Engineered Systems for Water Purification

- Many aquifers and isolated waters are of high water quality and may be pumped from the supply and transmission network
directly to any number of end uses, including human consumption, irrigation, industrial processes, or fire control. However,
such clean water sources are the exception to the rule, particularly in regions with dense populations or regions that are
heavily agricultural. Here, the water supply must receive varying degrees of treatment prior to distribution. A typical water
treatment plant is diagrammed. Such plants are made up of series of reactors or unit operations, with water flowing from
one to the next and when stacked in series, achieve a desired end product. Each operation is designed to perform a specific
function and the order of these operations is important.

KEY:
(1) Chemical mixing basin Coagulation & (4) Rapid sand filter
(2) Flocculating basin Flocculation (5) Disinfection with chlorine
(3) Settling tank (6) Clean water storage basin
(7) Pump for water distribution

1) Coagulation and Flocculation

- Raw surface water entering a water treatment facility usually has significant turbidity caused by tiny colloidal clay and silt particles.
These particles have a natural electrostatic charge that keeps them continually in motion and prevents them from colliding and
sticking together. Chemicals such as alum (aluminum sulfate) are added to water (stage 1), first to neutralize the charge on the
particles and then to aid in making the tiny particles sticky so they can coalesce and form large particles (stage 2). The purpose is
to clear the water of suspended colloidal solids by building large particles from the stable colloidal solids so that these large and
heavier particles could be readily settled out of water.
Coagulation the chemical alteration of the colloidal particles to make them stick together forming large particles called
flocs. It is the destabilization of the colloids. Two mechanisms are thought to be involved in coagulation.
1) Charge neutralization the aluminum ions are used to counter the charges on the colloidal particles. The
colloidal particles in natural waters are commonly negatively charged and when suspended in water, repel each other due
to their like charges. Aluminum ions in aluminum sulfate are positively charged and when these are drawn to the
negatively charges particles, they compress the negative charge on the particles, making them less stable in terms of their
charges. They form then larger particles.
2) Interparticle bridging this involves the sticking together of the colloidal particles by virtue of the
macromolecules formed by the aluminum hydroxides. The polymers bridge the gap between adjacent particles, thereby
creating larger particles. In addition, because aluminum hydroxide is soluble in low pH, there is a need to raise pH and that
is done by addition of calcium hydroxide. Some of the calcium precipitates as calcium carbonate which assist also in
settling.
Flocculation the physical combination of the coagulated particles forming flocs

Chemistry of Coagulation - Flocculation

1) Most particles dissolved in water have a negative charge, so they tend to repel each other. As a result, they stay
dispersed and dissolved or colloidal in the water
 Engineered Systems for Water Purification
2) Coagulants tend to be positively charged. Due to their positive charge, they are attracted to the negative particles in
the water
3) The combination of positive and negative charge results in a neutral, or lack, of charge. As a result, the particles no
longer repel each other. The next force which will affect the particles is known as van der Waal's forces. Van der
Waal's forces refer to the tendency of particles in nature to attract each other weakly if they have no charge.
4) Once the particles in water are not repelling each other, van der Waal's forces make the particles drift toward each
other and join together into a group. When enough particles have joined together, they become floc and will settle out
of the water.

(1) (2)

(3) (4)

2) Sedimentation or Settling
- Flocs formed must be separated from the water. This is done in gravity settling tank that simply allow the heavier than water to
settle at the bottom. The sludge in water treatment plants is aluminum hydroxides, calcium carbonates, and clays, is not highly
biodegradable and will not decompose at the bottom of the tank. Typically, sludge is removed every few weeks through a valve at
the bottom and is wasted either into sewer or into a sludge holding/ drying pond. Settling tanks work because the density of the
solids exceeds that of the liquid. The movement of a solid particle through a fluid under the pull of gravity is governed by a number
of variables such as particle size, particle shape, particle density, fluid density and fluid viscosity.
Important calculations:
1) Overflow rate (surface loading)
vo = Q (m3/s) = H (critical particle settling velocity)
A (m2) t
Velocity of the particles (vp) must overcome vo for it to settle
2) Residence time (retention time)
t = V (m3) = s
Q (m3/s)
3) Filtration
- Environmental engineers have learned to apply natural purification of water through its movement to soil and sand. They have
developed what is now known as the rapid sand filter. The operation of this process involves two phases, the filtration and
backwashing. The suspended solids that escape the flocculation and settling processes are caught on the filter sand particles and
eventually the rapid sand filter becomes clogged and must be cleaned through a process called backwashing. The suspended solids
 Engineered Systems for Water Purification
trapped within the filter are released and escape with the wash water. Other filters make use of activated carbon (powder or
granules in form) as filtering media in place of sand and gravel.

4) Disinfection
-Water is disinfected in order to destroy whatever pathogenic organisms present. The disinfectant commonly used is chlorine,
purchased as liquid but is released to the water as gas using a chlorine feeder system. The presence of a residual of active chlorine
in the water is an indication that no further organisms remain to be oxidized and that the water can be assumed to be free of
disease causing organisms. Usually, 5 mg/L is added but residual chlorine must be 2 mg/L to ensure disinfection. Possible
formation of the following compounds makes chlorination quite dangerous:
Formation of trihalogen methanes (THM), chlorinated phenols, halogenated methanes, ethanes and ethenes,
halogentaed polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorinated aldehydes and ketones.
- Chlorine dioxide can also be used as a disinfectant. It possesses theoretically 25 times greater oxidizing power than chlorine.
Advantages of using this as disinfectant are: no deterioration of taste and odor, formation of THM can be neglected, and it does not
react with ammonia. Drawbacks include, formation of toxic chlorite (ClO2-) and chlorate (ClO3-) which can cause
methemoglobinemia in babies just like nitrates if concentration in water exceeds 0.1 mg/L.
- Ozone is also used as disinfectant. This is produced from oxygen in pure form or from ionization of clean dry air. Drawbacks include
it being expensive. ( 2-3 times higher than chlorine)