Water Treatment

Reflections
What are the two broad tasks of
environmental engineers?
What is the connection between the broad
tasks of environmental engineers and
building a water treatment plant?
Why may the water need to be
changed/treated?

Simple Sorting
Goal: clean water
Source: (contaminated) surface water
Solution: separate contaminants from water
How?

Where are we going?

Unit processes* designed to
remove ___________
particles
remove __________
___________
dissolved chemicals
inactivate __________
pathogens
*Unit process: a process that is used in similar
ways in many different applications
sedimentation
filtration
...

Unit Processes Designed to

Remove Particulate Matter
Screening
Sedimentation
Coagulation/flocculation
Filtration
slow sand filters
rapid sand filters
diatomaceous earth filters
membrane filters

Conventional Surface Water

Treatment
Raw water

Alum
Polymers

Filtration

Screening

sludge
Coagulation

sludge
Cl2

Disinfection

Flocculation

Storage

Sedimentation

Distribution

sludge

Screening
Removes large solids
logs
branches
rags
fish

Simple process
may incorporate a mechanized trash
removal system

Protects pumps and pipes in WTP

Sedimentation
the oldest form of water treatment
uses gravity to separate particles from water
often follows coagulation and flocculation
occurs in
reservoirs
__________

Sedimentation: Effect of the

particle concentration
Dilute suspensions
Particles act independently

Concentrated suspensions
Particle-particle interactions are significant
Particles may collide and stick together
(form flocs)
Particle flocs may settle more quickly
Particle-particle forces may prevent further
consolidation

How fast do particles fall in

dilute suspensions?
What are the important
parameters?
Initial conditions
After falling for some time...

What are the important

forces?
_________
Gravity
Fluid drag
__________

Horizontal velocity
Q = flow rate

A = WH
Vertical velocity
Vt

d 2 g p w
18

Inlet
zone

Vh

Vh

Sludge out

Vt

Outlet
zone

Sedimentation Basin:
Critical Path
H

Sludge zone

(property of the particle)

Vc terminal velocity that just barely gets captured (property of the tank)

Sedimentation Basin:
Importance of Tank Surface Area
Time in tank

W
H HQ
Q
Q
Vc = =
=
=
q
"
LW As

residence time
WHL volume of tank
A s top surface area of tank
Vh

Vc

L
Want a _____
small Vc, ______
large As, _______
small H, _______
large .
Suppose water were flowing up through a sedimentation tank. What Q
would be the velocity of a particle that is just barely removed? Vc =
As

Conventional Sedimentation Basin

What is Vc for this sedimentation tank?
Outlet
zone

Settling zone
Inlet
zone

long rectangular
basins
4-6 hour
retention time
3-4 m deep
max of 12 m
wide
max of 48 m
long

Sludge zone

Sludge out

H 3 m 24 hr
Vc
18 m / day
4 hr day

We cant do this in our laboratory scale plants!

Outlet
zone

Inlet
zone

Design Criteria for

Sedimentation Tanks

Settling zone

Sludge zone

_______________________________
Minimal turbulence (inlet baffles)
_______________________________
Uniform velocity (small dimensions normal to velocity)
_______________________________
No scour of settled particles
_______________________________
Slow moving particle collection system
_______________________________
Q/As must be small (to capture small particles)
This will be one of the ways you can improve the
performance of your water treatment plant.

Lamella
Sedimentation tanks are
commonly divided into
layers of shallow tanks
(lamella)
The flow rate can be
increased while still
obtaining excellent
particle removal
Lamella decrease distance particle
has to fall in order to be removed

Lamella

Design needs improvement! Need method to transport

particles to bottom of tank.

Particle/particle interactions
Electrostatic repulsion
In most surface waters, colloidal surfaces are
negatively charged
stable suspension
like charges repel __________________

van der Waals force

an attractive force
decays more rapidly with distance than the electrostatic
force
is a stronger force at very close distances

Coagulation
Coagulation is a physical-chemical process
whereby particles are destabilized
Several mechanisms
adsorption of cations onto negatively charged
particles
decrease the thickness of the layer of counter
ions
sweep coagulation
interparticle bridging

Coagulation Chemistry
The standard coagulant for water supply is
Alum [Al2(SO4)3*14.3H2O]
Typically 5 mg/L to 50 mg/L alum is used
The chemistry is complex with many
possible species formed such as AlOH +2,
Al(OH)2+, and Al7(OH)17+4
The primary reaction produces Al(OH) 3
Al2(SO4)3 + 6H2O2Al(OH)3 + 6H+ + 3SO4-2
pH = -log[H+]

Coagulation Chemistry
Aluminum hydroxide [Al(OH)3] forms
amorphous, gelatinous flocs that are heavier
than water
The flocs look like snow in water
These flocs entrap particles as the flocs
settle (sweep coagulation)

Coagulant introduction with

rapid mixing
The coagulant must be mixed with the water
Retention times in the mixing zone are typically
between 1 and 10 seconds
Types of rapid mix units
pumps
hydraulic jumps
flow-through basins with many baffles
In-line blenders
In-line static mixers

Flocculation
Coagulation has destabilized the particles
by reducing the energy barrier
Now we want to get the particles to collide
We need relative motion between particles
________
Brownian motion
________ (effective for particles
smaller than 1 m)
_________
Differential _____________
sedimentation (big particles hit
smaller particles)
_______
Shear

Mechanical Flocculation
Shear provided by turbulence
created by gentle stirring
Turbulence also keeps large flocs
from settling so they can grow
even larger!
Retention time of 10 - 30 minutes
Advantage is that amount of
shear can be varied independent
of flow rate
Disadvantage is the tanks are far
from plug flow

Hydraulic Flocculators
Types
Horizontal baffle
Vertical baffle
Pipe flow

Questions for design

How long must the suspension be in the reactor
How should the geometry of the reactor be
determined?

Collision Time

tcollision

particles

G C particles

A measure of how long the particles must

be in the velocity gradient to double in size
A series of collisions must occur for
particles to grow large enough to be easily
removed by sedimentation

du

dy

Shear

The tangential force experienced by a fluid

in a velocity gradient is proportional to the
viscosity of the fluid
G

Shear
N
m 2

Fluid
viscosity

Velocity
gradient

N s
m 2

1
s

Reaction time is more complex

Aluminum hydroxide polymers significantly
increase the number of particles and the
probability of collision (and hence decrease tcollision)
So for now we have to go with some empirical
guidelines
G should be at least 20,000 where is the
hydraulic residence time in the flocculation reactor

Reactor volume
Flow rate

Coagulation/Flocculation
Inject Coagulant in rapid mixer
Water flows from rapid mix unit into
flocculation reactor
Water flows from flocculation reactor into
sedimentation tank
make sure flocs dont break!
flocs settle and are removed

Jar Test
Mimics the rapid mix, flocculation,
sedimentation treatment steps in a beaker
Allows operator to test the effect of
different coagulant dosages or of different
coagulants
Low tech water bottle test

Unit Processes in Conventional

Surface Water Treatment
Weve covered
Sedimentation
Coagulation/flocculation

Coming up!
Filtration
Disinfection
Removal of Dissolved Substances

Conventional Surface Water

Treatment
Raw water

Alum
Polymers

Filtration

Screening

sludge
Coagulation

sludge
Cl2

Disinfection

Flocculation

Storage

Sedimentation

Distribution

sludge

Filtration
Slow sand filters
Diatomaceous earth filters
Membrane filters
Rapid sand filters (Conventional Treatment)

Slow Sand Filtration

First filters to be used on a widespread basis
Fine sand with an effective size of 0.2 mm
Low flow rates (10 - 40 cm/hr)
Schmutzdecke (_____
filter cake
____) forms on top
of the filter
causes high head loss
must be removed periodically

Used without coagulation/flocculation!

Diatomaceous Earth Filters

Diatomaceous earth (DE) is made of the silica
skeletons of diatoms
DE is added to water and then fed to a special
microscreen
The DE already on the microscreen strains particles
and DE from the water
The continuous DE feed prevents the gradually
thickening DE cake from developing excessive head
loss
Was seriously considered for Croton Filtration Plant

Membrane Filters
Much like the membrane filters used to
enumerate coliforms
much greater surface area

Produce very high quality water (excellent

particle removal)
Clog rapidly if the influent water is not of
sufficiently high quality
More expensive than sand and DE filters

Rapid Sand Filter

(Conventional US Treatment)

Size
(mm)

Anthracite
Influent

Drain
Effluent

Sand
Gravel

0.70

Specific Depth
Gravity (cm)
1.6

30

0.45 - 0.55 2.65

45

2.65

45

5 - 60

Wash water

Particle Removal Mechanisms in

Filters
Transport
Molecular diffusion
Inertia
Gravity
Interception

Attachment
Straining
Surface forces

Filter Design
Filter media
silica sand and anthracite coal
non-uniform media will stratify with _______
smaller particles
at the top

Flow rates
2.5 - 10 m/hr

Backwash rates
set to obtain a bed porosity of 0.65 to 0.70
typically 50 m/hr

Backwash

Anthracite
Influent

Drain
Effluent

Sand

Wash water is
treated water!
WHY?
Only clean water
should ever be on
bottom of filter!

Gravel
Wash water

Ways to Improve Filtration

Filter to waste
Extended Terminal Sub-fluidization Wash
Alum feed directly to filter?
Potato starch?

Disinfection
Disinfection: operations aimed at killing or
inactivating pathogenic microorganisms
____________
Ideal disinfectant
_______________
Toxic to pathogens
Not toxic to humans
_______________
Fast rate of kill
_______________
Residual protection
_______________
Economical
_______________

Disinfection Options
Chlorine
chlorine gas Poisonous gas risk of a leak
sodium hypochlorite (bleach)

Ozone
Irradiation with Ultraviolet light
Sonification
Electric Current
Gamma-ray irradiation

Chlorine
Typical dosage (1-5 mg/L)
variable, based on the chlorine demand
goal of 0.2 mg/L residual

Chlorine
oxidizes organic
matter

Trihalomethanes (EPA primary standard is 0.08

mg/L)

Pathogen/carcinogen tradeoff

Chlorine Reactions
Charges

+1 -2 +1

-1

Cl2 + H2O H+ + HOCl + ClHypochlorous acid HOCl H+ + OCl- Hypochlorite ion

The sum of HOCl and OCl- is called the ____
free chlorine
residual
______
_______
HOCl is the more effective disinfectant
Therefore chlorine disinfection is more
effective at ________
low pH
HOCl and OCl- are in equilibrium at pH 7.5

EPA Pathogen Inactivation

Requirements
Safe Drinking Water Act

SDWA requires 99.9% inactivation for

Giardia and 99.99% inactivation of viruses
Giardia is more difficult to kill with
chlorine than viruses and thus Giardia
inactivation determines the CT
Concentration x Time
Enumerating Giardia is difficult, time-consuming and costly.
How would you ensure that water treatment plants meet this
criteria?
Where are Giardia removed/inactivated?

EPA Credits for Giardia

Inactivation
Treatment type
Credit
Conventional Filtration
99.7%
Direct Filtration*
99%
Disinfection
f(time, conc., pH, Temp.)

* No sedimentation tanks

Giardia is a microscopic parasite that causes

the diarrheal illness known as giardiasis.

Disinfection CT Credits

To get credit for 99.9% inactivation of Giardia:

Contact time (min)

chlorine
pH 6.5
pH 7.5
(mg/L) 2C
10C
2C 10C
0.5
300
178
430
254
1
159
94
228
134
Inactivation is a function of _______,
time
____________
concentration
pH
temperature
______,
and ___________.

Ozone
O3 is chemically unstable
Must be produced on site
More expensive than chlorine (2 - 3 times)
Typical dosages range from 1 to 5 mg/L
Often followed by chlorination so that the
residual
chlorine can provide a protective _______

Removal of Dissolved
Substances (1)
Aeration (before filtration)
oxidizes iron or manganese in groundwater
oxidized forms are less soluble and thus
precipitate out of solution
removes hydrogen sulfide (H2S)

Softening (before filtration)

used to remove Ca+2 and Mg+2
usually not necessary with surface waters

Removal of Dissolved
Substances (2)
Activated Carbon (between filtration and disinfection)
extremely adsorbent
used to remove organic contaminants
spent activated carbon can be regenerated with superheated
steam

Reverse Osmosis
semi-permeable membrane allows water molecules to pass,
but not the larger ions and molecules
primarily used for desalination
also removes organic materials, bacteria, viruses, and
protozoa

Conventional Surface Water

Treatment
Raw water

Alum
Polymers

Filtration

Screening

sludge
Coagulation

sludge
Cl2

Disinfection

Flocculation

Storage

Sedimentation

Distribution

sludge

Diatomaceous Earth
Clay

DE