Waste water Treatment Technologies

Physical, chemical, and biological methods are used to remove contaminants from

wastewater. In order to achieve different levels of contaminant removal, individual waste water

treatment procedures are combined with variety of systems. More rigorous treatment of waste-

water includes the removal of specific contaminants as well as the removal and control of nutrients.

1. Terrestrial Treatment Technologies

Terrestrial treatment systems include slow-rate overland flow, slow-rate subsurface

infiltration, and rapid infiltration methods. In addition to wastewater treatment and low

maintenance costs, these systems may yield additional benefits by providing water for

groundwater recharge, reforestation, agriculture, and/or livestock pasturage. They depend

upon physical, chemical, and biological reactions on and within the soil. Slow-rate

overland flow systems require vegetation, both to take up nutrients and other contaminants

and to slow the passage of the effluent across the land surface to ensure maximum contact

times between the effluents and the plants/soils. Slow-rate subsurface infiltration systems

and rapid infiltration systems are "zero discharge" systems that rarely discharge effluents

directly to streams or other surface waters. Each system has different constraints regarding

soil permeability. Although slow-rate overland flow systems are the costliest of the natural

systems to implement, their advantage is their positive impact on sustainable development

practices. In addition to treating wastewater, they provide an economic return from the

reuse of water and nutrients to produce marketable crops or other agriculture products

and/or water and fodder for livestock. The water may also be used to support reforestation

projects in water-poor areas. In slow-rate systems, either primary or secondary wastewater

is applied at a controlled rate, either by sprinklers or by flooding of furrows, to a vegetated

 land surface of moderate to low permeability. The wastewater is treated as it passes through

the soil by filtration, adsorption, ion exchange, precipitation, microbial action, and plant

uptake. Vegetation is a critical component of the process and serves to extract nutrients,

reduce erosion, and maintain soil permeability.

Overland flow systems are a land application treatment method in which treated

effluents are eventually discharged to surface water. The main benefits of these systems

are their low maintenance and low technical manpower requirements. Wastewater is

applied intermittently across the tops of terraces constructed on soils of very low

permeability and allowed to sheet-flow across the vegetated surface to the runoff collection

channel. Treatment, including nitrogen removal, is achieved primarily through

sedimentation, filtration, and biochemical activity as the wastewater flows across the

vegetated surface of the terraced slope. Loading rates and application cycles are designed

to maintain active microorganism growth in the soil. The rate and length of application are

controlled to minimize the occurrence of severe anaerobic conditions, and a rest period

between applications is needed.

2. Sequencing Batch Reactor

Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBR) are special forms of activated sludge treatment

in which all of the treatment process takes place in the reactor tank and clarifiers are not

required. This process treats the waste water in batch mode and each batch is sequenced

through a series of treatment stages.

 STEPS DESCRIPTION

Waste water fills the tank, mixing with biomass

that settle during the previous cycle.

Air is added to the tank to aid biological growth

and facilitate subsequent waste reduction

Mixing and Aeration stops during this stage to

allow solids settle to the bottom of the tank

Clarified effluent is discharged.

If necessary, sludge removal occurs during this

stage

Table 1: Typical SBR Process

(http://www.mae.gov.nl.ca/waterres/training/aww/08_susheel_sequencing_batch_

reactors_in_wastewater_treatment.pdf)

SBR reactors treat waste water such as sewage or output from anaerobic digesters

or mechanical biological treatment facilities in batches. Oxygen is bubbled through the

waste water to reduce biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand

(COD) to make suitable for discharge into sewers or for use on land. While there are several

configurations of SBRs the basic process is similar. The installation consists of at least two

identically equipped tanks with a common inlet, which can be switched between them. The

tanks have a “flow through” system, with raw wastewater (influent) coming in at one end

and treated water (effluent) flowing out the other. While one tank is in settle/decant mode
 the other is aerating and filling. At the inlet is a section of the tank known as the bio-

selector. This consists of a series of walls or baffles which direct the flow either from side

to side of the tank or under and over consecutive baffles. This helps to mix the incoming

influent and the returned activated sludge, beginning the biological digestion process

before the liquor enters the main part of the tank.

3. Adsorption/ Bio-oxidation Process

The adsorption process uses forces of molecular attraction to bind soluble and

gaseous chemicals to a surface. The process retains and accumulates toxic chemicals

present in wastes, yet does not chemically alter them. Carbon used for adsorption is usually

treated (activated) to make it very porous. Activated carbon has a large surface area that

can adsorb relatively large quantities of material per unit weight of carbon. It is “spent”

when it has adsorbed so much contaminant that its adsorptive capacity is severely depleted.

Activated carbon filters are widely used to produce drinking water at household

and community level (to remove certain organics, chlorine or radon from drinking water)

and to treat industrial or municipal wastewaters. It is not efficient for disinfection and

nitrates removal. Adsorption on activated carbon is a simple technology based on materials

such as fossil fuels and even agricultural waste.

4. Membrane Bioreactor Technology

Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) can be broadly defined as systems integrating

biological degradation of waste products with membrane filtration. They have proven quite

effective in removing organic and inorganic contaminants as well as biological entities

from wastewater. Advantages of the MBR include good control of biological activity, high
 quality effluent free of bacteria and pathogens, smaller plant size, and higher organic

loading rates. MBRs also can be achieve effective removal of nitrate, herbicides, pesticides,

and endocrine disrupting compounds.

The principle of this process is that instead of separation, the sludge and water

settles. The MBR method uses the membrane which is more efficient and less dependent

on oxygen concentration of the water. It eliminates process difficulties and problems

associated with settling, which is usually the most troublesome part of wastewater

treatment. The potential for operating the MBR at very high sludge ages without having

the obstacle of settling, allows high biomass concentrations in the bioreactor.

Consequently, higher strength wastewater can be treated and lower biomass yields are

realized (Muller et al., 1995).

Figure 1: Flowchart of Membrane Bioreactor (Cicek,2002)

5. Electrolysis

Electrolysis is an electrochemical wastewater treatment technology that is currently

experiencing both increased popularity and significant technical improvement. It is a

complex process involving many chemical and physical phenomenon that use consumable
 electrodes to supply ions into the wastewater. In the process, the coagulant is generated in

situ by electrolytic oxidation of Fe and Al electrode as an anode material which produces

ions continuously in the system. The released ions neutralize the charges of the particles

and thereby initiate coagulation. These ions may remove the undesirable contaminants

(metal hydroxide and metal phosphate flocs generated within the effluent) either by

chemical reaction and precipitation or by causing the colloidal materials to coalesce and

are then removed by EF, (Chopra et. al,2011).

The main processes occurring during electrolysis are electrolytic reactions at the

surface of electrodes, formation of coagulants in aqueous phase, adsorption of soluble or

colloidal pollutants on coagulants, and removal by sedimentation and floatation. The main

reactions at the electrodes are as follows,

Al  Al 3  3e  (at anode)
3H 2 O  3e   3
2 H 2  3OH  (at cathode)

The destabilized particles then aggregate to form flocs. In the meantime, tiny

hydrogen bubbles produced at the cathode induce the floatation of most flocs, helping to

effectively separate particles from wastewater. In addition, the cathode may be chemically

attacked by OH− ions generated together with H2 at high pH values.

6. Constructed Treatment Wetlands

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are engineered systems that have been designed and

constructed to utilize the natural processes involving wetland vegetation, soils, and the

associated microbial assemblages to assist in treating wastewaters. They are designed to

take advantage of many of the same processes that occur in natural wetlands, but do so

within a more controlled environment. Constructed treatment wetlands is a reliable

treatment technology which can be applied to all types of wastewater including sewage,

industrial and agricultural wastewaters, landfill leachate and stormwater runoff. All types

of constructed wetlands are very effective in removing organics and suspended solids,

whereas removal of nitrogen is lower but could be enhanced by using a combination of

various types of CWs. Removal of phosphorus is usually low unless special media with

high sorption capacity are used. Constructed wetlands require very low or zero energy input

and, therefore, the operation and maintenance costs are much lower compared to

conventional treatment systems.

Figure2: The Major Characteristics of various types of Constructed Wetlands for

wastewater treatment, H = horizontal, V = vertical.