WASTEWATER TECHNOLOGY

Wastewater
Processs
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 LECTURE OUTCOMES
 Able to express the three
categories – primary, secondary
and tertiary treatment for ww
-principles and purpose
 Able to trace the flow of ww from
the source through the different
stages of treatment, disposal and
discharge back into the
environment.
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 Wastewater treatment & purpose
 Ww treatment is a process in which the solids in ww
are partially removed and partially changed by
decomposition from complex highly putrescible
organic solids to mineral or relatively stable organic
solids.
Purpose:
 Reducing or minimizing the public health hazards,
preventing pathogens and other potentially harmful
components from finding their way back to the
consumer, and
 Preserve surface water quality - Eliminating, reducing
or minimizing the deteriorative impact of a ww on
the receiving water quality and its environment.
 Meet legal requirements

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 Wastewater treatment categories
Primary treatment
Obj: to prepare the ww for the next treatment, for the
biological treatment- the removal of floating and settleable
materials /substances (suspended solids and chemical
organic matter) that may interfere with the downstream
processes or be detrimental to the plant equipment. Materials
removed may include rags, plastic, lumber, and grit.
- includes the screen, grit chamber, equalization tank and
clarifier;
a) Coagulation - to coagulate the suspended solid to
coagulate
b) Flocculation - to flocculate by coagulants
c) Neutralization - to adjust the pH between 6.5 to 8.5
d)Sedimentation to precipitate small suspended solids

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 Wastewater treatment categories
 Secondary treatment - Consumption by microorganisms in which
usually consists of 2 steps-
to further remove BOD and COD not removed by the primary treatment.
 Biological method aims at the removal of all oxidizable/biodegradable,
suspended and dissolved and organic matter/solids from the ww by
employing the use of microorganisms. These microorganisms use
components of the effluent as their food produce carbon dioxide,
water, and more organisms. When the microbes consume the
nutrition in the ww, their density will increase and this allows the
settlement of the microbes to the bottom of processing tank.
 Secondary settling tanks are used to separate the water from settled
microbes - as a concentrated suspension called secondary sludge,
biological sludge, waste activated sludge or trickling filter
humus. The treated clarified liquor can then be discharged and the
settled sludge is returned quickly to the aeration tank, so that the
microorganisms can remain active.
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 Wastewater treatment categories
Tertiary or advance treatment - a
process that applies when high quality
of effluent is required such as when the
ww is directly discharge into the free
water body or drinking water source.
The solid residual were collected in
which it consist additional chemical to
clean the final effluent which are
reclaimed before discharge. The
microbes remove dissolved BOD by
incorporating it into the new cells (the
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sludge). The microorganisms also
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESS
Types of Treatment Steps
Preliminary treatment
Primary Treatment Collection
Screening
Gritremoval
Primary aeration
Primary sedimentation

Secondary Treatment Biological

treatment
Secondary sedimentation

Tertiary Treatment Nitrogen and phosphorus removal

Disinfection

Solid handling
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 Primary Treatment- Screen
Screen- to remove larger particles such as
rags, rocks, branches, very simple materials
having iron bars in the form of square grids.
Effluent is allowed to pass through the grid
where large and coarse solid materials are
arrested by it allowing smaller particles and
effluent to pass through.
Primary screen –large opening , >15 mm
spacing
Secondary screen – small opening < 15mm

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 Primary Treatment
Comminutors – cut into small pieces/ grinder
Purpose: to protect pump from clogging
Use in small wwtp – not efficient, high maintenance
cost
Grease / Oil removal- dissolved air flotation -a
physical separation of free phase oil and grease
from ww by using either oil skimmer or separator.
Purpose - to protect the pumping and other
equipment in the plant.

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 Primary Treatment
Equalisation Tank- a large chamber which is designed for retention
time of 12 hours, specially built where air is blown by two blowers
alternately round the clock on continuous basis.
Purposes:
to supply oxygen so that DO level increases
to mix various types effluents
to reduce the T of the water.
to provide dampening of organic fluctuation and adequate pH control
to protect from load and contaminant upsets.
to minimize the chemical requirements and flow surges in order to
protect against upstream and downstream failures afterwards.
to remove grease & oil and homogenize and to remove some BOD &
COD.
On the top surface of the equalization tank there is a scrapper used
to11skim the oily substances.
 Primary Treatment
The ww enters primary clarifiers (sedimentation basin) which remove
60% of TSS and about 30% of the BOD in the incoming ww.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand is a measure of the amount of
oxygen needed to biochemically degrade the organic matter in
the ww.
Primary Settling - This physical or chemical, or combination of both
treatments is for removal of highly toxic compounds, heavy metals,
solids and so on. Involve pH adjustment; removal of solids,
emulsified oils and heavy metals; and removal of volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) and dissolved gases.
pH adjustment- target range pH 6 to 9.5 when discharge. The addition
of acid or caustic is important to maintain the range mentioned and it
may require many times of addition to achieve desired pH. Operation
outside this range can adversely affect many treatment unit
operations such as coagulation, stripping, heavy metal removal,
biological treatment, nitrogen removal and pathogen removal.

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 Primary Treatment
Removal of Solids, Emulsified Oils and Heavy
Metals- involves coagulation / flocculation,
chemical precipitation, settling, flotation and
filtration.
Coagulation and flocculation applications
purpose -to remove emulsified oil, suspended
solids, heavy metals and part of BOD and COD
(in suspended particulate form).
Coagulant and flocculant used are either in the
form of organic or inorganic materials

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 Primary Treatment
Removing emulsions
Emulsion- fine oil droplets present in ww that cannot be easily
separated physically. 2 forms:
Mechanical - unstable; require simple coalescence, maybe with
destabilization with emulsion breaker.
Chemical - stable; require full coagulation and flocculation
process, then removal by settling or flotation.
Chemical precipitation- to remove heavy metals and others such as
sulphates, fluorides and phosphates. It is the same process as
coagulation.
To remove different metals, different coagulant will be used. In this
step, pH is critical as different metals precipitate at different pH.
Settling- In this process, large particles settle at the bottom of the
tank at a lower velocity but finer particles will settle after
assistance of coagulation and flocculation.
2 types of settling, one is rectangular type and the other one is
circular type which both with plates to enhance separation.
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 Primary Treatment
Flotation- to remove solids, oil and grease by making it float and
typically after flocculation happen. This facility is better than
conventional clarification for oils, less dense particles and
flocculated particles. Some of the facilities are Dissolved Air
Flotation (DAF), Induced Air Flotation (IAF) and Cavitation Air
Flotation (CAF).
Filtration- by using media such as sand, garnet and gravel but in
different size depends on the type of filter. There is single media
filter, duel media filter and triple media filter that usually being
used in the treatment plant.
Removal of VOC and Dissolved Gases- One of the mechanisms
used is air strippers which are to remove H2S, NH3 and CO2; and
also light and free phase organics. Air strippers are best under
turbulent flow conditions. For stripping ammonia, the most
effective pH is more than 11 but it can result in calcium
carbonate scaling. To improve stripping, temperature has to be
increased.
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 Secondary Treatment
Aerated lagoon -treatment pond provided with
artificial aeration to promote the biological oxidation
of wws
There are many other biological processes for
treatment of wws, for example activated sludge,
trickling filters, rotating biological contactors (RBC)
and biofilters
They all have in common the use of oxygen (or air)
and microbial action to bio-treat the pollutants in wws.

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 Secondary Treatment
Chemical method -used to remove emulsified oil with
addition of flocculating agents and SSs and toxic
substances by sedimentation and filtration using
neutralization, precipitation & clarification, chemical
oxidation and regeneration methods.

Secondary Settling- purpose:

to separate treated effluent and settled sludge. –
Some sludge will be disposed of but some of them
will be returned/reuse to the biological treatment tank
to undergo the treatment once again.
To store biomass as buffer to prevent process upsets
It is mainly to reduce the amount of BOD.
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 Tertiary Treatment
only applicable if the BOD and COD level are still
high, If the receiving body of water requires a
higher degree of treatment than the secondary
process can provide, or if the final effluent is
intended for reuse.
Why we need tertiary treatment?
To remove organic matter (BOD)
To remove nutrients (N& P) & TSS beyond the
conventional secondary treatment
To remove residual TSS to condition the
treated WW for more effective disinfection
To remove specific inorganic i.e. heavy metals

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 Tertiary Treatment
Disinfection -Final polishing of treated wastewater before
discharge to avoid disease that are cause by
microorganisms.
chlorination, use chlorine gas or hypochlorite solutions, then
chlorine forms hypochlorous acid, which in turn forms
hypochlorite. However, the chlorine will end up as the
carcinogenic chloro-organic compounds, which shall heavily
impact on the environment.
Ozone is a strong oxidizing agent that has been used for
disinfection due to its bactericidal properties & its potential
of removal of viruses.
uv-ozonation
The filtration step is to remove suspended or colloidal solids.
final step after secondary and tertiary treatment and helps
to kill remaining microorganisms.
Microfiltration
19 sand filtration.
 Tertiary Treatment
Ion exchange, activated C adsorption, etc.
Compressed oxygen is diffused into ww streams
to oxidize certain chemicals or to satisfy
regulatory oxygen-content requirements.
Ww that is to be recycled may require cooling to
remove heat and/or oxidation by spraying or air
stripping to remove any remaining
phenols, nitrates, and ammonia.
Dissolved solids are reduced by processes such
as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis.
denitrification, and phosphate
precipitation can remove nutrients.

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 Solid Handling

Sludge- the semisolid residual, also

includes an unpredictable mix of heavy
metals, synthetic chemicals, radioactive
waste, medicines, and so on.
The sludge is transformed into biosolids
using a number of complex treatments;
digestion, thickening, dewatering, drying,
and lime stabilization.

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 REFERENCES
1. http://water.me.vccs.edu/courses/env108/le
sson1_2.htm
2. http://www.google.com.my/search?hl=en&c
lient=firefox-a&hs=Okr&rls=org.mozilla%
3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&q=componen
ts+of+screens+%28wastewater+treatment%2
9&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai
3. http://water.epa.gov/aboutow/owm/upload/20
04_07_07_septics_final_sgrit_removal.pdf

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