PRIMARY

TREATMENT
PROCESS
PHYSICAL TREATMENT

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 TYPES OF TREATMENT

Treatment of sewage units can be broadly classified as

1. PRELIMINARY TREATMENT
2. SECONDARY TREATMENT
3. FINAL TREATMENT

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 TREATMENT PROCESS
• THE TREATMENT DIRECTLY DEPENDS ON THE IMPURITIES

IMPURITY PROCESS USED FOR

REMOVAL
1 Bulky floating and suspended Racks and bar screens
matters
2 Oil and grease Floatation tanks(skimming tanks)

3 Heavy and coarse suspended Grit chambers, detritus tanks and

matters sedimentation tanks
4 Non settable suspended and Chemical flocculation
some dissolved solids
5 Colloidal and dissolved Biological growth
organic matters
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6 Pathogenic bacteria disinfection
 INTRODUCTION

• In primary treatment, the larger solids from sewage are removed during
the treatment process.
• The more complex compounds are broken up and converted into simple
compounds by decomposition.
• THE PRIMARY TREATMENT INCLUDES
1. SCREENS
2. GRIT CHAMBERS
3. DETRITUS TANKS
4. SKIMMING TANKS
5. SEDIMENTATION TANKS WITH OR WITHOUT THE USE OF4
CHEMICALS
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 SCREENING

PURPOSE
• Preliminary treatment begins with screening.
• Screens remove floating matters of large sizes such as rags,
sticks, plastics and similar materials.
• To prevent the pumps and other equipment from possible
damage.

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LOCATION
• It is the first step in all treatment plants.
• The screen should preferably be located just before grit
chambers.
• The screens are usually placed in an inclined position with
an angle to the direction of flow.

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TYPES OF SCREENS
• Screens are classified in two types
1. According to size and opening
1. Coarse screen : above 50mm
2. Medium screen : 20 to 50 mm
3. Fine screen : less than 20mm
2. According to the condition of screen
1. Fixed screen
2. Movable screen
3. Moving screen 9
BAR SCREEN WITH CHAMBERS
• A typical bar screen that consists of a series of parallel bars or
a perforated screen placed in a channel.
• The flow passes through the screen and the large solids are
trapped on the bars for removal.
• The bar screen may be coarse 50mm or fine 1.5mm to 6mm
• The fine screens may be generally made of metal plates and
wire mesh.
• The bar screen may be manually cleaned or mechanically
cleaned.
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BAR SCREEN WITH CHAMBERS

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BAR SCREEN
MECHANICALLY CLEANED
• More frequently used because labor and overflowing are greatly
reduced.
• A by-pass channel with a hand cleaned bar screen must also be
provided.
• A second mechanically cleaned bar screen can also be provided.
• The purpose of the by-pass channel is to
Provide treatment in case of a mechanical failure.
• Screens are either front or back cleaned.
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BAR SCREENS

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BAR SCREENS

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SCREENING PROCESS

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VELOCITY

• The velocity of flow ahead of and through the screen varies

and affects its operation.
• The lower the velocity through the screen, the greater is the
amount of screenings that would be removed from sewage.
• However, the lower the velocity, the greater would be the
amount of solids deposited in the channel.

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COMMINUTOR
• Some times the sewage reaches the
comminutor, also known as the
grinding pump.
• In the comminutor, water is passed
through a rotating cutting screen.
• This cutting screen shreds any large
chunks of organic matter in the
wastewater into smaller pieces.  
• This makes it easier for the
microorganisms to use the organic
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matter as food.  
CLEANING DEVICE

• The screens require periodical cleaning which can be either

by hand rakes or mechanical operated racks.
• Usually cleaning carried at fixed regular interval.
• Brushes, scrapers, jet of air steam or water can also be used
for cleaning

DISPOSAL OF SCREENING

1. Burial
2. Disintegration
3. Incineration
4. Fertiliser 18
 PRIMARY
TREATMENT
GRIT CHAMBERS

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PURPOSE
• A grit chamber is a tank in which the velocity of flow of
sewage is reduced
• Sand being heavier than the organic matter, settles down on the
bottom
• The grit so collected is removed by manual labor or by
mechanical means such as scappers buckets etc.

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GRIT CHAMBER

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OBJECTS OF THE GRIT CHAMBER
1. Sewage contains organic and inorganic material
2. To remove grit sand and other inorganic impurities from
sewage.
3. Removal of grit avoid wear and tear of pumps
4. Velocity of flow in grit chambers is decreased to the extent
the heavy inorganic materials settle down at the bottom of
grit chambers and lighter material are carried forward for
further treatment

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LOCATION

• Grit chambers are placed after the pumping stations and before
the screens
• But no fixed rule regarding location
• Can be changed to suit local requirement

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TYPES OF GRIT CHAMBERS

The grit chambers may be classified as

1. Horizontal flow grit chambers
2. Vertical flow type grit chambers
3. Aerated grit chambers
4. Mechanically cleaned
5. Manually cleaned

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 HORIZONTAL FLOW TYPE
• Generally adopted and most popular.
• The sewage enters and leaves the chamber in horizontal
direction
• It may be direct flow in a straight line
• Or with right angle flow they are perpendicular to each other

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HORIZONTAL FLOW GRIT CHAMBER

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• LENGTH – 10 TO 18 M
• DEPTH OF LIQUID – 1 TO 1.3 M
• VELOCITY IS CONTROLLED BY MEANS OF VELOCITY CONTROL
DEVICE.

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VERTICAL FLOW TYPE
• The sewage is brought in the grit chamber through a vertical
pipe.
• It flows in upward direction and leaves the periphery of
chamber.
• This type is more suitable for large installations

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AERATED GRIT CHAMBERS

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AERATED GRIT CHAMBER

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DRAINED GRIT CHAMBER WITH
SEDIMENTS

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CLEANING DEVICES

• The girt accumulated at the bottom of the grit chamber is to

be periodically cleaned
• Manual cleaning
• Hydraulic cleaning
• Mechanical cleaning
• The moisture content of grit varies from 14 to 34 percent.
• Grit is sometimes washed after collection to reduce the
organic concentration which may be as much as 50 percent of
the total solids.
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DISPOSAL OF GRIT
• Necessary to make suitable arrangement for disposal of grit
obtained from grit chambers.
• Generally used to reclaim the low lying land.
• It can be mixed with pure soil to condition it.

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DETRITUS TANK
• PURPOSE
• The purpose of detritus tank same as the grit chamber
• Detritus tank may be considered as the grit chambers having
such velocity that an appreciable amount of organic matters
settles at its bottom together with grit.
• To remove finer particles than those removed by a girt
chamber.
• Detritus tanks are generally rectangular in shape.
• The side of the tank are vertical and they are tapered at the
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bottom so as to form a trough for the collection of detritus
 DESIGN
• The overall depth varies from 2.50 to 3.50m
• The tanks are designed for a detention period of about 3 to 4
minutes
• Designed to flow with smaller velocity and longer detention
period
• Designed to separate out not only larger grit but also very fine
suspended sand particles.

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inlet outlet

Trough for detritus collection

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SKIMMING

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SKIMMING TANK
• The main object of providing the skimming tank is to remove
grease and fats of the sewage.
• The floating substances are more prominent in the industrial
sewage or the waste water obtained from the kitchens of
restaurants, motor garages, oil refineries, soap and candle
factories etc.

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• This tank is in the form of long trough shape structure.
• Generally elliptical or circular and depth about one meter
• Tank surface is made as large as possible.
• And the sides narrow down at steep angle.
• Vertical baffle walls are provided in the tank

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• When compressed air is circulated, the oily matter rise upward
and are collected in the side through, from where they are
removed.
• The efficiency of skimming tank can be increased considerably
by passing chlorine gas along with compressed air.

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DESIGN

1. AIR DIFFUSERS
2. COLLECTION OF FLOATING SUBSTANCES
3. DETENTION PERIOD
4. OUTLET AND
5. SHAPE

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 SKIMMING TANK

OIL , GREASE etc

INLET
OUTLET
CHANNE
L

AIR DIFFUSERS

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DISPOSAL OF FLOATING
SUBSTANCES
• The grease, oil, etc obtained from the skimming tank should be
disposed off by suitable method
• Usual method adopted is burial in low lying area, burning or
digestion along with sludge

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SEDIMENTATION

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 PRIMARY SEDIMENTATION
PURPOSE
• Sedimentation is a treatment process in which the velocity of
the water is lowered below the suspension velocity and the
suspended particles settle out of the water due to gravity. 
• Sewage allowed to stand at rest
• The process of settling of suspended particles is known as
sedimentation.
• They are also known as the settling tank or clarifiers
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OBJECTS
Following are the objects of sedimentation
1. To remove suspended particles.
2. The process of sedimentation reduces the strength of sewage
to the extent of about 30-35%
3. The quantity of solids in the sewage is reduced to the extent
of about 80-90%
4. The sewage after being treated in the sedimentation tanks
becomes fit for further treatment process.

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cntd.

5. The material collected at the bottom (settled solids) are

removed as sludge, and floating solids are removed as scum.
6. The partially treated sewage is known as effluent.
7. The sludge and effluent both require further additional
treatment the to make them unobjectionable.

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Location in the treatment process

• The most common form of sedimentation follows coagulation

and flocculation and precedes filtration.
• The purpose of sedimentation here is to decrease the
concentration of suspended particles in the water, reducing the
load on the filters. 
• Sedimentation can also occur as part of the pretreatment
process, where it is known as pre-sedimentation . 

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• Pre-sedimentation can also be called plain sedimentation
• The process depends merely on gravity and includes no
coagulation and flocculation. 
• Plain sedimentation can remove only coarse suspended matter
(such as grit)  
• this type of sedimentation typically takes place in a reservoir,
grit basin, debris dam, or sand trap at the beginning of the
treatment process. 

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TYPES OF TANK

• The sedimentation tanks are classified in two ways

1. According to the nature of working and
1. Fill and draw type
2. Continuous flow type
2. According to location
1. Primary clarifiers
2. Secondary clarifiers

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RECTANGULAR BASINS

• Rectangular basins are commonly found in large- scale water

treatment plants.
• Rectangular tanks are popular as they tend to have:
• High tolerance to shock overload
• Predictable performance
• Cost effectiveness due to lower construction cost
• Lower maintenance
• Minimal short circuiting
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 CIRCULAR BASINS

• Circular basins are often referred to as clarifiers.

• These basins share some of the performance advantages of the
rectangular basins, but are generally more prone to short
circuiting and particle removal problems

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• Primary clarifiers
• Located after the grit chambers and they are thus provided to
threat raw sewage
• Secondary clarifiers
• Located after the units of the secondary treatment such as
filters or activated sludge process.
• They are provided to treat treated sewage to such a extent that
the effluent can be directly be discharged into natural waters
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• The efficiency or performance of the process is controlled by:
1. Detention time,
2. Temperature,
3. Tank design, and
4. Condition of the equipment.. 

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