Industrial
wastewater
Pre treatment techniques
1
2
Wastewater treatment Management
Generated as per the impurities involved
in their own specific application or
industrial processes.
Purpose for the treatment:
❑ Protect the environment
❑ Reduce impurities level below the local
pollution norms & desired treated water
application
3 September 25, 2023
Objective
Removal of suspended and floatable material
Treatment of biodegradable organics
Elimination of pathogenic organisms
To reduce generation of waste water from its source
To treat the wastewater at minimal running cost &
operation cost
To install the WWTP or ETP at lesser capital expenditure
To install the wastewater treatment process in small
foot print area
To achieve reusable quality from ETP or WWTP process
4 September 25, 2023
Treatment methods:
Conventional treatment methods
1. Preliminary processes
2. Primary treatment
3. Secondary or biological treatment
Advanced wastewater treatment
4. Tertiary treatment
5
Preliminary treatment
Process Consists of pumping, screening and grit
removal
Wastewater consists of floating and suspended solids
Purpose is to remove floating materials( dead bodies
of animals, pieces of wood, papers, rags, metal
containers, plastic or rubber containers, grease,
etc)and heavy settleable inorganic solids.
Reduces the BOD load of the wastewater by about 5
to 10%
o Effluent screening process
o Oil & grease removal process
o pH correction process
6
Various units involved:
Screens for removal of floating matter
Grit chambers or Detritus tanks for removal of sand and
grit
Comminutors for grinding or chopping large size
suspended solids
Floatation units, skimming tanks for removal of oils and
grease
Flow measuring units
Pumping
Pre – aeration
Flocculation with or without chemical additions are
practiced on high strength municipal wastes to
provide increased removal and prevent excess loads
on the secondary treatment processes.
7
Primary treatment
Larger suspended solids are removed from the
wastewater.
If no preliminary treatment is given, then the primary
treatment removes both the inorganic as well as
organic suspended solids
If preliminary treatment was done,
Sedimentation
Chemical coagulation
Sedimentation:
Practiced in all large municipal plants and must precede
conventional trickling filtration.
Chemicals are sometimes added in primary clarifiers to
assist in removal of finely divided and colloidal solids, or to
precipitate phosphorus.
Primary clarifiers are usually designed to remove particles
with settling rates of 0.3 to 0.7mm/s
8
Screening:
large materials like wooden pieces, metal pieces,
paper, rags, pebbles, fibres etc. are removed
rotary and circulation filters are used now a days in
modern industries to remove large materials
both methods are effective
reducing suspended solids and BOD
micro strainer is also used to remove five suspended
particles in some treatment processes
colloidal matter, ultra filters are also used although
they are costly
9 September 25, 2023
Neutralization:
When pH of the industrial waste is too high or too low then it should be
neutralized by acid or alkali and only neutral effluent should be
discharged into the nullah or public sewer.
Lime stone treatment: For acidic effluent, lime stone should be used
as it will form calcium compounds [CaCl2, CaBr2, Ca(NO3) or CaSO4]
depending upon the presence and amount of acid.
Caustic soda treatment: Although it is costly but also utilized for
neutralizing the acid. Here caustic soda is added in the effluent to make
the pH neutral. Only small amount of caustic soda is needed for this
work.
For neutralization of alkaline effluent the following techniques are used.
Carbon dioxide treatment: If factory is producing carbon dioxide then
only this method should be utilized for neutralizing the pH otherwise it
would be costlier. Here CO2 is passed in alkaline effluent to make its pH
almost 7.
10
Sulphuric acid treatment: This is the common
method of neutralizing alkaline effluent. Here
sulphuric acid is added in the effluent till pH
becomes almost 7.
Utilizing waste boiler – Flue gas: The stack gas which
contains about 12% carbon dioxide is utilized to
react alkaline effluent to make it neutral.
11 September 25, 2023
Equalization
pH of suspended solids, dissolved solids etc. vary
from the beginning to the last depending upon the
dilution, velocity and the amount of reactants etc
character of the effluent do not remain the same
equalization tank is necessary where effluent is
keep for 10 hours or more for the stabilization of pH
and BOD.
During equalization suspended solids settle down &
new acid of alkaline treatment becomes
economical.
equalization tank should of sufficient size so that it
may retain even the effluent of the whole day.
12
Generally rectangular basins are selected for this
purpose
How the arrangement for mechanical agitation is
also done for some time in the tank
Separation of suspended particles becomes more
easier.
Sedimentation:
• only employed for the settlement of suspended
particles by gravity.
• used in the beginning to settle down the solid
particles in a high suspension effluent.
13
Coagulation:
Silt particle of size 0.05 mm requires about 11 hours
to settle through a depth of 3 m
Clay particles of size 0.002 mm require about 4
days‘ time to settle the same height at normal
temperature about 25°C.
Water contains colloidal impurities which are even
finer than 0.0001 mm and which also carry
electrical charge on them.
Due to electrical charges they remain in motion
and never settle down.
Therefore when water is turbid due to presence of
such fine size and colloidal impurities, plain
sedimentation is of no use.
14 September 25, 2023
cont.
It is also not possible to provide detention periods
of longer than 4 — 9 hours. The coagulation
becomes necessary when the turbidity is more
than 40 — 55 ppm.
This process removes all these impurities within
reasonable period of 3 — 4 hours.
This chemical process is called coagulation and
the chemical used in the process is called
coagulant.
Principle of coagulation:
1. Floe formation, and
2. Electrical charges.
15
Floe formation:
When coagulant is added to the water and
thoroughly mixed, it produces a thick insoluble
gelatinous precipitate. This precipitate is called floe.
The floe has the property of arresting the suspended
impurities in water during its downward settlement
towards the bottom of the tank.
The gelatinous precipitate has therefore the property
of removing fine and colloidal particles quickly. The
coagulation process also removes colour and test in
general.
Electrical charges:
The flock ions are electrically charged (positive) while
all the colloidal particles have negative charge.
Therefore floes attract the colloidal particles and
cause their removal easily by settlement at bottom of
the vessel in which it is used.
16
The chemicals given below can be used as coagulants either
alone or in combination:
1. Sodium aluminate.
2. Sodium aluminate + Aluminium sulphate.
3. Aluminium sulphate.
4. Sodium aluminate + Ferric chloride.
5. Aluminium chloride (but used under exceptional circumstances only).
6. Aluminium sulphate + caustic soda.
7. Ferric chloride alone.
8. Aluminium sulphate + hydrated lime.
9. Polyelectrolytes.
10. Ferrous sulphate.
11. Copper sulphate.
12. Sodium aluminate + Magnesium chloride.
13. Copper sulphate + hydrated lime.
14. Ferric sulphate + hydrated lime.
15. Ferrous sulphate + hydrated lime.
16. Ferrous sulphate + chlorine.
17. Potassium permanganate + ferrous sulphate.
18. Magnesium carbonate.
17
Magnesium Carbonate:
(i) It removes turbidity and colour.
(ii) Floes formed are heavier than formed by other
processes and thus detention period is very much
reduced.
(iii) It removes iron and manganese completely.
(iv) It is possible to recycle and reuse the coagulant by
passing the sludge through water containing
carbon dioxide as follows:
Mg (OH)2 + CO2 → MgCO3 + H2O
18
Aluminium Sulphate
It is also known as alum or filter alum. Its chemical
composition is Al2(SO4)3.18H2O
Alum is in most common use due to following reasons:
(i) In addition to turbidity it also reduces taste and odour.
(ii) It produces clear water. In other words, it is very efficient
type of coagulant.
(iii) Floes formed by it are more stable and heavy than that
formed by other coagulants.
(iv) It is not harmful to health.
19 September 25, 2023
Primary treatment (Basic clean-up/physical methods)
– Filtration (dual media, carbon, sand filters)
– Screening, grit removal, and sedimentation for sludge/solid
removal
Secondary (removes85–95%ofBOD/CODandTSS;20–40%P;
0–50%N)
– Neutralization/stabilization
– Coagulation/clarification
– Biological treatment (aerobic/anaerobic)
– Physico-chemical methods
– Hybrid separations
Tertiary/Polishing treatment (removes >99% of pollutants)
– Adsorption/ion exchange/membranes
– Hybrid separations.
20 September 25, 2023
21 September 25, 2023
Precipitation
Goal of the precipitation portion of the wastewater
treatment process is to remove soluble metal ions
and phosphates from water
The chemicals most often employed are
compounds of calcium, aluminium, and iron.
Gas concrete (produced from mixtures of silica,
sand, cement, lime, water, and aluminium cake)
waste was used to remove phosphate from pure
aqueous solutions
High phosphate removal (> 95% in 10 min, batch
system) was obtained from a 33 mg/L P solution
22 September 25, 2023
Oil and Grease removal
Sewage may also contain quantities of oil and grease,
cooking in the homes and is therefore organic in nature
Excessive O&G combined with particulates may blind
downstream screens.
O&G may then continue into the aeration basins and
interfere with oxygen transfer in the biological
processes there
Excessive quantities of O&G entering these biological
reactors may also result in “mud-balling” of the biomass
where the latter agglomerate into small ball-like
structures. In this instance a simple perforated baffle
plate has been mounted in it. This served to remove
some of the O&G present in the raw wastewater and is
therefore a simple oil trap. The drain may eventually
lead to a baffled tank O&G trap as shown in Fig
Application of such O&G traps early in the treatment
train is useful for wastewaters such as palm oil refinery
effluents where the suspended solids content is
relatively low while the O&G content can be high.
23 September 25, 2023
Covered drain leading to the collection sump of
an IWTP
24 September 25, 2023
Baffle plate O&G trap
inserted into a surface drain
leading to the IWTP at a palm
oil refinery. The effectiveness
of such a simple device may
be seen from the O&G
accumulated behind the
baffle plate. While not
reducing the wastewater’s
O&G content to the required
levels, the trap significantly
reduced the O&G load
which would otherwise be
imposed on the next unit
process
25 September 25, 2023
Adsorption
Capacity of a solid particle to attract molecules to
its surface. Powdered carbon mixed with water
can adsorb and hold many different organic
impurities.
Effective method for removing dissolved organic
substances that cause tastes, odours, or colours is
adsorption by activated carbon.
When the carbon is saturated with impurities, it is
cleaned or reactivated by heating to a high
temperature in a special furnace.
applications in drinking water treatment, the food
industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the chemical
and petrochemical industries, and wastewater
treatment
26 September 25, 2023
The attraction of a specific molecule is believed to
be due to action of surface forces that are
responsible for the interaction with it.
Apart from purely physical forces such as van der
Waals forces, both physisorption and chemisorption
along with electrostatic attraction can play an
important role in the overall adsorption process.
Depends on the nature of the adsorbent, substrate
molecules and surface molecules, surface
modification, presence of acidic or basic groups
on surfaces, and doping of the metal ions of
specific functionality on the surfaces.
27 September 25, 2023
uses
Odour and colour removal, removal of acids, removal of
metals, and removal of refractory pollutants in the
chemical industry.
Inorganic Adsorbents
Zeolites
(A, X, Y, ZSM-5, silicalite, ALPO)
Oxides
(Silica, alumina)
Organic Adsorbents
Activated carbon
(powder, granules, molecular sieves, carbon fibre)
Polymeric adsorbents
Ion exchange resins
Biomass-derived adsorbents
28 September 25, 2023
Heavy metal removal
Removal of cyanides, removal of chromium and
removal of all other metals, oil and grease.
1. Chlorination gas
2. Hypochlorites
3. Ozonation
4. Acidification
5. Ion exchange etc.
Chromium bearing plating wastes are normally
segregated from cyanide wastes and they must be
reduced and acidified before precipitation.
The removal of other metals such as Cu, Zn, Ni, Fe
and grease is usually accomplished by
neutralization followed by chemical precipitation.
29 September 25, 2023
Examples
Mn
Occurs from Ceramics, pickling, ore processing,
glass making, alloy, electrical coil manufacturing industry, and
dry cell batteries
Limits: 1–5 mg/L as Mn; 0.05 mg/L as minimum soluble
manganese allowable in fresh water
Process: Oxidizing the water soluble Mn(II) to insoluble Mn(IV) in
the form of MnO2 using KMnO4, can be coupled with
coagulation. Key parameters: coagulant dose, initial
concentration of soluble Mn, and KMnO4. Low pH is
unfavorable. Removal of over 90% could be obtained at
elevated pH>9. Further Mn removal: using chelating polymer
such as polyacrylic acid or using hydrogen peroxide+NF.
Adsorbents like zeolites, activated carbons, manganese oxide
coated sand (Lee et al., 2009), iron oxide coated sand, KMnO4
activated carbon, polymeric adsorbents such as amberlite
XAD-7 and XAD-8 may be used for Mn removal. Biological
methods involving microbes that are able to oxidize soluble
Mn(II) to insoluble MnO2 can remove up to 95%.
30 September 25, 2023
Pb
Source: Storage battery industry, paints, lead
additives, oils, and mining industry
Method: Currently, the widely applied method of
wastewater treatment for lead removal consists of the
electrochemical method, biosorption, coagulation, and
ion exchange. The major difficulty is regeneration of the
resin for the ion exchange technique and pH adjustment
in case of coagulation because lead hydroxide is only
moderately soluble. On an average, storage battery lead
cells have initial concentration 4 mg/L and pH 1–2.
Recently, magnetic metal oxide nanoparticles such as
g-Fe3O4 have been devised for removal of heavy metals
like Pb with maximum removal efficiency at pH 5.5.
Adsorption with activated carbon and hybrid processes
such as magnetic nano adsorbent plus adsorption are
gaining importance in light of ever-increasing stringent
regulations for discharge of this particular heavy metal.
31 September 25, 2023
Aerobic Treatment
Organisms involved in biological wastewater
treatment are invisible to the naked eye.
Bacteria, fungi, plants, with viruses representing a
special group of their own - “biochemical reactors,”
Advantage of an aerobic treatment is that
oxidative degradation of the carbon substrates
provides the energy required for propagation of the
microorganisms that act as the biocatalyst.
Microorganisms also perform the role of sorbents
that bind both organic substances and heavy
metals, subsequently aiding their decomposition
and/or removal.
September 25, 2023
32
Following aspects are to be carefully evaluated:
The concentration of nutrients in the wastewater should
not be too low.
As many suitable organisms as possible should be
present within the bulk (bacterial retention) to ensure
stable biocenosis.
The bacteria must be provided with an adequate
supply of oxygen to support aerobic metabolism
(aeration).
The three reaction partners—bacteria, substrate, and
dissolved oxygen— must be brought together using
appropriate design.
The growth rates for the different bacteria must be well
matched (sludge age).
The optimal environmental conditions (pH,
temperature) for biological degradation must be
established.
33 September 25, 2023
The commonest form of aerobic process is the
activated sludge process, which is now
approximately 100 years old.
Steps:
1. Wastewater aeration in the presence of a microbial
suspension.
2. Solid-liquid separation following aeration.
3. Discharge of clarified effluent.
4. Disposal of excess biomass and return of remaining
biomass to the aeration tank.
34 September 25, 2023
Anaerobic Treatment
anaerobic fermentation, the formation of methane,
alcohols, ketones, and organic acids is important.
Biogas as a by product is utilized to meet the energy
requirements.
This gas contains methane and carbon dioxide in a 1:1
to 3:1 ratio, together with hydrogen sulfide to an extent
that depends on the sulfate content of the substrate, as
well as traces of nitrogen and hydrogen
growth of anaerobic microorganisms is a function of
numerous factors, including residence time,
temperature, redox potential, pH, and nutrient
composition.
three groups of microorganisms are involved in the
degradation of complex organic
molecules—acidogenic bacteria, acetogenic bacteria,
and methanogenic bacteria
35 September 25, 2023
Advantages
Cost and energy-intensive oxygen transfer is avoided.
No large aerators are required.
Space–time yields (bioreactor performances) are far
better than in the activated-sludge process because of
the limitations imposed by oxygen transfer.
Since oxygen is not used, aerosol formation is avoided
apart from stripping out the volatile components.
There is effective removal of heavy metals through
reductive precipitation (as heavy-metal sulfides) rather
than oxidative precipitation.
Energy is utilized in the form of biogas.
The anaerobic process represents true waste disposal
with very little sludge generated. Nearly 95% of the
organic contamination is converted into a combustible
gas.
36 September 25, 2023
Schematic of anaerobic biological wastewater treatment
process
37 September 25, 2023
38 September 25, 2023
Sequence batch reactors
39 September 25, 2023
Also act as clarifier where the settle phase allows
the solids/biomass to settle and there is no air flow,
no mechanical mixing.
The activated sludge settled in the form of floc
mass also called as sludge blanket
It separates the clear liquid from the solid which
can easily drain out without allowing the solid to
come out. Aerobic granules have very low settling
time and very compact shape so that they can
easily separate the treated liquid from itself and
completely settle down very fast.
40 September 25, 2023
41 September 25, 2023
High rate Reactors
High-rate sludge bed reactors are characterized
by a very small footprint and high applicable
volumetric loading rates. Best performances are
obtained when the sludge bed consists of highly
active and well settleable granular sludge.
In countries such as the Netherlands, the over 90%
reduction in sludge production significantly
contributed to the economics of the plant,
whereas the high loading capacities of
anaerobic high-rate reactors allowed for 90%
reduction in space requirement, both compared
to conventional activated sludge systems.
42 September 25, 2023
High amounts of highly concentrated wastewaters
from the food processing and beverages
industries, distilleries, pharmaceutical industries,
and pulp and paper mills suddenly required
treatment.
From the 1970s onwards, high-rate anaerobic
treatment is particularly applied to organically
polluted industrial wastewaters coming from the
agro-food sector and the beverage industries
43 September 25, 2023
44 September 25, 2023
BOD Estimation
45 September 25, 2023
46 September 25, 2023
