Treatment of Waste Water

Wastewater treatment, also called sewage treatment, the removal of impurities from wastewater, or
sewage, before it reaches aquifers or natural bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, and oceans.
A standard test which is an indicator of the organic content of the sewage is biochemical oxygen
demand (BOD).
BOD value range from 1mg/liter for natural water to 300 mg/liter for untreated sewage.
Four common ways to treat wastewater include:
1. Physical treatment
2. Biological treatment
3. Chemical treatment
4. Sludge treatment

1. Physical Treatment:
In this stage, physical methods are used for cleaning the wastewater.
Processes like screening, sedimentation and skimming are used to remove the solids. No chemicals
are involved in this process.
One of the main techniques of physical wastewater treatment includes sedimentation, which is a
process of suspending the insoluble/heavy particles from the wastewater. Once the insoluble
material settles down at the bottom, the pure water is separated.
Another effective physical water treatment technique includes aeration. This process consists of
circulating air through the water to provide oxygen to it.
Filtration, the third method, is used for filtering out all the contaminants. Special kind of filters
are used to pass the wastewater and separate the contaminants and insoluble particles present in it.
The sand filter is the most commonly used filter. The grease found on the surface of some
wastewater can also be removed easily through this method.

2. Biological Treatment:
This uses various biological processes to break down the organic matter present in wastewater,
such as soap, human waste, oils and food. Microorganisms metabolize organic matter in the
wastewater in biological treatment.
It can be divided into three categories:
i. Aerobic processes: Bacteria decomposes the organic matter and converts it into carbon
dioxide that can be used by plants. Oxygen is used in this process.
 ii. Anaerobic processes: Here, fermentation is used for fermenting the waste at a specific
temperature. Oxygen is not used in anaerobic process.
iii. Composting: A type of aerobic process where wastewater is treated by mixing it with
sawdust or other carbon sources. Secondary treatment removes most of the solids present
in wastewater, however, some dissolved nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous may
remain.

3. Chemical Treatment:
It involves the use of chemicals in water.
Chlorine, an oxidizing chemical, is commonly used to kill bacteria which decomposes water by
adding contaminants to it.
Another oxidizing agent used for purifying the wastewater is ozone. Neutralization is a technique
where an acid or base is added to bring the water to its natural pH of 7. Chemicals prevent the
bacteria from reproducing in water, thus making the water pure.

4. Sludge Treatment:
This is a solid-liquid separation process where the least possible residual moisture is required in
the solid phase and the lowest possible solid particle residues are required in the separated liquid
phase.
An example of this includes dewatering of sludge from industrial wastewater or sewage plant
where the residual moisture in dewatered solids determines the disposal costs and the centrate
quality determines the pollution load returned back to the treatment facility.
Stages of Waste Water Treatment
There are 3 stages of waste water treatment:
1. Primary treatment:
Solids are separated.

2. Secondary treatment:
Dissolved biological matter is converted into a solid mass by using water-borne bacteria.
95% of the suspended molecules is removed.

3. Tertiary treatment:
Biological solids are neutralized then disposed, and treated water may be disinfected
chemically or physically.

1. Primary treatment:
i. Screening:
Sewage first passed through metal screen to remove large floating objectives such as
pieces of woods, rags, plastics paces, masses of garbage and dead animals.

ii. Grit chamber:

After screen sewage is then passed through a long narrow chamber called as grit chamber
or detritus chamber.
The chamber is about 10-20 meter and velocity of sewage flow is about 1 foot per second
taking a detention period of 0.5-1 minute.
The grit chamber allows to settle down heavier solids such as sand and gravel while
permitting the organic matter passing through.
The grit collected at the bottom of camber is removed periodically or continuously.

iii. Grease Trap:

The goal of the grease trap is to trap oil and grease so that it can be easily collected and
removed.
Grease traps are chambers made out of brickwork, concrete or plastic, with an odour-tight
cover.
 iv. Primary Sedimentation:
Sewage is then admitted to a huge rectangular tank called as Primary sedimentation tank.
Sewage is made to flow very slowly across the tank at velocity of 1-2 feet/minute and
retained 6-8 hours in tank.

2. Secondary Treatment:
The effluent from the primary sedimentation tank still contains a proportion of organic matters
in solution and numerous living organism.
It has high oxygen demand and subjected to further treatment ‘aerobic oxidation’ by one of the
following methods:
i. Trickling bed filter method
ii. Activated sludge process

3. Tertiary treatment:
When the intended receiving water is very vulnerable to the effects of pollution, secondary
effluent may be treated further by several tertiary processes.
i. Effluent polishing:
For the removal of additional suspended solids and BOD from secondary effluent,
effluent polishing is an effective treatment.
ii. Removal of plant nutrients:
When treatment standards require the removal of plant nutrients from the sewage, it
is often done as a tertiary step.
iii. Land treatment:
In some locations, secondary effluent can be applied directly to the ground and a
polished effluent obtained by natural processes as the wastewater flows over
vegetation and percolates through the soil. There are three types of land treatment:
slow-rate, rapid infiltration, and overland flow.