Topic 6 – Water Treatment

Chapter 4

Spring 2012
 Water Treatment
 It is a combination of
different technological
means
 Aims to achieve certain
water quality goal
 Physical
 Chemical
 Microbiological
 Individual processes
can help achieve
multiple objectives
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Water Quality Goals
 Physical
 Turbidity, color, taste
and odor
 Chemical
 Excessive mineral
content, heavy metals,
organic chemicals
 Microbiological
 Viruses, bacteria and
protozoa
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 Treatment Processes
 Ground water  Surface water
 Filtration/Adsorption  Settling basin
 Settling basin  Coagulation/flocculation
 Disinfection  Filtration
 Disinfection

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Water Treatment
 Coagulation - Flocculation

 This two-step process removes turbidity, color and

bacteria
 Turns small particles into larger flocs
 The larger flocs precipitate and are then filtered
away
 First step – coagulation: destabilization of the
repulsive forces
 Second step – flocculation: increase in floc size

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 Coagulation Process
 Coagulants reduce repulsive forces and increase the
ability of the particles to stick to one another
 Need
 Chemical that will destabilize the repulsive force
 Particles to come close to each other and collide – rapid
mixing

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 Coagulants Used
 Key properties of coagulants
 Trivalent cation

 Nontoxic

 Insoluble in the neutral pH range

 Example. Alum – Al2(SO4)3. 14 H2O, Ferric chloride or

sulphate
 May need pH adjusters – to increase alkalinity – such as lime
[CaO] or sodium carbonate [Na2CO3]

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 Jar Tests

 Jar test apparatus is used

evaluate the performance
of coagulation-flocculation
 Need to determine optimal
coagulant concentration
and pH
 Optimum pH range for
alum is 5.5-6.5

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 Example 4-10
 Two sets of jar tests were conducted on a raw water
containing 15 TU and an HCO3- alkalinity concentration of
50 mg/L expressed as CaCO3. Given the data below, find the
optimal pH, coagulant dose, and the theoretical amount of
alkalinity that would be consumed at the optimal dose.

1 2 3 4 5 6
pH 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5
Alum dose (mg/L) 10 10 10 10 10 10
Settled turbidity (TU) 11 7 5.5 5.7 8 13

pH 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Alum dose (mg/L) 5 7 10 12 15 20
Settled turbidity (TU) 14 9.5 5 4.5 6 13
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Fig 4-13: Results from jar test
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 Flocculation Process

 Slow mixing process that allows the growth of

particles destabilized by coagulation
 Mixing speed described in terms of velocity
gradient (G) and mixing time (θ)

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 Mixing During Coagulation and Flocculation

 Mixing is done through creating hydrodynamic

turbulence in water
 Electric motor is used to rotate the mixer in water
 Inline mixer can also be used for mixing coagulant
and any other chemicals
 Rapid mixing is needed for coagulation to mix the
chemicals to create destabilization
 Slow mixing is needed for flocculation to force the
particles to collide each other and create flocs

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Paddle Mixers Flocculators
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 Types of Mixers

Static Mixer

Radial flow turbine Axial flow turbine

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 Softening – the Removal of Hardness

 Hardness removal is carried out by precipitating

primarily Ca [as CaCO3] and Mg [as Mg(OH)2]
 To precipitate Ca we need to raise pH to 10.3
 To precipitate Mg we need to raise pH to 11.0
 If there are not enough HCO3- (all hardness in
noncarbonate form) to precipitate Ca, we need to
add CO32- to the water

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 Chemicals Used for Softening

 Calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime, Ca(OH)2) – to

raise pH
 Calcium oxide (lime, CaO) – to raise pH (cheaper
than calcium hydroxide
 Sodium carbonate (soda ash or soda, Na2CO3) – to
provide the carbonate required to remove non
carbonate hardness

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 Softening Reactions
 Zero hardness not
practically
achievable
 Minm Ca – 30mg/L
as CaCO3
 Minm Mg – 10mg/L
as CaCO3
 Add extra Ca(OH)2
– 20 mg/L as
CaCO3
 Practically remove
Mg in excess of 40
mg/L as CaCO3

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 Flow Diagram for Solving Softening Problems

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 Example 4-13
 Determine the amount of lime and soda (mg/L as CaCO3)
necessary to soften the water to 80 mg/L hardness as
CaCO3
 Ca2+: 95.20 mg/L
 Mg2+: 13.44 mg/L
 Na+: 25.76 mg/L
 CO2: 19.36 mg/L
 HCO3-: 241.46 mg/L
 SO42-: 53.77 mg/L
 Cl-: 67.81 mg/L

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 Mixing and Flocculation Design

 Design of mixing basin

 Volume
 Shape and depth
 Design of impeller diameter
 Design of rotational rate of the impeller
 All of these applies for both coagulation (mixing)
and flocculation

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Mixing
Rapid Mixing Mixing for Flocculation
 The purpose is to mix  The purpose is to promote
coagulant chemicals to collision of particles
water  Rotation is needed for this
 Rapid collision
 High rotation  Too much rotation can

 High energy process break the flocs apart

 Mixing energy gradually
decreases in each step

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 Mixing Components’ Design

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 Tank and Impeller Geometries for Mixing

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 Quantifying Mixing

 Velocity gradient, G, is a measure for the degree of

mixing
 It is the amount of shear taking place
 Total number of particle collisions proportional to G-q
(detention time)
P
G

G  velocity gradient , [ s 1 ]
P  input power, [W ]
  volume of water in mixing tan k , [m3 ]
  fluid vis cos ity, [ Pa  s or N  s / m 2 ]
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 Mixing Energies

 Rapid mix: two types of coagulation action

 Adsorption-destabilization: very fast (1 sec)
 G:3000 to 5000 s-1 recommended
 Sweep coagulation (1-7 sec)
 G: 600 to 1000 s-1 recommended
 Flocculation: determines particle removal efficiency
 Approximately 20 mins
 G: 20-80 s-1 recommended

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 G-θ Values for Flocculation

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 Example 4-20 - Question
 One rapid mix basin
 Two flocculator train
 Three basin in equal volume

 The required water depth in all basin is 4.0 m

 Determine
 Correct basin volumes

 Basin dimensions

 Tank equivalent diameter

 Required input power

 Impeller diameter from table below

 Rotational speed

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 Example 4-20 – Parameters for Design
 Q=11.5x103 m3/d = 8.0 m3/min
 Rapid mix q = 2 min
 Rapid mix G = 600 s-1
 Total flocculation q = 30 min
 Flocculators G = 70, 50, 30 s-1
 Water temperature = 50C
 Place impeller at one-third the water depth
Impeller Impeller Diameters Power number
type (m) (Np)
Radial 0.8 1.1 1.4 5.7

Axial 0.8 1.4 2.0 0.31

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 Upflow Solids-Contact Tank

 Advantages:
 Saves space and cost due
to bundling up three
different processes
 Limitations:
 Performance not
consistent with variable
water quality
 Particle settling velocity
should be bigger than fluid
velocity

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 Sedimentation

 Purpose is to let particles settle

and be removed
 Can be rectangular or circular
 Four zones – inlet, settling, outlet
and sludge storage
 Proper inlet zone design is most
important for removal efficiency
 Depth of sludge storage a
function of the method and
frequency of cleaning and the
amount of sludge production

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 Sedimentation Tank

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 Overflow Rate

 Overflow rate, v0: velocity of tank operation

Q
vo 
As

vs = terminal settling
velocity
vl= velocity of the
liquid

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 Typical Overflow Rates

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 Settling Velocity

 Settling velocity is related to particle characteristics

 Particle sizes
 The particles that hit the bottom is considered to be
removed
 Particle settling velocities need to be higher than
overflow rate to be removed during the
sedimentation

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 Horizontal Sedimentation Tank

 Assumptions
 Particles and velocity vectors are
evenly distributed in the tank
 Liquid moves as an ideal slug down
the length of the tank
 Any particle hitting the bottom is
removed
vs
 vs = Q/As Removal efficiency , P  100
vo

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 Types of Settling/Sedimentation

 Type I sedimentation or terminal settling

velocity
 Particles settle discretely at a constant
velocity
 Type II sedimentation
 Particle size is constantly changing
 Laboratory tests are used to generate data for
design
 Type III or Zone sedimentation
 At high concentration, particles tends to settle
as a mass
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 Filtration

 Rationale
 Still have suspended
and colloidal particles
 Purpose
 Remove particles to
achieve 0.3 TU
 The process is particle
straining and impaction
 Different types of
media and loading rates
are used
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Rapid sand filter with exposed under drain block.
Wash water troughs run from left into gullet on right.
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 Filter Properties
Filter media
 Monomedia filters
 Sand only is the most
common
 Disadvantage of reduced
filter bed utilization
 Dual media filters
 By adding media with a
different density and/or
particle size, greater
utilization is possible
 Multi-media filters
 Sand, anthracite, plastics,
etc.
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Filter type: Loading rate
 Slow sand filter
 Straining is predominant
 Scraping and replacement
of sand is difficult
 Large space requirement
(2.9-7.6 m3/d.m2)
 Rapid sand filter
 Impaction is the main
mechanism
 Typical loading rate-
120m3/d.m2
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 Filter Backwash and Fluidization

 Sand pores begin to clog

 Increase in head loss
 Turbidity removal decreases
 Water pumped upward through media
 Particles collide
 Adhering colloids/particles fall off
 Clean sand re-settles into the filter
 Regular backwashing is required for effective filter
performance

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 Biofiltration

 It is mostly used for wastewater treatment system-

occasionally used for drinking water treatment
 Groundwater wells
 It uses the microorganisms to treat water
 It works on iron, manganese, color, turbidity and
many other contaminants
 www.watertiger.net/mainstream/mainstream.htm

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 Membrane Filtration

 A thin layer of material to

filter and separate
particles
 Water flows through to
generate separate streams
 Concentrate
 Permeate
 It can work as a separate
treatment option

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 Membranes

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 Reverse Osmosis

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 Desalination

 It refers to processes that remove excess salt and

other mineral
 It is used as a stand alone water treatment plant for
many parts of the world
 The world’s largest desalination plant is the Jabel
Ali Desalination Plant (Phase 2)
 Large scale desalination plant typically uses
extremely large amounts of energy and expensive
infrastructure
 Middle eastern countries adopted desalination as a

mean
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to treat water Water Treatment 47
Desalination

 Advantages
 Make use of available resources
 One step process to treat water
 Abundant supply from the sources
 Disadvantages
 Energy intensive and costly
 Problems evolve from intakes
 Effect on marine aquatic habitat

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 Disinfection
 Purpose  Chemical disinfectants
 Inactivate often react with organic
microorganism matter present in the water
 Chemical  Form byproducts

 Chlorine  Most common byproducts

 Ozone are formed with chlorine
 Chloramines  Trihalomethanes and

 Chlorine dioxide haloacetic acids

 Physical  Many of these byproducts
 Ozone are harmful to living
organism
 UV

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 Quantifying Disinfection

 Disinfection removal efficiency (DRE) of “4 nines

of removal” meaning 99.99% removal
 Log-Removal (LR) Example

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 Optimal Disinfectants

 Effective against the type and numbers of pathogens

present - within reasonable time and temperature
 Work with fluctuations in composition and conditions of
waters treated
 Not be toxic or unpalatable
 Reasonably priced, safe, easy to store, transport and
apply
 Concentration must be easy to determine
 Persist in disinfected water to provide residual
concentration – not necessary anymore due to secondary
disinfection

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 Chemical Disinfection Kinetics
 Chick’s Law – rate of kill is proportional to the number of
organisms remaining

- First order kinetics

- Depends on proper and adequate mixing
 The CT approach: dose * time

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 Chlorination

 Chlorine gas often used as

source
 Bleach (HOCl or NaOCl)
an alternate
 Chlorine dioxide
 Presence of ammonia leads
to chloramines

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 Disinfection By-Product (DBP)
 Product of the reaction between organic and mineral materials in
water with chemical(s) used for disinfection purposes
 Formation of trihalomethanes (e.g. chloroform) and haloacetic
acids when chlorine is the disinfectant
 Swimming pools have been found to contain substantial amounts
of DBPs
 Exposure to DBPs have been associated with cancers, adverse
birth outcomes and some birth defects
 However, "the risk of death from pathogens is at least 100 to 1000
times greater than the risk of cancer and the risk of illness from
pathogens is at least 10 000 to 1 million times greater than the
risk of cancer from DBPs - WHO

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 Ultra Violet (UV) Disinfection
 Ultraviolet radiation is used to inactivate microorganisms
 Changes the DNA structure to inactivate

 Inactivation depends on doses

 It is widely used in Europe and America
 Advantage
 avoid chemicals (gaseous, transport hazard, storage

requirements
 Disadvantage
 energy intensive

 shielding effects

 need to clean UV lamps

 unable to provide residual disinfection

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 UV in a Treatment Plant

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 Secondary Disinfection

 It provides the disinfection after the treated water

leaves the treatment plant
 It provides protection from contamination due to
microorganisms
 Distribution system
 Chlorine is the most commonly used for secondary
disinfection

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 Typical Water Treatment Process Diagram

Residuals

Chemicals
Source Sedimentation Filtration
Disinfection
Water

Distribution
System

Coagulation Flocculation Clear well

Membrane Technology

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 Review of Chapter - 4

 Water chemistry
 Water quality characteristics
 Softening of water
 Treatment of drinking water
 Coagulation
 Flocculation
 Sedimentation
 Filtration
 Disinfection

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