ASSIGNMENT # 04

Explain Water Treatment Plant and Its Types

WATER SUPPLY & WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY

NAME: MUHAMMAD
REG# BSCET01193060
CLASS: CV-4-M
DATED 19-4-2021

SUBMITTED TO

MR.HASEEB AHMED

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY
Water Treatment Plant:

Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate 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. Water treatment removes contaminants and undesirable components, or reduces
their concentration so that the water becomes fit for its desired end-use. This treatment is crucial
to human health and allows humans to benefit from both drinking and irrigation use.

The Four Types of Wastewater Treatment Systems:

Wastewater treatment systems break down into four main categories. Below, we’ll discuss the
different types of sewage treatment systems and other wastewater treatment solutions and
explain how they handle different types of wastewater.

1. Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs)

Sewage treatment plants remove contaminants from wastewater. An example of an STP is the
treatment plant you might find in a large American city. This plant would receive sewage waste
from households and commercial buildings and sometimes get an influx of commercial
wastewater as well. It would also receive rainwater and debris from storm sewers.
This settling is often referred to as preliminary treatment because it occurs before the three more
aggressive treatment phases. Many STPs are known as three-stage because they process their
wastewater in three principal steps: primary, secondary and tertiary treatment.

a) Primary Treatment

During primary treatment, the wastewater flows into primary clarifiers. In these tanks, as in the
settlement basins, wastewater flows sluggishly. The tanks’ design promotes settling — organic
solids collect at the bottom of the tank, and lighter substances float to the top for removal.

b) Secondary Treatment

Secondary treatment often consists of aerobic aeration. Aeration basins contain aerators —
systems of pipes with discs or tubes attached. The discs or tubes — often made of ceramic or
rubber membranes — have small holes for air to flow through. When air flows through the
aerators, the small holes turn it into bubbles that mix into the water column. The interaction of
oxygen with the bacteria in the sewage causes the bacteria to digest the organic matter that gives
wastewater its characteristic appearance and smell.

c) Tertiary Treatment

So far, we’ve traced the steps of primary treatment, or settling, and secondary treatment, or
aeration and activated sludge processing, which occur in most plants. Tertiary treatment follows
these processes and combines mechanical and photochemical methods into one final step. Not all
wastewaters require advanced tertiary treatment — this process is particularly helpful for
sanitary sewage with microorganism contaminants that require disinfecting.

2. Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs):

We’ve seen that sewage treatment plants provide initial treatment primarily for municipal and
domestic wastewater. Effluent treatment plants, on the other hand, typically clean industrial
wastewater. They treat industrial effluent — the wastewater that flows out as a byproduct of
these industries.

a) Preliminary Treatment:

Preliminary treatment for ETPs often consists of physical techniques like screening,
sedimentation, filtration, flow equalization and clarification. The goal is to reduce the amount of
solid physical waste present before sending the effluent on for further treatment.

b) Primary Treatment:

Primary treatment in ETPs targets the removal of additional solid waste and organic matter.
Primary treatment methods often involve adding chemicals that can break up solid and chemical
waste. Techniques may include chemical coagulation, chemical precipitation, dissolved air
flotation, flocculation and the addition of sodium carbonate or hydrochloric acid to control pH
levels.

c) Secondary Treatment:

 Secondary treatment for ETPs typically consists of removing suspended particles and
biodegradable organic matter. Standard techniques at this stage include many of the chemical
approaches used in primary treatment, as well as biological processes that can help biodegrade
organic waste. Common biological processes in secondary ETP treatment include the suspended-
growth method or the attached-growth or fixed-film technique. These two processes use
beneficial digestive microorganisms, either suspended freely in the water or attached to fixed
media.

d) Tertiary Treatment:

Tertiary treatment in ETPs uses a combination of physical, chemical and biological techniques to
remove any remaining solids and contaminants from the industrial effluent. This step
incorporates many of the processes from primary and secondary treatment and tailors them to the
more advanced removal of smaller particles.

ETPs are beneficial for large operations, but they can pose challenges for smaller ones. They are
large and expensive to build and maintain, and they often require specialized technicians for
operations and maintenance. Though larger facilities can easily supply these needs, smaller ones
look to alternative solutions.

3. Activated Sludge Plants (ASPs):

Activated sludge plants are similar to sewage treatment plants. They treat sewage wastewater
using primarily activated sludge to digest biological contaminants. Though an STP may also use
activated sludge in its secondary treatment, activated sludge takes on more of a primary role in
an ASP.

Unlike anaerobic sludge, which can give off a foul smell, activated sludge has less odor. It is
easier to work with in less-isolated settings where smell is a concern.

ASPs offer a few other benefits compared to standard STPs:

 Simpler process.
 More dependable results.
 Easy ability to reseed the digestion chamber with beneficial bacteria.
 Fewer unpleasant smells.
 Longer intervals between tank emptying.
  Less unwanted anaerobic sludge to remove.
 Heightened economical maintenance.
 No moving parts that might break or become fouled.
 Convenient upkeep of not having to top off the tank with extra bacteria.

They are often useful in situations that prioritize advantages like convenience, cost-effectiveness
and simplicity.

4. Common and Combined Effluent Treatment Plants (CEPTs)

Common and combined effluent treatment plants exist to help smaller wastewater generators
treat their effluent. Smaller manufacturing companies and other operations that produce
wastewater — tanneries, for instance — cannot always afford to run their own effluent treatment
plants. They do not have the budgets to maintain these large, complex structures and operate
them safely and effectively.