at this stage are nitrification and phosphorous removal. Nitrification
occurs in two discrete steps. First of all, ammonium is oxidized to nitrite by Nitrosomonas.spp, and
nitrite is further oxidized to nitrate by Nitrobacter.spp . Anaerobic In the liquid component of sewage,
denitrifying bacteria reduce nitrate into dinitrogen gas which liberates nitrate from the sewage . The
solid component of the sewage separated in primary treatment is fermented by bacteria anaerobically.
KEY MICROORGANISMS Microorganisms in aerobic process Members of the Nitrosomonas genus is
a gram negative bacterium responsible for the first stage of nitrification in sewage. They oxidize
ammonium into nitrite. This bacterium prefers a pH around 6-9 and nitrify optimally at 20-30°C .
Members of the Nitrobacter genus is a gram negative bacterium responsible for the second stage of
nitrification in the sewage. It oxidizes nitrite to nitrate using oxygen as a terminal electron acceptor.
The bacteria has an optimum pH of 6~8, and an optimum temperature of 0~40°C . Microorganism in
anaerobic process Members of Pseudomonas genus is a gram negative denitrifying bacteria that use
the chemical energy in organic matter to reduce nitrate into dinitrogen gas . Also, members of the
bacteroidetes phylum are the gram negative bacteria responsible for the anaerobic fermentation of the
solid sludge .
SEWAGE TREATMENT Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants from
wastewater, primarily from household sewage. It includes physical, chemical, and biological
processes to remove these contaminants and produce environmentally safe treated waste water (or
treated effluent). A by-product of sewage treatment is usually a semi-solid waste or slurry, called
sewage sludge, that has to undergo further treatment before being suitable for disposal or land
application. Sewage treatment may also be referred to as wastewater treatment
PROCESS STEPS Treating waste water has the aim to produce an effluent that will do as little harm
as possible when discharged to the surrounding environment, thereby preventing pollution compared
to releasing untreated waste water into the environment. In highly regulated developed countries,
industrial effluent usually receives at least pretreatment if not full treatment at the factories themselves
to reduce the pollutant load, before discharge to the sewer. This process is called industrial
wastewater treatment. Sewage treatment generally involves three stages, called  primary treatment.
 secondary treatment.  tertiary treatment. PRETREATMENT Pretreatment removes all materials
that can be easily collected from the raw sewage before they damage or clog the pumps and sewage
lines of primary treatment clarifiers. Objects commonly removed during pretreatment Include trash,
tree limbs, leaves, branches, and other large objects. The influent in sewage water passes through a
bar screen to remove all large objects like cans, rags, sticks, plastic Packets etc. carried in the
sewage stream. The solids are collected and later disposed in a landfill, or incinerated.
Pretreatment may include  Grit removal  Flow equalization  Fat and grease removal. GRIT
REMOVAL FLOWEQUALIZATION FAT AND GREASE REMOVAL
PRIMARY TREATMENT It consists of temporarily holding the sewage in a quiescent basin where
heavy solids can settle to the Bottom while oil, grease and lighter solids float to the surface. The
settled and floating materials are removed and the remaining liquid may be discharged or subjected to
secondary treatment. Some sewage treatment plants that are connected to a combined sewer system
have a bypass arrangement after the primary treatment unit. This means that during very heavy
rainfall events, the secondary and tertiary treatment systems can be bypassed to protect them from
hydraulic overloading, and the mixture of sewage and storm water only receives primary treatment.
PRIMARY TREATMENT
AERATION TANK Wastewater aeration is the process of adding air into wastewater to allow aerobic
bio-degradation of the pollutant components. It is an integral part of most biological wastewater
treatment systems. Unlike chemical treatment which uses chemicals to react and stabilize
contaminants in the wastewater stream, biological treatment uses microorganisms that occur naturally
in wastewater to degrade wastewater contaminants.
SECONDARY TREATMENT It removes dissolved and suspended biological matter. Secondary
treatment is typically performed by indigenous, water-borne microorganisms in a managed habitat.
Secondary treatment may require a Separation process to remove the micro-organisms from the
treated water prior to discharge or tertiary Treatment. It include Fixed-film or attached growth,
Suspended-growth, Secondary sedimentation. SECONDARY TREATMENT
TERTIARY TREATMENT It is sometimes defined as anything more than primary and secondary
treatment in order to allow rejection into a highly sensitive or fragile ecosystem (estuaries, low-flow
rivers, coral reef). Treated water is sometimes disinfected chemically or physically (for example, by
lagoons and microfiltration) prior to discharge into a stream, river, bay, lagoon or wetland, or it can be
used for the irrigation of a golf course, green way or park. If it is sufficiently clean, it can also be used
for groundwater recharge or agricultural purposes. It is also called "effluent polishing. “The purpose
of tertiary treatment is to provide a final treatment stage to further improve the effluent quality before
it is discharged to the receiving environment  Filtration  Lagoons or ponds  Biological nutrient
removal  Nitrogen removal  Phosphorus removal  Disinfection TERTIARY TREATMENT
DISINFECTION
FOURTH TREATMENT STAGE Micro pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, ingredients of household
chemicals, chemicals used in small businesses or industries, Environmental Persistent
Pharmaceutical Pollutant (EPPP) or Pesticides may not be eliminated in the conventional treatment
process (primary, secondary and tertiary treatment) and therefore lead to water pollution. Odour
control Odours emitted by sewage treatment are typically an indication of an anaerobic or "septic"
condition. Early stages of processing will tend to produce foul-smelling gases, with hydrogen sulfide
being most common in generating complaints. Large process plants in urban areas will often treat the
odors with carbon reactors, a contact media with bio-slimes, small doses of chlorine, or circulating
fluids to biologically capture and metabolize the noxious gases. Other methods of odor control exist,
including addition of iron salts, hydrogen peroxide, calcium nitrate, etc. to manage hydrogen sulfide
levels. Energy requirements For conventional sewage treatment plants, around 30 percent of the
annual operating costs is usually required for energy. The energy requirements vary with type of
treatment process as well as waste waterload
STEPS OF PROCESSES
SLUDGE TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL The sludge accumulated in a wastewater treatment process
must be treated and disposed of in a safe and effective manner. The purpose of digestion is to reduce
the amount of organic matter and the number of disease causing microorganisms present in the
solids. The most common treatment options include anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, and
composting. Incineration is also used, albeit to a much lesser degree. Sludge treatment depends on
the amount of solids generated and other site-specific conditions. Composting is most often applied to
small-scale plants with aerobic digestion for mid-sized operations, and anaerobic digestion for the
largerscale operations.
CONCLUSION With suitable technology, it is possible to reuse sewage effluent for agriculture and
drinking purpose, although this is usually done in places with limited water supplies. With the
emerging development of technology in this 20th century, the process of wastewater treatment can be
still developed to recycle water that can be used for drinking and other purposes. So I conclude that
wastewater treatment must be essential for a developing country.
WEBLIOGRAPHY 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewage_treatment 2. https://www.scribd.com/ 3.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/sewage- treatment-plant 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e85WmSODmk BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Class 12 BIOLOGY NCERT
textbook