Water Purification

Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it more acceptable
for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow
maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, including being safely returned to the
environment.

Processes: There are different treatments for purification which are as follow:

1-Primary treatment:
During primary treatment, wastewater is temporarily held in a settling tank where heavier solids
sink to the bottom while lighter solids float to the surface. Once settled, these materials are held
back while the remaining liquid is discharged or moved through to the more rigorous secondary
phase of wastewater treatment. These large tanks are also often equipped with mechanical
scrapers that continually drive collected sludge in the base of the tank to a hopper which pumps
it to sludge treatment facilities.

Figure 1- System for primary treatment

The sewer system also carry a proportion of industrial effluent to the sewage treatment plant
which has usually received pre-treatment at the factories themselves to reduce the pollutant
load.
The first part of filtration of sewage typically includes a bar screen to filter solids and large objects
which are then collected in dumpsters and disposed of in landfills. Fat and grease is also removed
before the primary treatment of sewage.

2-Secondary treatment:
Secondary treatment of wastewater works on a deeper level than primary and is designed to
substantially degrade the biological content of the waste through aerobic biological processes. It
is done in one of three ways:

Biofiltration: Biofiltration uses sand filters, contact filters or trickling filters to ensure that any
additional sediment is removed from the wastewater.

Aeration: Aeration is a lengthy process which increases oxygen saturation by introducing air to
wastewater. Typically, the aeration process can last for up to 30 hours, but it is very effective.

Oxidation ponds: Typically used in warmer climates, this method utilizes natural bodies of
water such as lagoons, allowing wastewater to pass through for a set period before being
retained for two to three weeks. Complete secondary wastewater treatment allows for safer
release into the local environment, reducing common biodegradable contaminants down to safe
levels.
Biological nutrient removal (BNR) is regarded by some as a type of secondary treatment process,
and by others as a tertiary (or "advanced") treatment process.
Odors emitted by sewage treatment are typically an indication of an anaerobic or "septic"
condition. Early stages of processing will tend to produce foul-smelling gases, with hydrogen
sulfide being most common in generating complaints.

3-Advanced treatment:
Advanced Water Purification produces high-quality drinking water using the most advanced
treatment processes available. Though technologies can vary, many systems use water
purification that includes three processes: microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet
light/advanced oxidation, which are as follow:

1. Microfiltration: The recycled water first goes through microfiltration, an initial filtration
process where water is pumped through tubes filled with tiny membranes. Each membrane is
made up of hollow fibers, perforated with holes 1/300th the width of a human hair! Solids,
bacteria, protozoa, and some viruses are removed from the water as it is drawn through the
tubes.

2. Reverse Osmosis: The water then goes through reverse osmosis where it is forced under
high pressure through membranes with holes so small that a water molecule is almost the only
substance that can pass through. As a result, constituents such as salts, viruses, and most
contaminants of emerging concern (e.g. pharmaceuticals, personal care products and pesticides)
cannot pass through the membranes and are left behind. This is the same process that is used by
some bottled water companies, baby food manufacturers and for kidney dialysis.

3. Ultraviolet Light: Ultraviolet Light (UV) with advanced oxidation is a further safety process
where extremely concentrated light, similar to the sun rays, kills any organisms that may remain
after reverse osmosis. UV combined with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)), similar to strong bleach, is
an effective disinfection/advanced oxidation process that keeps trace organic compounds from
reaching drinking water supplies. Biological nutrient removal

4-Removal of Nitrogen and Phosphorous:

Wastewater may contain high levels of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus. Excessive release
to the environment can lead to a buildup of nutrients, called eutrophication, which can in turn
encourage the overgrowth of weeds, algae, and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). This may cause
an algal bloom, a rapid growth in the population of algae. The algae numbers are unsustainable
and eventually most of them die. The decomposition of the algae by bacteria uses up so much of
the oxygen in the water that most or all of the animals die, which creates more organic matter
for the bacteria to decompose. In addition to causing deoxygenation, some algal species produce
toxins that contaminate drinking water supplies. Different treatment processes are required to
remove nitrogen and phosphorus.

Nitrogen removal: Nitrogen is removed through the biological oxidation of nitrogen from
ammonia to nitrate (nitrification), followed by denitrification, the reduction of nitrate to nitrogen
gas. Nitrogen gas is released to the atmosphere and thus removed from the water.
Nitrification itself is a two-step aerobic process, each step facilitated by a different type of
bacteria. The oxidation of ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2−) is most often facilitated by
Nitrosomonas spp. ("nitroso" referring to the formation of a nitroso functional group). Nitrite
oxidation to nitrate (NO3−), though traditionally believed to be facilitated by Nitrobacter spp.
(nitro referring the formation of a nitro functional group), is now known to be facilitated in the
environment almost exclusively by Nitrospira spp.
Denitrification requires anoxic conditions to encourage the appropriate biological communities
to form. It is facilitated by a wide diversity of bacteria. Sand filters, lagooning and reed beds can
all be used to reduce nitrogen, but the activated sludge process (if designed well) can do the job
the most easily. Since denitrification is the reduction of nitrate to dinitrogen (molecular nitrogen)
gas, an electron donor is needed. This can be, depending on the waste water, organic matter
(from feces), sulfide, or an added donor like methanol. The sludge in the anoxic tanks
(denitrification tanks) must be mixed well (mixture of recirculated mixed liquor, return activated
sludge [RAS], and raw influent) e.g. by using submersible mixers in order to achieve the desired
denitrification. Sometimes the conversion of toxic ammonia to nitrate alone is referred to as
tertiary treatment.
Over time, different treatment configurations have evolved as denitrification has become more
sophisticated. An initial scheme, the Ludzack–Ettinger Process, placed an anoxic treatment zone
before the aeration tank and clarifier, using the return activated sludge (RAS) from the clarifier
as a nitrate source. Influent wastewater serves as the electron source for the facultative bacteria
to metabolize carbon, using the inorganic nitrate as a source of oxygen instead of dissolved
molecular oxygen. This denitrification scheme was naturally limited to the amount of soluble
nitrate present in the RAS. Nitrate reduction was limited because RAS rate is limited by the
performance of the clarifier.

Phosphorus removal:
Every adult human excretes between 200 and 1,000 grams of phosphorus annually.
Phosphorus can be removed biologically in a process called enhanced biological phosphorus
removal. In this process, specific bacteria, called polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs),
are selectively enriched and accumulate large quantities of phosphorus within their cells (up to
20 percent of their mass). When the biomass enriched in these bacteria is separated from the
treated water, these biosolids have a high fertilizer value.
Phosphorus removal can also be achieved by chemical precipitation, usually with salts of iron
(e.g. ferric chloride), aluminum (e.g. alum), or lime. This may lead to excessive sludge production
as hydroxides precipitate and the added chemicals can be expensive. Chemical phosphorus
removal requires significantly smaller equipment footprint than biological removal, is easier to
operate and is often more reliable than biological phosphorus removal. Another method for
phosphorus removal is to use granular laterite. Some systems use both biological phosphorus
removal and chemical phosphorus removal. The chemical phosphorus removal in those systems
may be used as a backup system, for use when the biological phosphorus removal is not removing
enough phosphorus, or may be used continuously. In either case, using both biological and
chemical phosphorus removal has the advantage of not increasing sludge production as much as
chemical phosphorus removal on its own. Once removed, phosphorus, in the form of a
phosphate-rich sewage sludge, may be dumped in a landfill or used as fertilizer. In the latter case,
the treated sewage sludge is also sometimes referred to as biosolids.
 Figure 4- System for N and P removal

5-Organic waste treatment:

Principle of the biodegradation:
Biodegradation is a process using microorganisms, fungi, green plants and their enzymes to
remove the pollutants from natural environment or transform them harmless. Biodegradation
could happen in nature world and is used in wastewater treatment in recent years since
humanity strives to find sustainable ways to clean up contaminated water economically and
safely.

Biodegradation of organic compounds:

Chemical, physical and biological methods have been used to remove the organic compounds
from the wastewater, and biological method has been paid much attention owing to its economic
and ecologic superiority. The biodegradation rate and biodegradation degree of the organic
substance partly depended on the characters of the substance. Some of the organic pollutants
like organic matters, organophosphorus pesticide, which have relativity high water solubility and
low acute toxicity, are bioavailable and easy to be degraded [7]. However, for some POPs and
xenobiotic organic pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic compounds, pharmaceutical substances, which possess a
higher bioaccumulation, biomagnification and biotoxicity properties, are reluctant to
biodegradation in the nature condition. Organic material can be degraded aerobically with
oxygen, or anaerobically, without oxygen [8].

Aerobic biodegradation:
The principle of the aerobic biodegradation is as follow: oxygen is needed by degradable
organisms in their degradation at two metabolic sites, at the initial attack of the substrate and at
the end of respiratory chain [9]. Bacteria and fungi could produce oxygenases and peroxidases
they could help with the pollutant oxidization and get benefits from observing the energy, carbon
and nutrient elements released during this process. A huge number of bacterial and fungal
general possess the capability to release non-special oxidase and degrade organic pollutants.
There are generally two types of relationships between the microorganism and organic
pollutants: one is that the microorganisms use organic pollutant as sole source of carbon and
energy; the other is that the microorganisms use a growth substrate as carbon and energy source,
while another organic compound in the organic substrate which could not provide carbon and
energy resource is also degraded.

Activated sludge reactor:

Activated sludge is a process for treating sewage and industrial wastewaters using air and a
biological floc composed of bacteria and protozoans. This technique was invented by Ardern and
Lockett at the beginning of last century and was considered as a wastewater treatment technique
for larger cities as it required a more sophisticated mode of operation.

The scheme of the activated sludge reactor:

This process introduced air or oxygen into a mixture of primary treated or screened wastewater
combined with organisms to develop a biological floc which reduces the organic content of the
sewage, which is largely composed of microorganisms such as saprotrophic bacteria,
nitrobacteria and denitrifying bacteria. With this biological floc, we could degrade the organic
pollutant and bio-transform the ammonia in wastewater. Generally speaking, the process
contained two steps: adsorption followed by biological oxidation.
The technique could effectively remove the organic matters, nitrogeneous matters, phosphate
in the wastewater, when there is enough oxygen and hydraulic retention time. However, the
contaminated water is always short of oxygen, which could cause sludge bulking, a great problem
decrease the water quality of the effluent. The oxygen concentration could be increased by
including aeration devices in the system, but research need to be done to find out the optimal
value since aeration would cause an increase of the costs of the wastewater treatment plants.
Researches are also required to deal with the excess activated sludge, the by-product of this
process, with a relatively low cost.

Membrane bioreactor:
Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is the combination of a membrane process like microfiltration or
ultrafiltration with a suspended growth bioreactor, and is now widely used for municipal and
industrial wastewater treatment.
The Principle of this technique is nearly the same as activated sludge process, except that
instead of separation the water and sludge through settlement, the MBR method uses the
membrane which is more efficient and less dependent on oxygen concentration of the water.
The MBR has a higher organic pollutant and ammonia removal efficiency in comparison with
the activated sludge process. Besides, the MBR processes is capable to treat waste water with
higher mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentrations compared to activated sludge
process, thus reducing the reactor volume to achieve the same loading rate.

The scheme of the MBR reactor: However, membrane fouling greatly affects the
performance of this technique, since fouling leads to significantly increase trans-membrane
pressure, which increased the hydraulic resistance time as well as the energy requirement of
this reactor. Alternatively frequent membrane cleaning and replacement is therefore necessary,
but it significantly increases the operating cost.

Figure 5- Organic waste treatment