Water and waste water treatment.

Water quality testing

The amount of organic mater of waste determine its quality. Which could be measured by three tests: TOC (total organic carbon) BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) COD (chemical oxygen demand). Microbial content also play important role.

BOD5 is the measure of oxygen consumed in dark at 20 c over a period of 5 days

Aliquot of w w is placed in 300 ml BOD bottle and diluted in phosphate buffer-7.2. containing other in organic elements (N, Ca, Mg, Fe) and saturated with oxygen. (Some times some microbial cultures are added). A nitrification inhibitor is added to determine only carbonaceous BOD. The amount of dissolved 02 is measured by means of oxygen electrode, chemical procedure (Winkler test), or manometric BOD apparatus. Then by the formula the amount of BOD is calculated.

BOD (Mg/l)

D1 D5

BOD (mg/l)

= ----------------------------

where,

p
D= DO, p= decimal volumetric fraction of w w utilized

BOD (mg/l)

(D1 D2 ) ( B1 - B2) f ---------------------------- --------------, where

B= DO of seed control , f = ratio of seed in sample to seed in control (% seed in D to %seed in B)

Because of depletion of carbon source the carbonaceous BOD reaches a plateau, called the ultimate carbonaceous BOD. why to use : to determine the amt of oxygen required for bio treatment of organic matter, to determine the size of waste treatment facility,
to assess the efficiency of treatment process, to determine compliance with w w discharge permits.

COD is the amount of oxygen necessary to oxidize all of

organic carbon to CO2 and H2O

It is measured by potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) in the presence of sulfuric acid and silver and is expressed in mg/l. In general 1gm of carbohydrate or 1gm of protein is equivalent to 1gm of COD. The ratio of BOD/COD is approximately 0.5 . When it falls below 0.3 it means the sample contains a large amount of organic compounds and are not easily biodegraded.

 TOC is determined by oxidation of organic matter with heat and oxygen

Followed by measurement of the CO2 liberated with an infra red analyzer. Both TOC and COD represent the concentration of both biodegradable and nonbiodegradable organics in water.

Microbial load
No. of indicator organisms.( E. coli , S. faecalis) No. of organisms excreted. ( rotavirus in stool) Seasonal incidences.( enterovirus infection in summer, rota virus in early winter, Cryptosporidium infection peak in early spring) Giardia can survive in winter temperature. Cryptosporidium excreted by animal reservoir as excretion differences. Some infections are more common in children. In lower socioeconomic groups, where lower standards of sanitary conditions prevail.

Water treatment processes termed as treatment process train

For surface water supplies, it is termed as conventional treatment. It include disinfection, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration,and disinfection.

Coagulation:
involves addition of chemicals to facilitate the removal of dissolved and suspended solids by sedimentation and filtration. Coagulating agents; alum [Al2(SO4)3-14H2O], ferric sulphate [Fe2(SO4)3] and ferric chloride (FeCl3). Some additional chemicals may be added to enhance coagulation, called polyelectrolytes. which include polyacrylamide, dimethyldiallylammonium chloride, polyamines, and starch. These chemicals are added before or after flocculation. They may form alluminium hydroxide or ferric hydroxide floc on which the organic molecules absorbe.

Flocculation : Purely physical process. In which treated water is greatly stirred to increase interparticle collision, thus promoting the formation of large particles. After which most of the aggregates settle during the 1 to 2 hours of sedimentation. Microorganisms are entrapped or adsorbed to the suspended particles and removed during sedimentation.

Sedimentation: and Filtration

Purely physical process. It involves the gravitational settling of suspended particles that are danser than water. The resulting effluent is then subjected to rapid filtration to separate out solids that are still suspended in the water. Rapid filters consist of 50-70 cm of sand and / or anthracite of 0.51.0 mm diameter. Water is filtered at the rate of 4-24/min/dmcube. Filters need to be backwashed on regular basis to remove the build up of suspended matter. (used in US) Slow sand filter : (in UK and Europe) ; slow filtration without use of coagulation. It contains a layer of sand (60-120cm deep) supported by gravel layer (30-50cm deep) the hydraulic loading rate is between 0.04 and 0.4 m/hr. The buildup of a biologically active layer, called schmutzdecke occur, requiring removal or scraping the top layer of sand.

 All the above process help to remove large particles, turbidity and enhance disinfection efficiency. The particles may harbor microorganisms. Filtration removes the protozoan like Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium. The cysts and oocysts of these organisms are resistant to disinfectants. Removal of bacteria and viruses depends on their attachment to particles, which is dependent on their surface charge. This is also related to the isoelectric point (at which pH virus has no charge). Then disinfection remains the ultimate barrier to these microorganisms.

Disinfection
Disinfection is accomplished by the addition of an oxidant. Chlorine is the most common one. Chloramines, chlorine dioxide and ozone are the other oxidants, which can be used for the purpose.

Typical composition of untreated domestic waste water

concentration (mg/i)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

contaminants Solids, total Dissolved, total volatile Suspended solids volatile Settleable solids BOD TOC COD Nitrogen (total as N) organic free ammonia nitrates, nitrites Phospharous (total as P) Organic Inorganic

low 350 250 105 100 80 5 110 80 250 20 8 12 0 4 1 3

moderate 720 5oo 200 220 165 10 220 160 500 40 15 25 0 8 3 5

high 1200 850 325 350 275 20 400 290 1000 85 35 50 0 15 5 10

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Municipal Waste water treatment

Primary treatment: physically separates large solids. As raw sewage enters the plant, it passes through a metal grating that removes large debris like branches tires and like. Moving screen then filters out smaller items such as diapers and bottles, after which a brief residence in a grit tank allow sand and gravel to settle out. The waste stream is then pumped in to the primary settling tank. Here about half the suspended solids settle to the bottom as sludge or biosolid. The resulting sludge is referred to as primary sludge.

Secondary treatment The effluent from primary treatment may be pumped in to a trickling filter, an aeration tank or a sewage lagoon. Trickling filter: a bed of stone or a corrugated plastic sheets through which water drips. The effluent is pumped through a system over head sprayer on to this bed, where bacteria and other microorganisms reside. The microorganisms intercept the organic material as it trickles past and decompose it aerobically. Stones, ceramic material, hard coal, or plastic media like polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene are commonly used. Because of their light weight of plastic they can be stacked in tower 6 to 10 m high referred to as biotowers. The biofilm formed is termed as zooleal film. It leads to limited oxygen diffusion, creating an anaerobic environment. By trickling filters approximately 85% of BOD could be removed. Removal of enteric mo is low, filtration rate affect the virus removal rate.

Activated sludge.
Aeration tank digestion, also known as activated sludge process. Effluent from primary treatment is pumped in to a tank with bacteria rich slurry known as activated sludge. Air or pure oxygen pumped through the mixture promotes bacterial growth and decomposition of organic material. Then it goes to a secondary settling tank, where water is removed from the top of the tank and sludge is removed from bottom. Some of the sludge is used as an inoculum for the incoming primary effluent (activated sludge). The remainder of the sludge, known as secondary sludge is removed. The concentration of pathogen is reduced in activated sludge process by antagonistic microorganism as well as adsorption to or incorporation in to the secondary sludge.

 Important features of activated sludge process is the recycling of a large proportion of the biomass. This results in a large number of microorganism that oxidize organic matter in a relatively short time. The detention time for sewage in the aeration basin varies from 4 to 8 hours. The content of the aeration tank is referred to as mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS). The organic part of the MLSS is called the mixed liquor volatile suspended solid (MLVSS). It includes the nonmicrobial organic matter as well as dead and living microorganism and cell debris. The activated sludge process must be controlled to maintain a proper ratio of food-to-microorganism (F/M ). This is expressed as BOD per day. It is expressed as, Q * BOD where Q= flow rate of sewage F/M = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- , in million gallons per day MLSS * V BOD = 5 day BOD (mg/ml) MLSS = is mixed liquor suspended solids V = volume of aeration tank (gallons).

 F/M ratio is controlled by the rate of activated sludge wasting. Wastage or secondary sludge is the sludge that is not returned as activated sludge. The higher the wasting rate, the higher the F/M ratio. For conventional aeration tanks, F/ M ratio is, 0.2 -0.5 lb BOD5/day/lb MLSS, but it can be higher (up to 1.5) for activated sludge when high-purity of oxygen is used. Low F/M ratio means mo in the aeration tank are starved, leading to more efficient w w treatment. the operation of activated sludge process is controlled by parameters like, organic loading rate, O2 supply, and control and operation of the final settling tank.( include clarification and thickening). For routine operation, sludge settleability is determined by the use of sludge volume index (SVI ), after 30 minutes. V * 1000 where V = volume of

SVI = ------------------------ settled sludge after

MLSS 30 minutes ( ml/l).

The microbial biomass must settle properly from suspension so that it may be wasted or returned to aeration tank. Good settling occurs when the sludge mo are in the endogenous phase. This is possible when the carbon and energy source is limited, and microbial specific growth rate is local. A mean cell residence time of 3-4 days for effective settling. Poor settling occurs by sudden change in temperature, pH, absence of nutrient, and presence of toxic metals and organics. A common problem in activated sludge process is filamentous bulking, which consists of slow settling and poor compaction of solids in the clarifier. A high SVI (>150 mg/g) indicates bulking conditions. Filamentous mo occurs in low dissolved oxygen, low F/M, low nutrient, and high sulfide level. They can be controlled by treating the return sludge with chlorine or hydrogen peroxide which kill filamentous mo.

Nitrogen removal by activated sludge process

For nitrogen removal activated sludge process can be modified to encourage nitrification followed by denitrification. The establishment of nitrifying mo depends on BOD, MLSS, and retention time. The growth rate of nitrifying bacteria must be higher than the heterotrophs. Nitrification (ammonia to nitrate) can occur with sludge retention time above 4 days. To encourage denitrification three processes. Single sludge system: in this system a series of aerobic and anaerobic tank in lieu of a single aeration tank. Methanol or settled sewage serves as source of carbon for denitrifiers. Multisludge system: carbonaceous oxidation, nitrification, and denitrification are carreid out in three separate system. Methanol or settled sewage serves as source of carbon for denitrifiers.

 Bardenpho process: the process consist of two aerobic and two anoxic tanks followed by a sludge settling tank. Tank 1 is anoxic and is used for denitrification, with waste water used as a carbon source. Tank 2 is an aerobic tank utilized for both carbonaceous oxidation and nitrification. The mixed liquor from this tank is, which contains nitrate, is returned to tank 1. The anoxic tank 3 removes nitrate remaining in the effluent by denitrification. Finally tank 4 is an aerobic tank used to strip the nitrogen gas that results from denitrification, thus improving mixed liquor settling.

Phosphorous removal by activated sludge process

A/O (aerobic / oxid) process consists of a modified activated sludge system that includes an anaerobic zone ( detention time 0.5-1 hour) upstream of conventional aeration tank (detention time 1-3 hours). Under anaerobic conditions, microbes release stored phosphorous to generate energy. The energy liberated is used for the uptake of BOD from w w. Removal efficiency is high when the BOD /phosphorous ratio exceeds 10. when aerobic conditions are restored, mo exhibits phosphorous uptake level above those normally required to support the cell maintainance, synthesis, and transport reactions required for BOD oxidation. Excess phosphorous is stored as polyphosphates within the cell. The sludge containing the excess phosphorous is then wasted. Bardenpho process: also removes nitrogen as well as phosphorous by a nitrification denitrification process.