Tertiary Treatment

Constructed Wetlands
Wetlands are areas where the water
saturates the ground long enough to
support and maintain wetland vegetation
such as reeds, bulrush, and cattails. A
“constructed wetlands” treatment system
is designed to treat wastewater by passing
it through the wetland. Natural physical,
chemical, and biological wetland
processes have been recreated and
enhanced in constructed wetlands
designed specifically to treat wastewater
from industries, small communities, storm
runoff from urban and agricultural areas,
and acid mine drainage. Significant water
quality improvements, including nutrient
reduction, can be achieved.
This process is popular because entire process uses one reactor basin. In areas
where there is a limited amount of space, treatment takes place in a single basin
instead of multiple basins, allowing for a smaller footprint. In the effluent low total-
suspended-solid values of less than 10 mg/L can be achieved consistently through
the use of effective decanters that eliminate the need for a separate clarifier. The
treatment cycle can be adjusted to undergo aerobic, anaerobic and anoxic
conditions in order to achieve biological nutrient removal, including nitrification,
denitrification and some phosphorus removal.
 Disinfection
Untreated domestic wastewater contains microorganisms
or pathogens that produce human diseases. Processes
used to kill or deactivate these harmful organisms are
called disinfection. Chlorine is the most widely used
disinfectant but ozone and ultraviolet radiation are also
frequently used for wastewater effluent disinfection.

Chlorine

Chlorine kills microorganisms by destroying cellular

material. This chemical can be applied to wastewater as a
gas, a liquid or in a solid form similar to swimming pool
disinfection chemicals. However, any free (uncombined)
chlorine remaining in the water, even at low
concentrations, is highly toxic to beneficial aquatic life.
Therefore, removal of even trace amounts of free chlorine
by dechlorination is often needed to protect fish and
aquatic life. Due to emergency response and potential
safety concerns, chlorine gas is used less frequently now
than in the past.
Chlorination (Gas)
At normal pressures, elemental chlorine is a toxic, yellow-green gas, and is liquid at high
pressures.
ADVANTAGES
Chlorine is very effective for removing almost all microbial pathogens and is appropriate as
both a primary and secondary disinfectant.
LIMITATIONS
Chlorine is a dangerous gas that is lethal at concentrations as low as 0.1 percent air by
volume.
PROCESS
Chlorine gas is released from a liquid chlorine cylinder by a pressure reducing and flow
control valve operating at a pressure less than atmospheric. The gas is led to an injector in
the water supply pipe where highly pressurized water is passed through a venturi orifice
creating a vacuum that draws the chlorine into the water stream. Adequate mixing and
contact time must be provided after injection to ensure complete disinfection of pathogens.
It may be necessary to control the pH of the water.
Chlorination (Sodium hypochlorite solution)
Sodium hypochlorite is available as a solution in concentrations of 5 to 15 percent
chlorine, but is more expensive than chlorine gas (as available chlorine).
ADVANTAGES
Sodium hypochlorite is easier to handle than gaseous chlorine or calcium hypochlorite.
LIMITATIONS
Sodium hypochlorite is very corrosive and should be stored with care and kept away
from equipment that can be damaged by corrosion. Hypochlorite solutions decompose
and should not be stored for more than one month. It must be stored in a cool, dark,
dry area.
PROCESS
Sodium hypochlorite solution is diluted with water in a mixing/holding tank. The
diluted solution is injected by a chemical pump into the water supply pipe at a
controlled rate. Adequate mixing and contact time must be provided
Chlorination (Solid calcium hypochlorite)
Calcium hypochlorite is a white solid that contains 65 percent available chlorine and
dissolves easily in water.
ADVANTAGES When packaged, calcium hypochlorite is very stable, allowing a year’s supply
to be bought at one time.
LIMITATIONS
Calcium hypochlorite is a corrosive material with a strong odor that requires proper
handling. It must be kept away from organic materials such as wood, cloth, and petroleum
products. Reactions between calcium hypochlorite and organic material can generate
enough heat to cause a fire or explosion. Calcium hypochlorite readily absorbs moisture,
forming chlorine gas. Therefore, shipping containers must be emptied completely or
carefully resealed.
PROCESS
Calcium hypochlorite may be dissolved in a mixing/holding tank and injected in the same
manner as sodium hypochlorite. Alternatively, where the pressure can be lowered to
atmospheric, such as at a storage tank, tablets of hypochlorite can be directly dissolved in
the free flowing water by a proprietary device that provides flow-proportional chlorination
with gravity feed of the tablets.
Chloramine or Residual chlorine
Chloramines are formed when water containing ammonia is chlorinated or when ammonia
is added to water containing chlorine (hypochlorite or hypochlorous acid).
ADVANTAGES
An effective bactericide that produces fewer disinfection by-products, chloramine is
generated onsite. Usually, chloramine-forming reactions are 99 percent complete within a
few minutes.
LIMITATIONS
Chloramine is a weak disinfectant. It is much less effective against viruses or protozoa than
free chlorine. Chloramine is appropriate for use as a secondary disinfectant to prevent
bacterial regrowth in a distribution system. Nitrogen trichloride appears to be the only
detrimental reaction. It may be harmful to humans and imparts a disagreeable taste and
odor to the water. The use of the proper amounts of each chemical reactant will avoid its
production.
PROCESS
Chlorine (gaseous solution or sodium hypochlorite) is injected into the supply main
followed immediately by injection of ammonia (gaseous solution or as ammonium
hydroxide). As before, adequate mixing and contact time must be provided. The mix of
products produced when water, chlorine, and ammonia are combined depends on the ratio
of chlorine to ammonia and the pH of the water. Chlorine-to-ammonia ratios of 5:1 should
not be exceeded. If the pH drops below 5, some nitrogen trichloride may be formed.
 Disadvantages of Chlorination
The use of chlorine to disinfect water
produces various disinfection byproducts,
which have been classified mainly as
halogenated and non-halogenated
byproducts. These primary byproducts are
trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic
acids. THMs are the byproducts of
chlorination of water that contains natural
organic matter.
The most common THM compounds are
dibromochloromethane (CHClBr2),
bromoform (CHBr3), chloroform (CHCl3), and
dichlorobromomethane (CHCl2Br). The sum
of these four compounds is referred to as
Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs).
Why and how are THMs formed?
When chlorine is added to water with organic material, such as algae, river weeds, and
decaying leaves, THMs are formed. Residual chlorine molecules react with this harmless
organic material to form a group of chlorinated chemical compounds, THMs. They are
tasteless and odorless, but harmful and potentially toxic. The quantity of byproducts formed
is determined by several factors, such as the amount and type of organic material present in
water, temperature, pH, chlorine dosage, contact time available for chlorine, and bromide
concentration in the water. The organic matter in water mainly consists of a) humic substance,
which is the organic portion of soil that remains after prolonged microbial decomposition
formed by the decay of leaves, wood, and other vegetable matter; and b) fulvic acid, which is
a water soluble substance of low molecular weight that is derived from humus.
According to a University of Florida report, exposure to THMs may pose an increased risk of
cancer.
Ozone
Ozone is produced from oxygen exposed to a
high voltage current. Ozone is very effective at
destroying viruses and bacteria and
decomposes back to oxygen rapidly without
leaving harmful by products. Ozone is not very
economical due to high energy costs.
Ultraviolet Radiation
Ultra violet (UV) disinfection occurs when
electromagnetic energy in the form of light in
the UV spectrum produced by mercury arc
lamps penetrates the cell wall of exposed
microorganisms. The UV radiation retards the
ability of the microorganisms to survive by
damaging their genetic material. UV
disinfection is a physical treatment process
that leaves no chemical traces. Organisms can
sometimes repair and reverse the destructive
effects of UV when applied at low doses
Tertiary or Advanced Treatment
• Nitrification-denitrification process to remove N and P
• Filtration
• Carbon Adsorption
• Constructed (Man-made] Wetland
Advanced or tertiary treatment
Advanced treatment technologies can be extensions of conventional secondary
biological treatment to further stabilize oxygen-demanding substances in the
wastewater, or to remove nitrogen and phosphorus. Advanced treatment may also
involve physical-chemical separation techniques such as adsorption,
flocculation/precipitation, membranes for advanced filtration, ion exchange, and
reverse osmosis. In various combinations, these processes can achieve any degree of
pollution control desired. As wastewater is purified to higher and higher degrees by
such advanced treatment processes, the treated effluents can be reused for urban,
landscape, and agricultural irrigation, industrial cooling and processing, recreational
uses and water recharge, and even indirect augmentation of drinking water supplies.
Filtration
What happens to water during filtration? The second step
in a conventional water treatment system is filtration,
which removes particulate matter from water by forcing
the water to pass through porous media. The filtration
system consists of filters with varying sizes of pores, and is
often made up of sand, gravel and charcoal. The diameter
of a grain of fine sand is approximately 0.1 millimetre, so
only particles with diameters less than 0.1 millimetre
would pass through the fine sand layer. Filtration would
not be able to produce safe drinking water, if many
contaminants are much smaller than 0.1 millimetre (such
as viruses, which can be as small as 0.000001 millimetre in
diameter).
There are two basic types of sand filtration:
Slow sand filtration and
Rapid sand filtration

Slow sand filtration is a biological process, because it uses bacteria to treat the water. The bacteria
establish a community on the top layer of sand and clean the water as it passes through, by digesting
the contaminants in the water. The layer of microbes is called a schumtzdecke (or biofilm), and
requires cleaning every couple of months, when it gets too thick and the flow rate declines. After the
schumtzdecke is removed, the bacteria must be allowed several days to reestablish a community
before filtering can resume.

Slow sand filtration systems have been used for many years; the first systems operated in London in
the 19th century. However, slow sand filtration systems require large areas of land to operate,
because the flow rate of the water is between 0.1 and 0.3 metre per hour. Due to the land area that
is required and the down-time for cleaning, rapid sand filters, which were developed in the early
20th century, are much more prevalent today.
Rapid sand filtration is a physical process that removes suspended solids from the
water. Rapid sand filtration is much more common than slow flow sand filtration,
because rapid sand filters have fairly high flow rates and require relatively little space to
operate. In fact, during rapid sand filtration, the water flows at a rate up to 20 metres
per hour. The filters are generally cleaned twice per day with backwashing filters and are
put back into operation immediately.
What is removed during filtration?

The particles that are removed from the water during filtration depend upon the
size of filters that are used.
Slow sand filtration removes bacteria, protozoa and viruses, and produces
essentially clean water, though it is still advisable to use a disinfectant as a
precautionary measure.

Rapid sand filtration removes suspended particles, which may have bacteria
attached, but in general does not remove bacteria, protozoa, or viruses.

In water treatment plants, filtration removes a large number of contaminants, but

still requires disinfection to produce drinking water that is safe.

Though rapid sand filtration cannot effectively remove bacteria and viruses, it is an
important step in the water treatment process. Like coagulation, filtration can
remove the suspended and dissolved matter, so that disinfection is more
successful with a reduced amount of chlorine.
Membrane filtration
Nitrogen Control
Nitrogen in one form or another is present in municipal wastewater and is usually not
removed by secondary treatment. If discharged into lakes and streams or estuary waters,
nitrogen in the form of ammonia can exert a direct demand on oxygen or stimulate the
excessive growth of algae. Ammonia in wastewater effluent can be toxic to aquatic life in
certain instances.
By providing additional biological treatment beyond the secondary stage, nitrifying bacteria
present in wastewater treatment can biologically convert ammonia to the non-toxic nitrate
through a process known as nitrification. The nitrification process is normally sufficient to
remove the toxicity associated with ammonia in the effluent. Since nitrate is also a nutrient,
excess amounts can contribute to the uncontrolled growth of algae. In situations where
nitrogen must be completely removed from effluent, an additional biological process can be
added to the system to convert the nitrate to nitrogen gas. The conversion of nitrate to
nitrogen gas is accomplished by bacteria in a process known as denitrification. Effluent with
nitrogen in the form of nitrate is placed into a tank devoid of oxygen, where carbon-
containing chemicals, such as methanol, are added or a small stream of raw wastewater is
mixed in with the nitrified effluent. In this oxygen free environment, bacteria use the oxygen
attached to the nitrogen in the nitrate form releasing nitrogen gas. Because nitrogen
comprises almost 80 percent of the air in the earth’s atmosphere, the release of nitrogen into
the atmosphere does not cause any environmental harm.
Carbon adsorption
Carbon adsorption technology can remove organic materials from wastewater that resist
removal by biological treatment. These resistant, trace organic substances can
contribute to taste and odor problems in water, taint fish flesh, and cause foaming and
fish kills. Carbon adsorption consists of passing the wastewater effluent through a bed or
canister of activated carbon granules or powder which remove more than 98 percent of
the trace organic substances. The substances adhere to the carbon surface and are
removed from the water. To help reduce the cost of the procedure, the carbon granules
can be cleaned by heating and used again.