VELAMMAL BODHI CAMPUS (CBSE)

ANUPANADI, MADURAI.

AISSCE – 2022

BIOLOGY PROJECT

SEWAGE TREATMENT

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

2022-2023
 VELAMMAL BODHI CAMPUS

BIOLOGY PROJECT
CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this is the bonafide record of

project work done by Master/ Miss. ROHITH P S of Grade
XII during the academic year 2022-2023.

Submitted for AISSCE biology Practical

Examination held on ____/____/_______ at Velammal
Bodhi Campus, Anupanadi, Madurai district.

Date: _____________

PRINCIPAL INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

 TABLE OF CONTENTS [ T O C ]

SER DESCRIPTION PAGE NO

01 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 04

02 INTRODUCTION 05

03 WHAT IS SEWAGE? 06

04 ORIGINS OF SEWAGE 07

05 GENERAL PROCESSES 08

06 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT 09

07 SEWAGE TREATMENT 11

08 PRIMARY TREATMENT 14

09 SECONDARY TREATMENT 16

10 TERTIARY TREATMENT 17

11 SLUDGE TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL 18

12 CONCLUSION 19
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, we thank our beloved parents for providing
us with the opportunity to study at Velammal Bodhi
Campus, Anupanadi, Madurai.

We thank our beloved Director Shri. M.V.

MUTHURAMALINGAM for being our motivational force for
the completion of this project.

We thank our Principal Mr BALA MURUGAN S and

Academic Coordinator Mr MANIMARAN for their
exceptional support.

We thank our Biology Teacher Mr KARUPPUSAMY

for encouraging and guiding us to complete this project.

Last but not least I thank all my friends who helped

me in the completion of this project.
 Introduction
Sewage treatment is a process in which the pollutants are
removed. The ultimate goal of sewage treatment is to
produce effluent that will not impact the environment. In
the absence of sewage treatment, the results can be
devastating as sewage can disrupt the environment.
 What is Sewage?
Waste material (such as human urine and faeces) is carried
away from homes and other buildings in a system of pipes.
Waste matter from domestic or industrial establishments
that are carried away in sewers or drains for dumping or
conversion into a form that is not toxic
 Origins of Sewage
Sewage is generated by residential, institutional,
commercial and industrial establishments. It includes
household waste liquid from toilets, baths, showers,
kitchens and sinks draining into sewers. In many areas,
sewage also includes liquid waste from industry and
commerce. The separation and draining of household waste
into greywater and black water are becoming more
common in the developed world, with treated greywater
being permitted to be used for watering plants or recycled
for flushing toilets. Sewage may include stormwater runoff
or urban runoff.
 General processes

The general processes of sewage treatment are primary,

secondary and tertiary treatment.

 Primary treatment: involves the physical separation

of sewage into solids and liquids by using a settling
tank.
 Secondary treatment: the liquid sewage is
transferred into the secondary treatment which
focuses on removing the dissolved biological
compound by the use of micro-organisms.
Microorganisms usually use aerobic metabolism to
degrade the biological matter in the liquid sludge.
 Tertiary treatment: tertiary treatment is required to
disinfect the sewage so that it can be released into the
oceans and rivers.

The solid sewage separated from primary treatment is

transferred to a tank for sludge digestion which involves
anaerobic degradation using microorganisms.
 Physical Environment
The environment of the sewage treatment plant has to be
controlled precisely because bacteria are sensitive to the
oxygen level, pH level, temperature, and level of nutrients.
These factors are controlled manually for efficient
degradation of biological matter.

Sewage composition:

Sewage is composed of organic matter such as

carbohydrates, fats and proteins mainly from domestic
waste. It also contains dissolved inorganic matter such as
nitrogen species and phosphorous species mainly from
agricultural waste. Microbes are essential to remove
nutrients before they are released into the environment
because it interferes with natural habitats by altering the
chemical composition such as pH or oxygen level both
directly and indirectly.

Oxygen level:

Oxygen level is an important factor in secondary and

tertiary treatment processes. In secondary treatment,
oxygen is required as a terminal electron acceptor in
organic matter degradation. For example, nitrification by
Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter species requires dissolved
oxygen to occur. Oxygen in secondary treatment is
provided manually by pumping oxygen into the sewage
continuously which occurs in an aeration tank. In tertiary
treatment, the removal of excess organic matter is
enhanced by settling the sewage in a lagoon. This process
is also aerobic, but it depends on the diffusion of oxygen
because most organic matter has been degraded by
secondary treatment.

Ph:

Acidity plays a crucial role in the breakdown of organic

matter because pH affects the solubility of compounds
which indirectly affects the accessibility by bacteria. Also,
bacteria responsible for organic matter degradation are
sensitive to the pH of the environment. Extremely high or
low pH levels can kill bacteria, and deposition of organic
matter occurs due to a lack of degradation. Hence, the pH
of sewage treatment is controlled to be around 7. A nitrifier
in secondary treatment, Nitrosomonas requires a pH
between 6-9 to be viable.

Temperature:

The effect of temperature is influential in secondary

treatment, but it is not important in primary treatment.
Bacterial growth is sensitive to temperature because high
temperature can increase the fluidity of the phospholipid
bilayer which leads to cell lysis.
However, bacteria are known to have higher enzymatic
activity at a higher temperature because of
increased thermal energy.

Nutrient for microbes:

There are a lot of nutrients available in the sewage

because of human waste and agricultural runoff. Bacteria
can harvest the electron from organic matter and transfer
it to a terminal electron acceptor which results in the
breakdown of organic matter and energy conservation.

SEWAGE TREATMENT
Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants
from wastewater, primarily from household sewage. It
includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to
remove these contaminants and produce environmentally
safe treated wastewater (or treated effluent). A by-product
of sewage treatment is usually a semi-solid waste or
slurry, called sewage sludge, that has to undergo further
treatment before being suitable for disposal or land
application.

Sewage treatment may also be referred to as

wastewater treatment

Process steps
Treating wastewater has the aim to produce an effluent
that will do as little harm as possible when discharged to
the surrounding environment, thereby preventing pollution
compared to releasing untreated wastewater into the
environment. In highly regulated developed countries,
industrial effluent usually receives at least pre-treatment if
not full treatment at the factories themselves to reduce the
pollutant load, before discharge to the sewer. This process
is called industrial wastewater treatment.

Sewage treatment generally involves three stages, called

 Primary treatment

 Secondary treatment

 Tertiary treatment

PRETREATMENT:

Pre-treatment removes all materials that can be easily

collected from the raw sewage before they damage or clog
the pumps and sewage lines of primary treatment
clarifiers.

Objects commonly removed during pre-treatment Include

trash, tree limbs, leaves, branches, and other large
objects. The influent in sewage water passes through a bar
screen to remove all large objects like cans, rags, sticks,
plastic Packets etc. carried in the sewage stream. The
solids are collected and later disposed of in a
landfill or incinerated.
 Primary Treatment
It consists of temporarily holding the sewage in a quiescent
basin where heavy solids can settle to the Bottom while oil,
grease and lighter solids float to the surface.

The settled and floating materials are removed and the

remaining liquid may be discharged or subjected to
secondary treatment.

Some sewage treatment plants that are connected to a

combined sewer system have a bypass arrangement after
the primary treatment unit. This means that during very
heavy rainfall events, the secondary and tertiary treatment
systems can be bypassed to protect them from hydraulic
overloading, and the mixture of sewage and stormwater
only receives primary treatment.

Primary treatment:

Aeration tank

Wastewater aeration is the process of adding air into

wastewater to allow aerobic bio-degradation of pollutant
components. It is an integral part of most biological
wastewater treatment systems.

Unlike chemical treatment which uses chemicals to react

and stabilize contaminants in the wastewater stream,
biological treatment uses microorganisms that occur
naturally in wastewater to degrade
wastewater contaminants.

Secondary Treatment
It removes dissolved and suspended biological matter.
Secondary treatment is typically performed by indigenous,
water-borne microorganisms in a managed habitat.
Secondary treatment may require a Separation process to
remove the micro-organisms from the treated water before
discharge or tertiary Treatment. It includes Fixed-film or
attached growth, Suspended-growth, Secondary
sedimentation.
 Tertiary Treatment
It is sometimes defined as anything more than primary and
secondary treatment to allow rejection into a highly
sensitive or fragile ecosystem (estuaries, low-flow rivers,
coral reefs). Treated water is sometimes disinfected
chemically or physically (for example, by lagoons and
microfiltration) before discharge into a stream, river, bay,
lagoon or wetland, or it can be used for the irrigation of a
golf course, green way or park. If it is sufficiently clean, it
can also be used for groundwater recharge or agricultural
purposes. It is also called "effluent polishing. "The purpose
of tertiary treatment is to provide a final treatment stage
to further improve the effluent quality before it is
discharged to the receiving environment.

 Filtration
 Lagoons or ponds
 Biological nutrient removal
 Nitrogen removal
 Phosphorous removal
 Disinfection

SLUDGE TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL

The sludge accumulated in a wastewater treatment process
must be treated and disposed of safely and effectively. The
purpose of digestion is to reduce the amount of organic
matter and the number of disease-causing microorganisms
present in the solids.

The most common treatment options include anaerobic

digestion, aerobic digestion, and composting. Incineration
is also used, albeit to a much lesser degree. Sludge
treatment depends on the number of solids generated and
other site-specific conditions. Composting is most often
applied to small-scale plants with aerobic digestion for mid-
sized operations, and anaerobic digestion for larger-
scale operations.

Conclusion

With suitable technology, it is possible to reuse sewage

effluent for agriculture and drinking purpose, although this
is usually done in places with limited water supplies. With
the emerging development of technology in this 20th
century, the process of wastewater treatment can be still
developed to recycle water that can be used for drinking
and other purposes. So, I conclude that wastewater
treatment must be essential for a developing country.