Wastewater treatment

Sudha Goel, Ph.D.

Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur

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 Conventional municipal wastewater treatment
Sewage

Screening Biogas

Wastewater Primary Sludge

Sedimentation

Aerobic treatment Anaerobic digestion

Activated Sludge process (ASP)
Trickling filters, etc.
Liquid Dewatering of
sludge
Secondary Sludge
Clarification Solids
Landfill/
Discharge incineration
 Wastewater parameters of importance and their
average values in untreated domestic wastewater

BOD5 = 100 to 300 mg/L

COD = 250 1000 mg/L

Solids:

Total solids = TSS + TDS

Suspended solids (TSS) = 100 to 350 mg/L

Total dissolved solids (TDS) = 200 to 1000 mg/L

TKN: all nitrogen species = 20 to 80 mg/L

Total phosphorus = 5 to 20 mg/L

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 Standards for wastewater discharges, India (CPCB)
S. No. Parameter Inland surface water Public Land for Marine/coastalareas
sewers irrigation
. 2 3 . .
. . (a) (b) (c) (d)
1 Colour and odour See 6 of Annexure-1I See 6 of See 6 of Annexure-1I
Annexure-1I
2 Suspended solids mg/l, max. 100 600 200 (a) For process waste water
(b) For cooling water effluent 10 per
cent above total suspended matter
of influent.
3 Particle size of suspended shall pass 850 micron - - (a) Floatable solids, solidsmax. 3
solids IS Sieve mm
(b) Settleable solids, max 856
microns
4 pH value 5.5 to 9.0 5.5 to 9.0 5.5 to 9.0 5.5 to 9.0
5 Temperature Shall not exceed 5oC Shall not exceed 5oCabove the
above the receiving receiving water temperature
water temperature
6 Oil and grease, mg/l max, 10 20 10 20
7 Total residual chlorine, mg/l 1 - - 1
max
8 Ammonical nitrogen (as 50 50 - 50
N),mg/l, max.
9 Total kjeldahl nitrogen (as 100 - - 100
N);mg/l, max. mg/l, max.
10 Free ammonia (as NH3), 5 - - 5
mg/l,max.
11 Biochemical oxygen demand 30 350 100 100
(3 days at 27oC), mg/l, max.

12 Chemical oxygen demand, 250 - - 250

mg/l, max.
 Wastewater (WW) treatment

Primary treatment: removal of objectionable solids (physical
processes)

Screening: parallel bars with spacing of 2 to 7 cm

Wire mesh screens after that with smaller openings

Comminuters for grinding of coarse materials are also used

Ground material contributes to BOD and COD of WW

Grit chamber

Detention time of a few minutes

Long channel to allow heavy particles like sand, and grit to settle

Primary settling

Detention times of 2 to 3 hours

Removal of 50 to 65% suspended solids; 25 to 40% of BOD

Tanks are either round or rectangular

Sludge has to be removed for further processing (see flowchart)

Detention time, and overflow rate key design parameters
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 Wastewater treatment

Secondary: removal of BOD (biological processes)

Activated sludge process: Aeration and secondary settling
(most common)

Other options:

Trickling filters

Rotating biological contactors

Oxidation ponds

Sludge management

Thickening

Anaerobic digester

Sludge dewatering

Disposal

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 Wastewater treatment

Tertiary: removal of nutrients like N and P

Objective is to prevent eutrophication

Biological or chemical processes can be used

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Screening

Vertical

Inclined
 Wastewater treatment: ASP
Suspended growth, mixed flow reactor for BOD removal

Activated sludge process (ASP)

Aeration tank to maximize DO levels in water and for biological growth

Detention time = 6 to 8 hours of mixing

Settling tank or clarifier for solids (biological particles) to settle

Recycling of solids from clarifier to aeration tank to ensure a constant
bacterial population

Remaining solids are taken for sludge handling and disposal

Most popular for domestic wastewater treatment

Advantages

Dilution of wastewater; can withstand toxic shock, or shock loads and
flow fluctuations

Disadvantages

Requires large land area

High energy requirements for aeration

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 CSTR

Activated sludge process

Aerobic oxidation of organics
End products: carbon dioxide, water and biomass
Aeration basin: air or oxygen is provided and biomass increases
Clarifier: settling of biomass by natural flocculation
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Brock 5ed
 Surface aeration (wastewater)

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http://www.wastewater-treatment-plants.com/surface-aerators.html
 Floating aerators (wastewater)

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http://www.wastewater-treatment-plants.com/surface-aerators.html
 Diffused aeration (wastewater)

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http://www.wastewater-treatment-plants.com/surface-aerators.html
 Wastewater treatment: trickling filters
Attached growth, plug flow reactor for BOD removal

Bed media: ordinary rocks or plastic; bed diameter: as large as 60 m

Bed depths: with rocks it is restricted to 3 m, with plastic it can be much
higher (biological towers)

Distributor arms sprinkle wastewater evenly at the top

Void spaces are large and allow air to circulate freely through the media

Biological growth includes bacteria, algae, fungi, protozoa, worms, insect
larvae

Recycling of treated wastewater (effluent) enables higher efficiency, prevents
slime from drying out

Advantages

Removal efficiency is higher than in ASP (suspended growth processes)

Less land area requirement than ASP

Problems

Washing out in monsoons and drying out in summer

Extreme sensitivity to fluctuations in quantity and quality of influent

Cannot withstand toxic or shock loads

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 Trickling Filters

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http://www.brentwood-ind.com/water/tricklingfilters.html
 Wastewater treatment: rotating
biological contactor (RBC)

Attached growth, mixed flow reactor for BOD removal

Series of closely spaced, circular disks mounted on a shaft

Diameter = 3.6 m, slime buildup on disk surface

Bottom 40% of disk area is submerged in wastewater

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 Wastewater treatment: rotating biological
contactor (RBC)

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Wikipedia, 2008
 Sludge treatment and disposal

Collection: about 2% of the volume of wastewater is sludge

Sludge has about 1 to 5% solids, remaining is water

Sludge management is a major issue in wastewater

treatment plants

40-60% of construction costs

50% of the operating costs

Most of the operational problems

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 Wastewater treatment: sludge handling

Processing: anaerobic digestion

Objective is reduction in sludge (solids) volume

Slower than aerobic digestion, less sludge generation

Detention time of 10 to 15 days

Production of carbon dioxide and methane gases

Complex 3-step process

Hydrolysis: conversion of complex polymers to monomers; both
extracellular and intracellular processes

Acidogenesis: conversion of monomers to organic acids like acetate,
propionate, butyrate

Faster rate than methane formers (or methanogens)

Methanogenesis: fermentation of organic acids to H2, CO2, and CH4

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 Anaerobic biodegradation
Complex polymers
(polysaccharides, lipids and proteins)

1. Hydrolysis by extracellular
microbial enzymes
Monomers
(sugars, fatty acids and amino acids)
2. Acidogenesis
Acetogenesis
Acetate H2 + CO2
3. Methanogenesis

CH4 + CO2

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 Wastewater treatment: sludge handling

Disposal

Dewatering and drying of remaining sludge solids

Drying beds

Vacuum filters

Filter presses

Centrifuges

Incinerators

Disposal of solids in landfills

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Practice problems wastewater treatment

A circular clarifier is to be designed, i.e.,
determine diameter of tank, for a flow rate of 1
MLD. Assume depth of tank is 3 m and surface
overflow rate is 20 m/d. Ans: radius= 4 m,
detention time = 3.6 h

A sedimentation tank has an overflow rate of 80
m3/m2-d. what fraction of particles with
velocity of 0.02 m/min will be removed in this
tank? Ans = 36%