Waste Water Treatment Methods

Wastewater Treatment Methods

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 Primary Treatment Methods
• Removal of large objects from sewage (Screening)
• Sand and grit removal (Detritor)
• Sedimentation (Sedimentation Tanks)

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 Screening
• Screens are used as a physical treatment for the
removal of large suspended and floating solids
present in waste water.
• For normal operations a medium screen with 10 to
20 mm spaces between its bars is considered as
standard
• In order to avoid clogging in screens, the flow
velocity should always be kept above 0.5 m/sec

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Screening

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Bar screens

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 Detritor
• Primary treatment typically includes a sand or grit channel
or chamber where the velocity of the incoming wastewater
is carefully controlled to allow sand grit and stones to
settle, while keeping the majority of the suspended organic
material in the water column. This equipment is called a
detritor or sand catcher.
• Sand grit and stones need to be removed early in the
process to avoid damage to pumps and other equipment in
the remaining treatment stages.
• The contents from the sand catcher may be fed into the
incinerator in a sludge processing plant, but in many cases,
the sand and grit is sent to a landfill.

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Detritor

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 Sedimentation
• Many plants have a sedimentation stage where the sewage is allowed to stay in
large tanks, commonly called "primary clarifiers" or "primary sedimentation
tanks". The tanks are large enough that fecal solids can settle and floating
material such as grease and oils can rise to the surface and be skimmed off.
• The main purpose of the primary stage is to produce a generally homogeneous
liquid capable of being treated biologically and a sludge that can be separately
treated or processed. Primary settlement tanks are usually equipped with
mechanically driven scrapers that continually drive the collected sludge
towards a hopper in the base of the tank from where it can be pumped to further
sludge treatment stages.

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 Secondary Treatment Methods
• Secondary treatment is designed to substantially degrade
the biological content of the sewage such as are derived
from human waste, food waste, soaps and detergent.
• There are number of ways in which this is done. In all
these methods, the bacteria consume biodegradable soluble
organic contaminants (e.g. sugars, fats, organic short-chain
carbon molecules, etc.) and convert them into simpler
compounds. Secondary treatment systems are classified as
– Fixed Film
– Suspended Growth

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 Secondary Treatment
• Fixed Film treatment process including trickling filter
where the biomass grows on media and the sewage passes
over its surface.
• Suspended Growth Systems such as activated sludge, the
biomass is well mixed with the sewage and can be
operated in a smaller space than fixed-film systems that
treat the same amount of water.

However, fixed-film systems are more able to cope with

drastic changes in the amount of biological material and
can provide higher removal rates for organic material
and suspended solids than suspended growth systems. 12
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 Secondary Treatment
Treatment methods for secondary treatment may
vary:

• Activated Sludge Process

• Surface-aerated basins
• Filter beds (oxidizing beds)
• Membrane bioreactors

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 1. Activated Sludge Process
• The activated sludge process is suitable for treating
domestic WW which contains large amount of organic
matter but also can be used for industrial waste.
• It is a process in which active biological matter is created
resulting in the absorption of organic waste present in WW
and ultimately producing simple products such as nitrates
and carbon dioxide
• These types of plants tend to remove about 85 – 95% of
OM and SS from sewage water

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 1. Activated Sludge Process
• The conventional activated sludge systems have a tank for
WW aeration which is followed by a settling tank and a line
for recycling solids. WW enters the aeration tank and
remains there for about 4-8 hrs (residence time). The
biological organisms present in the activated sludge convert
the organic waste in to biomass and other products (gases)
• Due to high BOD of WW entering in to the system, there
will be a high oxygen demand when the WW is entering into
the reactor. But as the process goes on, the oxygen demand
is reduced. The concentration of oxygen in the reactor
should be at least 2mg/l
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Activated Sludge Process

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Activated Sludge Process Overview
(MLSS)
• Mixed Liquor is a mixture of raw or settled wastewater
and biological mass within an aeration tank in the
activated sludge process

• Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) is the

concentration of suspended solids in the mixed liquor,
usually expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/l)

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 Activated Sludge Process Overview
(MLSS)
• If MLSS content is too high
– The process is prone to bulking and the treatment system becomes
overloaded
– This can cause the dissolved oxygen content to drop with the
effect that organic matters are not fully degraded.
– Excessive aeration required which wastes electricity
• If MLSS content is too low
– The process is not operating efficiently and is wasting energy
• Typical Control band
– 2,000 to 4,000 mg/l

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Activated Sludge Tanks

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 2. Surface-aerated basins
(Aerated lagoon)
• Most biological oxidation processes for treating industrial
wastewaters have in common the use of oxygen (or air) and
microbial action. Surface-aerated basins have retention times of 1
to 10 days. The basins may range in depth from 1.5 to 5.0 meters.
• In an aerated basin system, the aerators provide two functions:
1. They transfer air into the basins required by the biological
oxidation reactions
2. They provide the mixing required for dispersing the air and for
contacting the reactants (that is, oxygen, wastewater and
microbes).

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Aeration Tanks

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 3. Filter beds (Oxidizing beds)
(Trickling filters)
• Trickling filter beds are used where the sewage liquor is
spread onto the surface of a bed made up of coke,
limestone chips or specially fabricated plastic media. Such
media must have high surface areas to support the biofilms
that form. The liquor is distributed through perforated
rotating arms radiating from a central pivot.
• The distributed liquor trickles through this bed and is
collected in drains at the base. Biological films of bacteria,
protozoa and fungi form on the media’s surfaces and eat or
otherwise reduce the organic content.

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 3. Filter beds (Oxidizing beds)
(Trickling filters)
• WW is made to contact with the microorganisms resulting in their
growth enhancement on a fixed filter media. WW contains organic
matter which serves as a food for these microorganisms (bacteria).
After this the clean water is collected as it passed through the media
• Due to the active growth of microorganisms, the level or oxygen is
decreased resulting in an anaerobic environment. After this, these
microorganisms tend to die and are drained out by using some fluid

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Trickling filter bed using plastic media

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 4. Membrane Bioreactors
Membrane bioreactors (MBR) combines activated sludge
treatment with a membrane liquid-solid separation process.
The membrane component uses low pressure microfiltration
or ultra filtration membranes and eliminates the need for
clarification and tertiary filtration. The membranes are
typically immersed in the aeration tank (however, some
applications utilize a separate membrane tank).

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Tertiary Treatment Methods

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 Tertiary Treatment
• Tertiary treatment provides a final stage to raise the
effluent quality before it is discharged to the receiving
environment (sea, river, lake, ground, etc.). More than one
tertiary treatment process may be used at any treatment
plant. If disinfection is practiced, it is always the final
process. It is also called "effluent polishing".

Secondary Clarifier

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 Tertiary Treatment Methods
• Ultra filtration and Reverse Osmosis
• Lagooning
• Nitrogen removal
• Phosphorus removal
• Disinfection

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 Ultra filtration and Reverse Osmosis
• Osmosis is a process that involves the movement of water from
lower concentrated solution to a higher one through a selective
permeable membrane but in reverse osmosis, pressure is applied
to the solution at higher concentration and the flow is reversed to
permit the flow of water through the membrane
 Ultra filtration and Reverse Osmosis

• During this, the dissolved impurities and minerals are left behind
within the concentrated solution and water is separated.

• Typically, a pressure of approximately (2000 to 7000) kilo-Pascal

is required for this process.
 Lagooning
• Lagooning provides settlement and further
biological improvement through storage in
large man-made ponds or lagoons. These
lagoons are highly aerobic.

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 Nutrient removal
• Wastewater may contain high levels of the nutrients
nitrogen and phosphorus which can in turn encourage the
overgrowth of weeds, algae, and cyanobacteria (blue-green
algae). This may cause an algal bloom, a rapid growth in
the population of algae.
• The decomposition of the algae by bacteria uses up so
much of oxygen in the water that most or all of the animals
die, which creates more organic matter for the bacteria to
decompose. In addition to causing deoxygenation, some
algal species produce toxins that contaminate drinking
water supplies. Different treatment processes are required
to remove nitrogen and phosphorus.
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 Nitrogen removal
• The removal of nitrogen is effected through
the biological oxidation of nitrogen from
ammonia (nitrification) to nitrate, followed
by denitrification, the reduction of nitrate to
nitrogen gas. Nitrogen gas is released to the
atmosphere and thus removed from the
water.

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Nitrogen removal

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 Nitrogen removal
• Nitrification itself is a two-step aerobic process,
each step facilitated by a different type of bacteria.
• The oxidation of ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2−)
is most often facilitated by Nitrosomonas
• Nitrite oxidation to nitrate (NO3−) is facilitated by
Nitrobacter
• And nitrate reduction (denitrification) to nitrogen
gas by heterotrophic bacteria

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 Phosphorus removal (biological
process)
• Phosphorus can be removed biologically in a
process called enhanced biological phosphorus
removal. In this process, specific bacteria, called
polyphosphate accumulating organisms, are
selectively enriched and accumulate large
quantities of phosphorus within their cells (up to
20% of their mass). When the biomass enriched in
these bacteria is separated from the treated water,
these biosolids have a high fertilizer value.
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 Phosphorus removal(chemical
process)
• Phosphorus removal can also be achieved by
chemical precipitation, usually with salts of iron
(e.g. ferric chloride) or aluminum (e.g. alum). The
resulting chemical sludge is difficult to handle and
the added chemicals can be expensive.
• Despite this, chemical phosphorus removal requires
significantly smaller equipment than biological
removal, is easier to operate and can be more reliable
in areas that have wastewater compositions that
make biological phosphorus removal difficult.

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 Disinfection
Different disease causing microorganisms present in WW are
removed and targeted by the process of disinfection.
Disinfection is normally done by the:
oUse of chlorinated compounds (chlorination)
o Sodium & calcium hypochlorite
o Chlorine dioxide
o Chlorine
oUse of ozone
oUse of ultra violet light

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 Chlorine as a disinfectant
Chlorination remains the most common form of
low cost
long-term history of effectiveness.
 Disadvantage
Residual organic material can generate chlorinated-
organic compounds that may be carcinogenic or harmful
to the environment.
Residual chlorine or chloramines may also be capable
of chlorinating organic material in the natural aquatic
environment.
 Chlorine as a disinfectant
Further, because residual chlorine is toxic to aquatic
species,

the treated effluent must also be chemically

dechlorinated, adding to the complexity and cost of
treatment.
 UV light as a disinfectant
Ultraviolet (UV) light can be used instead of chlorine, iodine,
or other chemicals.

Because no chemicals are used, the treated water has no

adverse effect on organisms that later consume it, as may be the
case with other methods.

One drawback is that UV radiation causes damage to the

genetic structure of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens,
making them incapable of reproduction.
 UV light as a disinfectant
The key disadvantages of UV disinfection are the need for
frequent lamp maintenance.

The need for a highly treated effluent to ensure that the target
microorganisms are not shielded from the UV radiation (i.e., any
solids present in the treated effluent may protect microorganisms
from the UV light).

Ultraviolet light is becoming the most common means of

disinfection because of the concerns about the impacts of
chlorine in chlorinating residual organics in the wastewater and
in chlorinating organics in the receiving water.
 Ozone as a disinfectant
Ozone O3 is generated by passing oxygen O2 through a
high voltage potential resulting in a third oxygen atom
becoming attached and forming O3.

Ozone is very unstable and reactive and oxidizes most

organic material it comes in contact with, thereby
destroying many pathogenic microorganisms.
 Ozone as a disinfectant
Ozone is considered to be safer than chlorine because,
unlike chlorine which has to be stored on site (highly
poisonous in the event of an accidental release),

Ozone is generated onsite as needed. Ozonation also

produces fewer disinfection by-products than
chlorination.

A disadvantage of ozone disinfection is the high cost of

the ozone generation equipment and the requirements for
special operators.