Waste Water Treatment

Avishek Bhattacharjee
M.Sc Biotechnology,2nd year
Elective Paper-EBT
Institute of Genetic Engineering
 Waste Water Treatment
Usually refer to sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater
treatment

process of removing contaminants from wastewater, both

runoff and domestic

SOURCE OF WASTE WATER

Residences (kitchen, bathroom)
Commercial institution
Industrial institution (usually require specialized treatment
process)
 Purpose:
 To manage water discharged from homes, businesses
, industries & to reduce the threat of water pollution.
To produce waste stream (effluent)

To produce solid waste (sludge)

To discharge or reuse them back into the

environment
 How can it be treated?
Collected and transported via a network of pipes and
pump stations to a municipal treatment plant
 Stages of water treatment
Primary
solids are separated
Secondary
dissolved biological matter is converted into a
solid mass by using water-borne bacteria
95% of the suspended molecules should be
removed
Tertiary
biological solids are neutralized then disposed,
and treated water may be disinfected chemically
or physically
 Types of Treatment
Mechanical treatment
• Influx (Influent)
• Removal of large objects
• Removal of sand and grit
• Primary Sedimentation
Biological treatment
• Trickling bed filter
• Activated sludge
Chemical treatment
• Disinfection
 Preliminary Treatment
- removes large objects and non-degradable materials
- protects pumps and equipment from damage
- bar screen and grit chamber
Bar Screen
- catches large objects that have
gotten into sewer system such as bricks,
bottles, pieces of wood, etc
Grit Chamber
-removes rocks, gravel, broken glass, etc.

Mesh Screen
- removes diapers, combs, towels, plastic bags,
syringes, etc.
 Treatment stages - Primary Treatment
typical materials that are removed during primary treatment include
fats, oils, and greases (eg. FOG)
sand, gravels and rocks (eg. grit)
larger settleable solids including human waste, and floating
materials
 Wastewater Treatment
Primary treatment reduces the suspended solids and the B.O.D.
of the wastewater.
From the primary treatment tanks water is pumped to the
trickling filter for secondary treatment.
Secondary treatment will further reduce the suspended solids
and B.O.D. of the wastewater.
 Treatment stages - Secondary Treatment or
Biological Treatment
Degrade biological content (dissolved organic matter) of the
sewage
Ex: human waste, food waste, soaps, detergent
Added bacteria and protozoa into sewage.3 different approaches
Fixed film system
Suspended film system
Lagoon system
 Three approaches
 Fixed Film Systems
grow microorganisms on substrates such as rocks, sand or plastic
wastewater is spread over the substrate
Ex: Trickling filters, rotating biological contactors

Trickling filters bed

Spread wastewater over
microorganism
made of coke (carbonised coal),
limestone chips or specially
fabricated plastic media
Optimize their thickness by insect
or worm grazing
 Secondary Treatment or Biological Treatment
& Role of Microorganisms

Suspended Film Systems

stir and suspend microorganisms in wastewater settled out as a sludge
pumped back into the incoming wastewater Ex: Activated sludge,
extended aeration
Activated sludge
Mixed community of microorganisms .Both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria
may exist. Biological floc is formed
 5 physical components of Activated
Sludge process
Aeration tank
oxygen is introduced into the system
Aeration source
ensure that adequate oxygen is fed into the tank
provided pure oxygen or compressed air
Secondary clarifiers
activated-sludge solids separate from the
surrounding wastewater
 Activated sludge

Activated sludge outflow

line
Pump activated sludge back
to the aeration tank
Effluent outflow line
discharged effluent into bay
or tertiary treatment plant
Lagoon Systems
hold the waste-water for several months
natural degradation of sewage
Usually reeds are preferred
 Role of Microorganisms….
A consortium of anaerobic microorganisms work together for degradation
Of sludge(or sewage) organic matter. They may be categorized into two types

1. Acid-Forming bacteria :Also known as acidogens or non-methanogenic

Bacteria. They bring out the hydrolysis of macromolecules (e.g.carbohydrate) to
simple substrates (e.g.monosaccharides), and the latter to acids e.g. Clostridium sp,
Lactobacillus sp, E.coli
1. a
2. Methanogenic Bacteria : These
bacteria, also refered to as
methanogens
Or methane formers are responsible for the
conversion of acetic acid and
Hydrogen to methane and
carbondioxide.The most important
methanogens
belong to the genera Methanobacterium,
Methanobacillus, Methanococcus
 Tertiary Treatment
Remove disease-causing organisms
from wastewater
There are four major processes
under the Tertiary Treatment
1. Solids removal
2. Biological nitrogen removal
3. Biological phosphorus removal
4. Disinfection
There are 3 different disinfection
process
1. Chlorination
2. UV light radiation
3. Ozonation
 BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN REMOVAL
NITRIFICATION: Ammonia(NH4+)
Nitrosomonas

Nitrite
Nitrobacter

Nitrate

DENITRIFICATION: Nitrate(NO3-)

Nitrite

Nitric oxide

Nitrous oxide

Nitrogen gas
 Biological Phosphorous Removal

The phosphorus enriched supernatant that comes out of the

phosphorus Stripper is treated with lime to precipitate the
phosphorus .The resultant Liquid supernatant can be returned to
the aeration tank for further treatment.
 Chlorination

Most common
Advantages: low
cost & effective
Disadvantages:
chlorine residue
could be harmful to
environment
 UV light radiation

Damage the genetic

structure of bacteria,
viruses and other
pathogens.
Advantages: no
chemicals are used
water taste more
natural
Disadvantages: high
maintenance of the
UV-lamp
 Ozonation
Oxidized most pathogenic microorganisms
Advantages: safer than chlorination fewer disinfection
by-product
Disadvantage: high cost
 Waste Water Treatment of some Industries
(Dairy)
Dairy facilities

Shed facilities
(washing of herd,
Milking, manure)

Anaerobic pond treatment

Aerobic Pond treatment

Treated
water
 Waste Water Treatment of some Industries
(Distillery)

Organic matter

Bacterial oxidation

Acids, Alcohols, New Bacterial cells

Aldehydes,ketones

Bacterial Oxidation

CO2,CH4,
NH3,H2S etc
 Waste Water Treatment of some Industries
(Tannery)

Biological Acidification

SLUDGE
NaHS Anaerobic sludge
Blanket reactor

SLUDGE
Processing of
sulfide

sulfur
Summary
 Conclusion
Disposal of wastewaters from an industrial plant is a difficult and
costly problem. Most petroleum refineries, chemical and Nuclear
plants ,Dairy and Tannery plants have onsite facilities to treat their
wastewaters so that the pollutant concentrations in the treated
wastewater comply with the local and/or national regulations
regarding disposal of wastewaters into community treatment plants
or into rivers, lakes or oceans. Constructed wetlands are being used
in an increasing number of cases as they provided high quality and
productive on-site treatment. Other Industrial processes that
produce a lot of waste-waters such as paper and pulp production has
created environmental concern leading to development of processes
to recycle water use within plants before they have to be cleaned
and disposed of. Treated wastewater can be reused as drinking
water, in industry (cooling towers), in artificial recharge of aquifers,
in agriculture and in the rehabilitation of natural ecosystems.
 REFERENCE

Biotechnology by U.Satyanarayan

wikipedia.org/wiki/Wastewater

Standard Methods of the Examination of Water and Wastewater

 Beychok, Milton R. (1967). Aqueous Wastes from Petroleum

and Petrochemical Plants (1st ed.). John Wiley &
s. LCCN 67019834.

 Tchobanoglous, G., Burton, F.L., and Stensel, H.D.

(2003). Wastewater Engineering (Treatment Disposal Reuse) /
Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill Book
Company. ISBN 0-07-041878-0.
Acknowledgements

I would like to thank

our Principal sir Dr.
Amit Chakrabarty &
also respected faculties
of our institution and my
classmates for helping me
to complete this project