FLOTATION

Flotation involves separation of solids from the water phase by attaching the solids to fine air bubbles to decrease the density of the particles so that they float instead of sinking. The rising solids are called the "float". The float is skimmed off the surface and further processed in the sludge train.

Flotation is a separation process based on the use of very fine gas bubbles that attach themselves to the solid particles in suspension to make them buoyant and drive them toward the free surface of the liquid. Air is the only flotation agent used in wastewater treatment. Flotation is especially useful to separate very small particles or light particles with low settling velocities. In such cases more complete and rapid separation can be obtained with flotation than with sedimentation. Types of Flotation Separations Flotation requires the generation of small bubbles which can be produced by: dispersing air into the wastewater applying a vacuum to the wastewater dissolving air into pressurized wastewater and then releasing the pressure dissolving chemicals into waste water

Dispersed Air Flotation Air bubbles are formed by mechanically dispersing air injected under rotating impellers or sparged by diffusers. The bubbles formed under these conditions are typically too coarse for fine solid removal. Hence this method is not commonly encountered. Some scum forming waste can be removed by air dispersion flotation. Vacuum Flotation Air is first dispersed into the wastewater to achieve saturation conditions Partial vacuum is then applied to the wastewater. This results in the generation of small air bubbles that attach themselves to the solid particles and make them rise. Typically, a cylindrical tank maintained under vacuum and continuously fed with wastewater is used for this purpose. In this case the suspension is saturated with air at 1 atm then a vacuum is applied to create relative supersaturation. This results in bubble formation. Because there is a maximum of 1 atm pressure difference there is a severe limitation on the amount of air available for flotation. This limits the applicability of this process. Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) Air is dissolved in pressurized wastewater (40 - 95 psia, i.e., 275 650 kPa) by adding air to the pump suction point. The air-wastewater mixture is admitted to a retention tank having a residence time or a few minutes to allow the air to dissolve. The wastewater passes through a pressure reducing valve and then enters a flotation unit where small bubbles (30 - 120 mm) are generated within the bulk of the wastewater. In the flotation unit the solid particles are carried by the bubbles toward the surface of the water where they are skimmed off by a skimming mechanism. The clarified water passes under a baffle (which prevents the floating solids from being discharged with the effluent water) and is discharged by passing over a weir.

Chemical Additive Flotation Process Chemical additives that promote the attachment or entrapment of air bubbles to solid particles or flocs can be effectively used to enhance flotation. Flotation additives include: - Aluminum and ferric salts - Activated silica - Organic polymers

Sulfur oxides (SOx)

Sulfur oxides (SOx) are compounds of sulfur and oxygen molecules. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is the pre- dominant form found in the lower atmosphere. It is a colorless gas that can be detected by taste and smell in the range of 1,000 to 3,000 micrograms per cubic meter (g/m3). At concentrations of 10,000 g/m3, it has a pungent, unpleasant odor. Sulfur dioxide dissolves readily in water present in the atmosphere to form sulfurous acid (H2SO3). About30% of the sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere is converted to sulfate aerosol (acid aerosol), which is removed through wet or dry deposition processes. Sulfur trioxide (SO3), another oxide of sulfur, is either emitted directly into the atmosphere or produced from sulfur dioxide and is rapidly converted to sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Techniques for controlling SOx Wet scrubber Spray drying Wet sulfuric acid process Wet scrubber The term wet scrubber describes a variety of devices that remove pollutants from a furnace flue gas or from other gas streams. In a wet scrubber, the polluted gas stream is brought into contact with the scrubbing liquid, by spraying it with the liquid, by forcing it through

a pool of liquid, or by some other contact method, so as to remove the pollutants. Wet scrubbers that remove gaseous pollutants are referred to as absorbers. Good gas-to-liquid contact is essential to obtain high removal efficiencies in absorbers. A number of wet scrubber designs are used to remove gaseous pollutants, with the packed tower and the plate tower being the most common. Spray drying Spray drying is a method of producing a dry powder from a liquid or slurry by rapidly drying with a hot gas. This is the preferred method of drying of many thermally-sensitive materials such as foods and pharmaceuticals. A consistent particle size distribution is a reason for spray drying some industrial products such as catalysts. Air is the heated drying medium; however, if the liquid is a flammable solvent such as ethanol or the product is oxygen-sensitive then nitrogen is used. All spray dryers use some type of atomizer or spray nozzle to disperse the liquid or slurry into a controlled drop size spray. The most common of these are rotary disks and single-fluid high pressure swirl nozzles. Alternatively, for some applications two-fluid or ultrasonic nozzles are used. Depending on the process needs, drop sizes from 10 to 500 m can be achieved with the appropriate choices. The most common applications are in the 100 to 200 m diameter range. The dry powder is often free-flowing. Wet sulfuric acid process The wet sulfuric acid process (WSA process) is one of the key gas desulfurization processes on the market today. Since the Danish catalyst company Haldor Topsoe introduced and patented this technology in the late 1980s, it has been recognised as an efficient process for recovering sulfur from various process gasses in the form of commercial qualitysulfuric acid (H2SO4), with simultaneous production of high pressure steam. The WSA process is applied in all industries where removal of sulfur is an issue.

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are a very interesting and important family of air polluting chemical compounds. This bulletin explains why NOx are important air pollutants and how NOx are formed and react in the atmosphere. This bulletin also discusses the principles on which all NOx control and pollution prevention technologies are based; available NOx technologies for various combustion sources; and performance and cost of NOx technologies. Method 1. Reducing Temperature -- Reducing combustion temperature means avoiding the stoichiometric ratio (the exact ratio of chemicals that enter into reaction). Essentially, this technique dilutes calories with an excess of fuel, air, flue gas, or steam. Combustion controls use different forms of this technique and are different for fuels with high and low nitrogen content. Method 2. Reducing Residence Time -- Reducing residence time at high combustion temperatures can be done by ignition or injection timing with internal combustion engines. It can also be done in boilers by restricting the flame to a short region in which the combustion air becomes flue gas. This is immediately followed by injection of fuel, steam, more combustion air, or recirculating flue gas. This short residence time at peak temperature keeps the vast majority of nitrogen from becoming ionized. This bears no relationship to total residence time of a flue gas in a boiler. Method 3. Chemical Reduction of NOx This technique provides a chemically reducing (i.e., reversal of oxidization) substance to remove oxygen from nitrogen oxides. Examples include Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) which uses ammonia, Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) which use ammonia or urea, and Fuel Reburning (FR). Method 4. Oxidation of NOx -- This technique intentionally raises the valence of the nitrogen ion to allow water to absorb it (i.e., it is based on the greater solubility of NOx at higher valence). This is accomplished either by using a catalyst, injecting hydrogen peroxide, creating ozone within the air flow, or injecting ozone into the air flow.

Non-thermal plasma, when used without a reducing agent, can be used to oxidize NOx. A scrubber must be added to the process to absorb N2O5 emissions to the atmosphere. Any resultant nitric acid can be either neutralized by the scrubber liquid and then sold (usually as a calcium or ammonia salt), or collected as nitric acid to sell to customers. Method 5. Removal of nitrogen from combustion -- This is accomplished by removing nitrogen as a reactant either by: (1) using oxygen instead of air in the combustion process; or (2) using ultra-low nitrogen content fuel to form less fuel NOx. Eliminating nitrogen by using oxygen tends to produce a rather intense flame that must be subsequently and suitably diluted. Although Method 2 can lower the temperature quickly to avoid forming excessive NOx, it cannot eliminate nitrogen oxides totally if air is the quench medium. Method 6. Sorption, both adsorption and absorption -- Treatment of flue gas by injection of sorbents (such as ammonia, powdered limestone, aluminum oxide, or carbon) can remove NOx and other pollutants (principally sulfur). There have been successful efforts to make sorption products a marketable commodity. This kind of treatment has been applied in the combustion chamber, flue, and baghouse. This method uses either adsorption or absorption followed by filtration and/or electrostatic precipitation to remove the sorbent.