1.

0 TITLE

Treatment of Water and Wastewater Using Chemical & Biological Process

2.0 OBJECTIVE

To treat municipal or industrial wastewater influent using chemical and biological

treatment.

3.0 INTRODUCTION

Sewage is the wastewater released by residences, businesses and industries in a

community. It is 99.94 percent water, with only 0.06 percent of the wastewater dissolved
and suspended solid material. The cloudiness of sewage is caused by suspended particles.
Table 1 show the discharge permits which were outlined by the Department of
Environment Malaysia (DOE).
Table 1 Discharge limit
Parameters Units Standards
A B
0
1 Temperature C < 40.0 < 40.0
2 pH pH 6.0 – 9.0 5.5 – 9.0
3 BOD5 at 20 oC mg/L < 20.0 < 50.0
4 COD mg/L < 50 < 100
5 Suspended Solids mg/L < 50 < 100
6 Mercury mg/L < 0.005 < 0.05
7 Cadmium mg/L < 0.01 < 0.02
8 Chromium, hexavalent mg/L < 0.05 < 0.05
9 Arsenic mg/L < 0.05 < 0.10
10 Cyanide mg/L < 0.05 < 0.10
11 Lead mg/L < 0.10 < 0.50
12 Chromium, trivalent mg/L < 0.20 < 1.00
13 Copper mg/L < 0.20 < 1.00
14 Manganese mg/L < 0.20 < 1.00
15 Nickel mg/L < 0.20 < 1.00
16 Tin mg/L < 0.20 < 1.00
17 Zinc mg/L < 2.00 < 2.00
18 Boron mg/L < 1.00 < 4.00
 19 Iron mg/L < 1.00 < 5.00
20 Phenol mg/L < 0.001 < 1.000
21 Chlorine, Free mg/L < 1.00 < 2.00
22 Sulphide mg/L < 0.50 < 0.50
23 Oil & Grease mg/L Not 10.0
Detectable

Standard A is an effluent that is going to be released on the upper stream of a

river, which will flow to a Drinking Water Treatment Plant. Standard B however is an
effluent that is going to be released on the downstream of a river, which is no Drinking
Treatment Plant available at the downstream of the river. Wastewater treatment is a
multi-stage process to renovate wastewater before it reenters a body of water, is applied
to the land or is reused. The goal is to reduce or remove organic matter, solids, nutrients,
disease-causing organisms and other pollutants from wastewater. Figure 1 shows the
process flow of a typical wastewater treatment plant.

Figure 1 Typical wastewater treatment plant

Preliminary Treatment

Preliminary treatment to screen out, grind up, or separate debris is the first step in
wastewater treatment. Sticks, rags, large food particles, sand, gravel, toys, etc., are
removed at this stage to protect the pumping and other equipment in the treatment plant.
Treatment equipment such as bar screens, comminutors (a large version of a garbage
disposal), and grit chambers are used as the wastewater first enters a treatment plant. The
collected debris is usually disposed of in a landfill.

Primary Treatment

Primary treatment is the second step in treatment and separates suspended solids and
greases from wastewater. Waste-water is held in a quiet tank for several hours allowing
the particles to settle to the bottom and the greases to float to the top. The solids drawn
off the bottom and skimmed off the top receive further treatment as sludge. The clarified
wastewater flows on to the next stage of wastewater treatment. Clarifiers and septic tanks
are usually used to provide primary treatment.

Secondary Treatment

Secondary treatment is a biological treatment process to remove dissolved organic matter

from wastewater. Sewage microorganisms are cultivated and added to the wastewater.
The microorganisms absorb organic matter from sewage as their food supply. Three
approaches are used to accomplish secondary treatment; fixed film, suspended film and
lagoon systems.

Final Treatment

Final treatment focuses on removal of disease-causing organisms from wastewater.

Treated wastewater can be disinfected by adding chlorine or by using ultraviolet light.
High levels of chlorine may be harmful to aquatic life in receiving streams. Treatment
systems often add a chlorine-neutralizing chemical to the treated wastewater before
stream discharge.

Advanced Treatment

Advanced treatment such as coagulation and coagulation is necessary in some treatment

systems to remove nutrients from wastewater. Chemicals are added during the treatment
process to help settle out or strip out phosphorus or nitrogen. Some examples of nutrient
removal systems include coagulant addition for phosphorus removal and air stripping for
ammonia removal.

Coagulation

Colloidal species encountered in raw water and wastewater include clay, silica, iron and
other heavy metals, color and organic solids such as the debris of dead organisms.
Colloids may also be produced in precipitation processes such as lime softening. Oil in
wastewater is frequently colloidal. Among the wide variety of colloidal materials in
water, there is a broad distribution of particle sizes. Colloids always require coagulation
to achieve an effective size and settling rate; but even larger particles, which are not truly
colloidal and would settle if given enough time; may require coagulation to form larger,
faster settling floc. When insufficient settling time is available in a treatment plant to
remove suspended solids, coagulation and flocculation may cause them to grow in size
and settle rapidly enough to overcome the physical limitation of the plant design.

Flocculation

The floc formed by the agglomeration of several colloids may not be large enough to
settle or dewater at the desired rate. A flocculant gather together floc particles in a net.,
bridging from one surface to another and binding the individual particles into large
agglomerates. Alum, iron salts and high molecular weight polymers are common
flocculants. Flocculation is promoted by slow mixing, which brings the flocs gently
together; too high of mixing velocity could tears them apart, and they seldom re-form to
their optimum size and strength. Flocculation not only increases the size of floc particles,
but it also affects the physical nature of the floc. Sludge and slurries, when flocculated,
dewater at faster rates on sand beds and in mechanical dewatering equipment because of
the less gelatinous structure of the floc.

Sludge

Sludge is generated through the sewage treatment process. Primary sludge, material that
settles out during primary treatment, often have a strong odor and require treatment prior
to disposal. Secondary sludge are the extra microorganisms from the biological treatment
processes. The goals of sludge treatment are to stabilize the sludge and reduce odors,
remove some of the water and reduce volume, decompose some of the organic matter and
reduce volume, kill disease causing organisms and disinfect the sludge.
Untreated sludge are about 97 percent water. Settling the sludge and decanting off
the separated liquid removes some of the water and reduces the sludge volume. Settling
can result in sludge with about 96 to 92 percent water. More water can be removed from
sludge by using sand drying beds, vacuum filters, filter presses, and centrifuges resulting
in sludge with between 80 to 50 percent water. This dried sludge is called a sludge cake.
Aerobic and anaerobic digestions are used to decompose organic matter to reduce
volume. Digestion also stabilizes the sludge to reduce odors. Caustic chemicals can be
added to sludge or it may be heat treated to kill disease-causing organisms. Following
treatment, liquid and cake sludge are usually spread on fields, returning organic matter
and nutrients to the soil.
Wastewater treatment processes require careful management to ensure the
protection of the water body that receives the discharge. Trained and certified treatment
plant operator’s measure and monitor the incoming sewage, the treatment process and the
final effluent.

4.0 MATERIALS & METHODOLOGY

FKKSA`s wastewater treatment pilot plant, 250 Liter of wastewater, caustic soda
(sodium hydroxide), liquid alum (aluminum sulphate), urea filter aid (diammonium
phophate), seed bacteria (bio powder B350) & liquid polymer.

1. Before starting the experiment, please make sure the following:

i. Bulky box tank is filled with raw water samples. This has to be done
manually.
ii. Availability of power supply to panel. Please on power supply to the plant
located at the back of the plant.
iii. Switch on the computer.
iv. Availability of compressed air & chilled water. Please open main valves for
both water & compressed air.
2. To fill wastewater at Batch Treatment Tank, open valvesV1, V2 & V4 and close valves
V3 & VA. Start the portable transfer pump, P1 to fill the tank at 250 L marked on the
tank. Stop the pump. Start the mechanical agitator, M1 and control the speed using the
inverter located inside the Aquatrend Panel.

3. Start chemical dosing pump, DP1, DP2 & DP3 (Coagulant, Caustic and Flocculants).
Firstly, add caustic soda until pH become 8.5. Then, add coagulant until pH around 7.
Finally, add flocculant until bigger floc appears. Mix for 5 minutes. The speed and stroke
length of pump can be controlled using the dosing pump in Liter/hour. To determine the
amount of chemicals need to be dosed; jar test procedure for the raw samples must be
conducted in Lab using the Jar Testing Apparatus. With right amount of chemicals dosed,
a good floc will form and settle down quickly. pH will be monitored during this process
using analyzer that is logged to a PC. Clear water will be transferred to a Filter Bag.

4. Open valves VB & VC and close valve VA. Start batch treatment transfer pump, TP1.
The filter bag will remove remains suspended solids that is still not settle in the Batch
Treatment Tank before it flows into the aeration tank. The transfer pump will stop
automatically when the water level in batch treatment tank is low, which is detected by a
level sensor.
5. On the Aeration Tank, open valve VE to blow the wastewater by using compressed air.
Dissolved oxygen should be more than 3 ppm. Start chemical dosing pump, D4 (Filter
aid). Filter aid provides nutrient to bacteria. Control the speed and stroke length of pump
using the dosing pump controller. Put 200 g of Bacteria Bio Powder 350 into the aeration
tank . This is to stimulate bacteria growth for biological treatment. Full bacteria growth
may take several days. Observe the process to obtain optimum biological growth on the
aeration tank. After that, close valve VE and wait for sludge produced by the biological
process to settle. pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity is monitored during this process
using analyzers that is logged to a PC.

6. Open valves VD, VF, & VG and close valves VA and VH. Turn valve V1 to “filter”
position. Start Aeration transfer pump, TP2, to transfer the wastewater into the second
Filter Bag and then into the Carbon Filter and finally collected at the Treated Wastewater
Storage Tank. The transfer pump will be stopped automatically when the water level in
aeration tank is low. Carbon filter is to remove Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and
odor of the treated wastewater.

7. For backwash procedures of the Carbon Filter, turn valve V1 to “Backwash” position.
Open valves VH & VJ and close valve VG. Start backwash pump, TP3. Turn valve V1 to
“Rinse” position to rinse carbon inside the carbon filter. The backwash pump will stop
automatically when the water level in treated wastewater storage tank is low, which is
detected by level sensor. Turn back valve V1 to “Filter” position and close valve VH and
open valve VG to return the system back in service.

Housekeeping after Experiment

 1. Rinse all system with Tap Water. Use hose to fill in tanks and rinse the system
thoroughly.
2. For MF/UF & NF/RO Membranes, use alkaline solution such as caustic soda to
rinse the membrane system for at least 5 minutes. Then, rinse back the membrane
system with tap water.
3. For tanks that attached with on-line analyzers, fill tanks with tap water until it
immerse the analyzer’s probe.
4. Off main power supply located at the back of the pilot plant and also main valve
for compressed air.

5.0 RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

Parameter Value

Analyze the treated wastewater for BOD, COD and other parameters that were outlined
by the DOE. Download data that was analyzed from the PC. You discussion may include
the following questions:
1. What is the purpose of adding caustic soda into the Batch Treatment Tank in the
Chemical & Biological Treatment Unit?
2. What is the name of processes occurred in the Batch Treatment Tank after adding
caustic soda, alum & polymer?
3. What is the purpose of aeration inside the Aeration Tank?
4. Why level sensors are used on the system?
5. What is the function of diammonium phosphate in Chemical & Biological
Treatment Unit?
6. Compare and explain your results with EQA Standard.
6.0 REFERENCES
Ed. David, H. F. Lin & Bela G. Liptak “Environmental Engineering Handbook”, 1999.

Frank N. Kemmer “The Nalco Water Handbook”, 2nd Edition, 1988.

Laws of Malaysia “Environmental Quality Act & Regulation”, MDC Publication, 2003.