14 HANDBOOK ON WATER AND WASTE WATER TREATMENT

2.0 WATER AND WASTE WATER TREATMENT

2.1 An Overview
Water is used for drinking and sanitation, for industry, agriculture, green
belt development and practically every area of human development.
Industry uses water for variety of applications - to raise steam to generate
power and run machinery, to cool condensers and heat exchangers, in the
manufacture of beverages and packaged drinking water, for processing
of textiles, in the manufacture of pulp and paper, in production of steel,
in pharmaceutical industries and in the manufacture of semi-conductors.

Use of untreated and inadequately treated water results in a number

of operational problems like scaling, corrosion and fouling of equipment
resulting in unscheduled outages, replacement of expensive equipment
and loss of productivity through rejection. The net result is loss of profits.

Water therefore needs to be treated to either modify or remove the

impurities and make it suitable for each end use.

Some of the problems relating to water purity are:

• Suspended solids (SS) and turbidity tend to foul ion exchange resins
and membranes. In cooling systems they may settle on low velocity
areas and result in ‘under deposit corrosion’. Presence of SS and
turbidity can seriously impair disinfection processes
• Hardness in water forms scales when used in heat exchange
equipment. Scales are insulators of heat, affecting heat transfer and
causing loss of precious fuel
• Dissolved gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide result in corrosion of
heat exchange equipment
• Apart from problems of scaling and corrosion, foulants present in
cooling water result in deposits, affecting the flow of cooling water.
Deposits in the system can also lead to under deposit corrosion
• High purity water is required in the manufacture of electronic
components and in power plants and pharmaceutical industries
• Potable water with low alkalinity is desired in the manufacture of
beverages like Pepsi and Coca-Cola
• Soft water is essential in processing of textiles as hard water tends
to form precipitates with the processing chemicals and interferes with
uniform dispersion of dyes

WATER AND WASTE WATER TREATMENT 15