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Advantages and Disadvantages of Techniques Used For Wastewater
Advantages and Disadvantages of Techniques Used For Wastewater
Advantages and Disadvantages of Techniques Used For Wastewater
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-018-0785-9
REVIEW
Abstract
During the last 30 years, environmental issues about the chemical and biological contaminations of water have become a
major concern for society, public authorities and the industry. Most domestic and industrial activities produce wastewaters
containing undesirable toxic contaminants. In this context, a constant effort must be made to protect water resources. Cur-
rent wastewater treatment methods involve a combination of physical, chemical and biological processes, and operations
to remove insoluble particles and soluble contaminants from effluents. This article provides an overview of methods for
wastewater treatment, and describes the advantages and disadvantages of available technologies.
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Environmental Chemistry Letters
(e.g., metals, chlorobenzenes, alkylphenols) or on the basis water, washing effluent (of variable composition) and manu-
of the industrial sector (e.g., agro-food industry, chemicals facturing or process water (biodegradable and/or potentially
industry, metal finishing sector). Currently, Europe is now toxic). In general, process waters (i.e., wastewaters or efflu-
asking industrials to innovate, to reduce and/or eliminate the ents) pose the greatest problems. Wastewaters differ signifi-
release of dangerous priority substances and priority sub- cantly from drinking water sources (usually rivers, lakes or
stances in their wastewaters. Moreover, recycling wastewater reservoirs) in one important way: The contaminant levels
is starting to receive active attention from industry in the in most drinking water sources are quite low as compared
context of sustainable development (e.g., protection of the with contaminant levels in wastewaters derived from indus-
environment, developing concepts of “green chemistry,” use trial-type activities (Cooney 1999). However, their toxic-
of renewable resources), improved water management (recy- ity depends, of course, on their composition, which in turn
cling of waste water) and also health concerns (Kentish and depends on their industrial origin. In general, the problems
Stevens 2001; Cox et al. 2007; Sharma and Sanghi 2012; encountered during wastewater treatment are very complex
Khalaf 2016; Rathoure and Dhatwalia 2016; Morin-Crini as the effluent contains pollutants of various types depend-
and Crini 2017). Thus, for the industrial world, the treatment ing on its origin. So, there are different types of effluents
of effluents has become a priority. to treat, each with its own characteristics requiring specific
During the past three decades, several physical, chemi- treatment processes.
cal and biological technologies have been reported such
as flotation, precipitation, oxidation, solvent extraction,
General scheme of wastewater treatment
evaporation, carbon adsorption, ion exchange, membrane
filtration, electrochemistry, biodegradation and phytoreme-
When water is polluted and decontamination becomes nec-
diation (Berefield et al. 1982; Liu and Liptak 2000; Henze
essary, the best purification approach should be chosen to
2001; Harvey et al. 2002; Chen 2004; Forgacs et al. 2004;
reach the decontamination objectives (as established by
Anjaneyulu et al. 2005; Crini and Badot 2007; Cox et al.
legislation). A purification process generally consists of
2007; Hai et al. 2007; Barakat 2011; Rathoure and Dhat-
five successive steps as described in Fig. 1: (1) preliminary
walia 2016; Morin-Crini and Crini 2017). Which is the best
treatment or pre-treatment (physical and mechanical); (2)
method? There is no direct answer to this question because
primary treatment (physicochemical and chemical); (3)
each treatment has its own advantages and constraints not
secondary treatment or purification (chemical and biologi-
only in terms of cost but also in terms of efficiency, feasibil-
cal); (4) tertiary or final treatment (physical and chemical);
ity and environmental impact. In general, elimination of pol-
and (5) treatment of the sludge formed (supervised tipping,
lutants is done by physical, chemical and biological means.
recycling or incineration). In general, the first two steps are
At the present time, there is no single method capable of
gathered under the notion of pre-treatment or preliminary
adequate treatment, mainly due to the complex nature of
step, depending on the situation (Anjaneyulu et al. 2005;
industrial effluents. In practice, a combination of different
Crini and Badot 2007, 2010).
methods is often used to achieve the desired water quality
in the most economical way.
This short review proposes a general scheme of wastewa- Technologies available for contaminant removal
ter treatment and summarizes the advantages and disadvan-
tages of different individual techniques used. This article is In general, conventional wastewater treatment consists of
an abridged version of the chapter published by Crini and a combination of physical, chemical and/or biological pro-
Lichtfouse (2018) in the series Environmental Chemistry for cesses and operations to remove solids including colloids,
a Sustainable World. organic matter, nutrients, soluble contaminants (metals,
organics, etc.) from effluents. A multitude of techniques
classified in conventional methods, established recovery pro-
Wastewater treatment cesses and emerging removal methods can be used (Fig. 2).
Table 1 lists the advantages and disadvantages of different
There are various sources of water contamination, e.g., individual techniques (Berefield et al. 1982; Henze 2001;
households, industry, mines and infiltration, but one of the Sonune and Ghate 2004; Chen 2004; Pokhrel and Virara-
greatest remains the large-scale use of water by industry ghavan 2004; Parsons 2004; Anjaneyulu et al. 2005; Chuah
(Anjaneyulu et al. 2005; Hai et al. 2007). Four categories et al. 2005; Crini 2005, 2006; Bratby 2006; Crini and Badot
of water are generally distinguished: (1) rainwater (runoff 2007, 2010; Cox et al. 2007; Mohan and Pittman 2007; Hai
from impermeable surfaces), (2) domestic wastewater, (3) et al. 2007; Wojnárovits and Takács 2008; Barakat 2011;
agricultural water and (4) industrial wastewaters (Crini and Sharma and Sanghi 2012; Rathoure and Dhatwalia 2016;
Badot 2007). The last group can be subdivided into cooling Morin-Crini and Crini 2017).
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Environmental Chemistry Letters
Selection of the method to be used will thus depend among the various treatment processes currently cited for
on the wastewater characteristics (Anjaneyulu et al. 2005; wastewater treatment, only a few are commonly employed
Crini 2005; Crini and Badot 2007; Cox et al. 2007). Each by the industrial sector for technological and economic
treatment has its own constraints not only in terms of reasons. In general, removal of pollutants from effluents
cost, but also in terms of feasibility, efficiency, practica- is done by physicochemical and/or biological means, with
bility, reliability, environmental impact, sludge produc- research concentrating on cheaper effective combinations
tion, operation difficulty, pre-treatment requirements and of systems or new alternatives.
the formation of potentially toxic by-products. However,
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Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of the main conventional methods used for the treatment of polluted industrial wastewater
Process Main characteristic(s) Advantages Disadvantages
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Chemical precipitation Uptake of the pollutants and separation of the Technologically simple (simple equipment) Chemical consumption (lime, oxidants, H 2S,
products formed Integrated physicochemical process etc.)
Both economically advantageous and efficient Physicochemical monitoring of the effluent
Adapted to high pollutant loads (pH)
Very efficient for metals and fluoride elimina- Ineffective in removal of the metal ions at low
tion concentration
Not metal selective Requires an oxidation step if the metals are
Significant reduction in the chemical oxygen complexed
demand High sludge production, handling and disposal
problems (management, treatment, cost)
Coagulation/flocculation Uptake of the pollutants and separation of the Process simplicity Requires adjunction of non-reusable chemicals
products formed Integrated physicochemical process (coagulants, flocculants, aid chemicals)
A wide range of chemicals are available com- Physicochemical monitoring of the effluent
mercially (pH)
Inexpensive capital cost Increased sludge volume generation (manage-
Very efficient for SS and colloidal particles ment, treatment, cost)
Good sludge settling and dewatering charac- Low removal of arsenic
teristics
Significant reduction in the chemical oxygen
demand and biochemical oxygen demand
Interesting reduction in total organic carbon
and adsorbable organic halogen (pulp and
paper industry)
Bacterial inactivation capability
Rapid and efficient for insoluble contaminants
(pigments, etc.) removal
Flotation Separation process Integrated physicochemical process High initial capital cost
Froth flotation Different types of collectors (nonionic or Energy costs
ionic) Maintenance and operation costs no negligible
Efficient for removal of small particles and Chemicals required (to control the relative
can remove low-density particles which hydrophobicities between the particles and to
would require long settling periods maintain proper froth characteristics)
Useful for primary clarification Selectivity is pH dependent
Metal selective
Low retention time
Used as an efficient tertiary treatment in the
pulp and paper industry
Mechanisms: true flotation, entrainment and
aggregation
Environmental Chemistry Letters
Table 1 (continued)
Process Main characteristic(s) Advantages Disadvantages
Good elimination of color and odor (ozone) A few dyes are more resistant to treatment and
Efficient treatment for cyanide and sulfide necessitate high ozone doses
removal Formation of (unknown) intermediates
Initiates and accelerates azo bond cleavage No diminution of chemical oxygen demand
(hypochlorite treatment) values or limited effect (ozone)
Increases biodegradability of product No effect on salinity (ozone)
High throughput Release of volatile compounds and aromatic
No sludge production amines (hypochlorite treatment)
Possibility of water recycle Generates sludge
Disinfection (bacteria and viruses)
Biological methods Use of biological (pure or mixed) cultures The application of microorganisms for the Necessary to create an optimally favorable
Bioreactors biodegradation of organic contaminants is environment
Biological activated sludge (BAS) simple, economically attractive and well Requires management and maintenance of
Microbiological treatments accepted by the public the microorganisms and/or physicochemical
Enzymatic decomposition Large number of species used in mixed pre-treatment (inefficient on non-degradable
Lagoon cultures (consortiums) or pure cultures compounds or when toxic compounds are
(white-rot fungus) present)
White-rot fungi produce a wide variety of Slow process (problems of kinetics)
extracellular enzymes with high biodegrada- Low biodegradability of certain molecules
bility capacity (dyes)
Efficiently eliminates biodegradable organic Poor decolorization (BAS)
matter, NH3, NH4+, iron Possible sludge bulking and foaming (BAS)
Attenuates color well Generation of biological sludge and uncon-
High removal of biochemical oxygen demand trolled degradation products
and suspended solids (BAS) The composition of mixed cultures may change
Decisive role of microbiological processes in during the decomposition process
the future technologies used for the removal Complexity of the microbiological mechanisms
of emergent contaminants from waters Necessity to have a good knowledge of the
enzymatic processes governing the decompo-
sition of the substances
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Table 1 (continued)
Process Main characteristic(s) Advantages Disadvantages
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Adsorption/filtration Nondestructive process Technologically simple (simple equipment) Relatively high investment (CAC)
Commercial activated carbons (CAC) Use of a solid material and adaptable to many treatment formats Cost of materials (CAC, CAA)
Commercial activated alumina (CAA) Wide range of commercial products Nondestructive processes
Sand Wide variety of target contaminants (adsorp- Non-selective methods
Mixed materials tion) Performance depends on the type of material
Silica gel Highly effective process (adsorption) with fast (CAC)
kinetics Requirement for several types of adsorbents
Excellent quality of the treated effluent Chemical derivatization to improve their
Global elimination (CAC) but possibly selec- adsorption capacity
tive depending on adsorbent Rapid saturation and clogging of the reactors
Excellent ability to separate a wide range of (regeneration costly)
pollutants, in particular refractory molecules Not efficient with certain types of dyestuffs and
(CAC is the most effective material) some metals (CAC)
CAC: efficient for chemical oxygen demand Elimination of the adsorbent (requires incin-
removal; highly efficient treatment when eration, regeneration or replacement of the
coupled to coagulation to reduce suspended material)
solids, chemical oxygen demand and color Regeneration is expensive and results in loss of
Sand: efficient for turbidity and suspended material (CAC)
solids removal Economically non-viable for certain industries
Alumina: efficient for fluoride removal (pulp and paper, textile, etc.)
Ion exchange Nondestructive process Wide range of commercial products available Economic constraints (initial cost of the selec-
Chelating resins from several manufacturers tive resin, maintenance costs, regeneration
Selective resins Technologically simple (simple equipment) time-consuming, etc.)
Macroporous resins Well-established and tested procedures; easy Large volume requires large columns
Polymeric adsorbents control and maintenance Rapid saturation and clogging of the reactors
Polymer-based hybrid adsorbents Easy to use with other techniques (e.g., Saturation of the cationic exchanger before
precipitation and filtration in an integrated the anionic resin (precipitation of metals and
wastewater process) blocking of reactor)
Can be applied to different flow regimes (con- Beads easily fouled by particulates and organic
tinuous and batch) matter (organics and oils); requires a physico-
High regeneration with possibility of external chemical pre-treatment (e.g., sand filtration or
regeneration of resin carbon adsorption) to remove these contami-
Rapid and efficient process nants
Produce a high-quality treated effluent Matrix degrades with time and with certain
Concentrates all types of pollutants, particu- waste materials (radioactive, strong oxidants,
larly minerals etc.)
Relatively inexpensive and efficient for metal Performance sensitive to pH of effluent
removal; cleanup to ppb levels (to ppt levels Conventional resins not selective
for selective resins) Selective resins have limited commercial use
Can be selective for certain metals (with suit- Not effective for certain target pollutants (dis-
able resins) perse dyes, drugs, etc.)
Interesting and efficient technology for the Elimination of the resin
recovery of valuable metals
Environmental Chemistry Letters
Table 1 (continued)
Process Main characteristic(s) Advantages Disadvantages
Electrochemistry Electrolysis (E) Efficient technology for the recovery/recycling High initial cost of the equipment
Electrodeposition of valuable metals (E); interesting method Cost of the maintenance (sacrificial anodes,
Electro-coagulation (EC) for the recovery of gold and silver from rinse etc.)
Electro-flocculation (EF) baths Requires addition of chemicals (coagulants,
Electro-flotation Adaptation to different pollutant loads and flocculants, salts)
Electro-oxidation different flow rates (E) Anode passivation and sludge deposition on
Electrochemical oxidation Increases biodegradability (E) the electrodes that can inhibit the electrolytic
Electrochemical reduction More effective and rapid organic matter sepa- process in continuous operation
Cementation ration than in traditional coagulation (EC); Requires post-treatment to remove high concen-
Indirect electro-oxidation with strong oxidants pH control is not necessary; generation of trations of iron and aluminum ions
Photo-assisted electrochemical methods coagulants in situ; economically feasible and EF: separation efficiency depends strongly on
very effective in removing suspended solids, bubble sizes
dissolved metals, tannins and dyes (effluents Filtration process for flocs
from textile, catering, petroleum, municipal Formation of sludge (filtering problems)
sewage, oil–water emulsion, dyestuff, clay Cost of sludge treatment (electro-coagulation)
suspension, etc.)
Efficient elimination of SS, oils, greases, color
and metals (EC, EF)
EF: widely used in the miming industries
Effective in treatment of drinking water sup-
plies for small- or medium-sized communi-
ties (EC)
Very effective treatment for the reduction,
coagulation and separation of copper (EC)
Cementation: efficient for copper removal
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Table 1 (continued)
Process Main characteristic(s) Advantages Disadvantages
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Membrane filtration Nondestructive separation Wide range of commercial membrane avail- Investment costs are often too high for small
Microfiltration (MF) Semipermeable barrier able from several manufacturers; large and medium industries
Ultrafiltration (UF) number of applications and module configu- High energy requirements
Nanofiltration (NF) rations The design of membrane filtration systems can
Reverse osmosis Small space requirement differ significantly
Dialysis Simple, rapid and efficient, even at high High maintenance and operation costs
Electrodialysis (ED) concentrations Rapid membrane clogging (fouling with high
Electro-electrodialysis (EED) Produces a high-quality-treated effluent concentrations)
Emulsion liquid membranes (ELM) No chemicals required Low throughput
Supported liquid membranes Low solid waste generation Limited flow rates
Eliminates all types of dyes, salts and mineral Not interesting at low solute feed concentra-
derivatives tions
Efficient elimination of particles, suspended The choice of the membrane is determined by
solids and microorganisms (MF, UF, NF, the specific application (hardness reduction,
reverse osmosis), volatile and nonvolatile particulate or total organic carbon removal,
organics (NF, reverse osmosis), dissolved potable water production, etc.)
inorganic matter (ED, EED), and phenols, Specific processes
cyanide and zinc (ELM) Elimination of the concentrate
Possible to be metal selective
A wide range of real applications: clarification
or sterile filtration (MF), separation of poly-
mers (UF), multivalent ions (NF), salts from
polymer solutions (dialysis) and nonionic
solutes (ED), desalination and production of
pure water (reverse osmosis)
Well-known separation mechanisms: size-
exclusion (NF, UF, MF), solubility/diffusiv-
ity (reverse osmosis, pervaporation), charge
(electrodialysis)
Environmental Chemistry Letters
Table 1 (continued)
Process Main characteristic(s) Advantages Disadvantages
Evaporation Concentration technique Several types of evaporators exist on the Expensive costs for high volumes of wastewater
Membrane pervaporation Thermal process market (energy consumption, volume of the concen-
Separation process Versatile technique (the number of cells can trate and costs of disposal)
be adapted to the required evaporation Investment costs are often too high for small
capacity) and medium industries
The energy costs are well known for the dif- High pollution load in the concentrates
ferent configurations Crystallization due to the concentration of the
Environmental Chemistry Letters
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Environmental Chemistry Letters
Conclusion
Low throughput
(WAO)
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