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Biological agents:
o Presence of pathogens like Vibrio cholerae due to fecal matter contamination
o Vector mediated: mosquitoes, flies, rats etc. population increases with the
accumulation of organic waste materials
Chemical pollutants:
o These are mostly xenobiotics, don’t degrade over time - recalcitrant, keep on
accumulating as it goes up through the food chain – biomagnification
DDT accumulation in body fat, accumulation in sea-birds beyond toxic
level resulted in fragile eggs
o Biotransformation may convert relatively non-toxic form into a toxic form
o Types:
Heavy metals
Halogenated organic compounds
Oils and hydrocarbons from crude oils
Cyanides etc.
o Aquatic animal toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, persistence of
these harmful chemicals are of major concerns
Physical pollutants:
o Smoak, radiation, smog, dust, abnormal humidity and temperature, sound
pollution etc.
Use of cleaner technologies and using biotechnology to minimize the existing
hazards is required
Waste treatments
Solid waste
o Biodegradable
Incineration
Anaerobic digestion
Landfill Method
o Area selected far away from locality
o Suitable pits are dug
o Waste is sorted, may undergo mechanical
pulverization or incineration as pretreatment process
o Waste undergone pretreatment filled in man-made pit
o Two methods
Cell emplacement method
2.5 deep cell dug
Garbage can be filled in single or
multilayered. Each day’s waste
compacted and covered with soil. For
multilayered disposal the final soil layer
should be 60-90cm deep
Trench method
Long trenches are dug
Garbage filled
Covered with soil
Only 20% of the dug soil is used to cover the
garbage, remaining soil will have to be
transferred in some place else otherwise
ground level will be raised
o Methane leak, potential fire hazard, foul odour, can be
used to collect biogas
o The toxic chemicals released may not favour with the
growth of plants in land-fill sites
o Non-biodegradable
recycling
Liquid waste
o Eutrophication: increased microbial/mainly algal growth in lakes due to
presence of higher concentration of inorganic nutrients washed into it due
to the excessive use of fertilizers
Choke the river, presence of chemicals may increase the
temperature, too much microbial growth depletes dioxygen
concentration to toxic level for natural flora and fauna leading to
more pollution
o Waste water treatment:
Pretreatment:
It is a screening step for floating particles and heavy solids
Grits and heavy solids allowed to settle down
Floating solids removed by screening
Separated solids may undergo grinding before their disposal
Necessary for
o Preventing the clogging of pipeline
o Damage to pump
Primary treatment:
Settling tanks used – radial, vertical and horizontal flow type
15-45 minutes residence time using reduced water flow
Chemical coagulant may be added
70% settling of suspended solids
BOD drops by 40%
The effluent after primary treatment is called settled sewage
Secondary treatment:
Digestion of the organic matter present in settled sewage
using aerobic or anaerobic process
Aerobic process
o Fixed film reactors
Trickling filter digestors
Settled sewage trickles down the filter
Rectangular filter, 3-meter-deep, made
up of crushed rock, ceramic bricks etc.
microorganisms are present in a biofilm
(Aggregate of microorganisms in which
cells that are frequently embedded
within a self-produced matrix of
extracellular polymeric substances)
Biofilms produced on the surface of the
crushed rocks
With time biofilm thickens and then
peeled off and removed from the filter
along with treated sewage
Treated sewage taken to
sedimentation tank – biofilm and other
solid particles settle down – settled
solids are called humus sludge
Rotating biological contactors
Set of discs positioned vertically to the
direction of water flow, discs are partially
submerged
As water flows, the discs rotate
Biofilm on the surface of the discs.
Microbes present on the biofilm come in
contact with both contaminated water
and air as the disc rotates
o Dispersed growth digesters
Microbes distributed throughout the sewage
being treated
Large scale oxidation
Waste water flows in, treated water moves to
large ponds – water flow is very slow, most
organic matter settle down along with microbial
flocs – activated sludge
One part returned to the digester vessel to
maintain the microbial population
Anaerobic process
o Treatment of sewage
Carried out in septic tanks
Modern digesters have to chambers, in the
man chamber actual digestion takes place, in
the second chamber sedimentation of the
treated organic matter takes place
Efficiency increased by
By using solid support to retain the
biomass
Recycling the biomass
o Treatment of sludge
Sludge can be obtained from primary or
secondary treatments including activated
sludge
Treatment of these sludge is necessary to
reduce toxicity before dumping them in a
landfill to minimize hazard
Two component system
Digester tank
o Sludge fed here, temp
maintained at 35-40 C
o Organic matter anaerobically
digested
Storage tank
o Digested organic matter
compacted
Gaseous waste
o Biofilters
Solid support system
Peat used a solid support layer, gas passed through it.
Microbes present on the surface of the solid filter degrade
the pollutants present in the gas
Two phase system
Solid and gas phase separated by a membrane
Degrading microbes are present on the liquid side of the
membrane
Gaseous pollutants enter the liquid through the membrane
and broken down during the entry by the microbes
Degraded components are stored in the liquid component of
the filter