Waste Water Treatment

(Sewage Treatment)
 Outline
• Objectives
• Outline of treatment process (flow diagram)
• Preliminary treatment
• Primary treatment (sedimentation)
• Secondary treatment (activated sludge, filtration)
• Sludge treatment
• Disinfection
• Tertiary treatment
 Objective of Sewage Treatment
 To prevent pollution of the receiving water
 To prevent offensive odour in the water
 To prevent the destruction aquatic life
 If the sewage has to be disposed of on land,
the soil will become sewage sick after some
time and cannot take any more sewage
 Outline of Sewage Treatment
 Preliminary treatment
 Primary treatment
 Secondary treatment
 Disinfecting
 Tertiary Treatment
 Preliminary Treatment

• Waster water contains floating suspended

solids such as rags, wood, metal, plastic,
etc.
• these suspended impurities have to be
removed as they interfere with the treatment
processes or mechanical equipment.
 Primary Treatment
• consists of mainly the sedimentation
process to remove suspended organic solids
• Chemicals are sometimes added in primary
clarifier to assist in the removal of finely
divided and colloidal solids or to precipitate
phosphorous
 Secondary or Biological
Treatment
• Activated sludge process
• Filtration
 Activated sludge process
• the sewage is biologically treated.
 Filtration
• is done in contact beds or intermittent sand
filters or tricking filters.
• It removes finely divided suspended matter.
 Sludge & Effluent
• The semi-solid that settles down at the
bottom after treatment,is called sludge
• liquid to be discharged is called effluent.
 Disinfecting
• Disinfecting is carried out if necessary by
chlorination to kill the bacteria which
remain in the effluent of sewage
 Tertiary Treatment

• If the receiving water provides only little

dilution or there is a need to preserve a
particularly high quality of effluent, tertiary
treatment can be used.
PRELIMINARY TREATMENT
 Objectives

 Remove coarse suspended and floating

matter such as rags, plastic, pieces of wood,
etc., by means of screening
 Remove grit, sand, broken glass, etc., in grit
chambers
 Remove grease, and oil substances by
floatation in skimming tanks
 Processes
 Screening
 Silt and grit removal
 Oil and grease removal
PRIMARY TREATMENT
 PRIMARY TREATMENT
 Primary sedimentation tank
 (Secondary sedimentation tank) -
sedimentation after activated sludge process
 Advantages
• The advantages of coagulation over plain
sedimentation are:
 Sedimentation by coagulation is more
effective
 BOD, colour and turbidity are reduced
 Less capacity of sedimentation tanks
 The process is simple
 Disadvantages
• The disadvantages are:
 Chemicals destroy the bacteria that digest
the sludge
 Chemicals increase the cost of
sedimentation
 Skilled supervision is required
 Large quantity of sludge is produced
SECONDARY TREATMENT
SECONDARY TREATMENT
• The secondary treatment converts the
remaining organic matter into stable form
by putting aerobic and anaerobic bacteria
into action
 Processes
 Filtration
 Activated sludge process
 Filtration
• Aerobic bacteria need a contact surface to
live and carry out their activities
 Filtration
 Contact beds
 Intermittent sand filters
 Trickling filters
 Contact Beds
• A contact bed consists of filtering medium.
• When the sewage is passed over the
medium, a thin film is produced around the
particles.
• The bacteria present in the film oxidise the
organic matter.
 Intermittent Sand Filter
• the filtering medium consists of sand.
• The action of the filter is due to:
 Mechanical straining and
– Bacterial action
 Trickling Filters
• A trickling filter is an artificial bed of stone
or broken brick material
• waste water is distributed an applied in
drops, films or spray
• A zoogleal film is formed on the surface
media.
 ACTIVATED SLUDGE
PROCESS
• is a biological sewage treatment process
• a mixture of sewage and activated sludge is
agitated and aerated.
• The activated sludge is subsequently
separated from the treated sewage by
sedimentation
What is ACTIVATED SLUDGE
• is that sludge which settles down after the
sewage has been freely aerated and agitated
for a certain time.
 How Activated Sludge works
• Activated sludge contains numerous
bacteria and other microorganisms. When
it is mixed with raw sewage saturated with
oxygen, the bacteria perform:
– Oxidise the organic solids
 Promote coagulation and flocculation and
convert the colloidal and suspended solids into
settable solids
 Steps in Activated Sludge
process
• Treat raw sewage in the primary settling tank
• mix sewage with the activated sludge and
aerated for 4-10 hours
• final (secondary) settling tank
• dispose of effluent
• return some sludge to the aeration tanks
• dispose of the rest of the sludge
 Advantages
• Gives clear sparkling treated effluent
• Effluent free from offensive odour
• Degree of purity can be varied as desired
• Cost of installation lesser than for a
trickling filter
• Small loss of head in the process
 Disadvantages
 Skilled supervision and constant check on
the return sludge is necessary
 When there is change in the quality or
quantity of sewage, the process is upset
 The process does not work for some
industrial wastes
 Large volume of sludge increases difficulty
in disposal
 Methods of Aeration
• The success of the activated sludge process
depends on the aeration provided.
 Diffused air aeration
 Mechanical aeration
 Combination of the above two methods
TERTIARY TREATMENT
 TERTIARY TREATMENT
• MICROSTRAINERS
• RAPID GRAVITY SAND FILTERS
• UPWARD-FLOW “MEDUIM” SAND FILTERS
• SLOW SAND FILTERS
• PEBBLE-BED CLARIFIERS
• SETTLEMENT
• GRASS PLOTS
• LAGOONS
SLUDGE TREATMENT AND
DISPOSAL
 Sludge
• Sludge is a semi-liquid
• Sludge produced by plain sedimentation
• Sludge produced by chemical
precipitation
• Trickling filter
• Activated sludge
 Methods of Disposal
• Disposal on land
• Drying on drying beds
• Dumping into the sea
• Heat-drying
• Incineration
• Lagooning or ponding
• Sludge Digestion
 Sludge Digestion
• It transforms a portion of solids into
liquids and gases, thereby reducing the
sludge volume to be dealt with

• It breaks the organic matter of sludge

into simpler compounds by the action of
anaerobic bacteria.