Module 6-2

CHG 519
Environmental Pollution Engineering
Module VI
Industrial Wastewater Management
Examining the Key words
 WATER
 WASTE(water)
 (wastewater) MANAGEMENT
 INDUSTRIAL (wastewater management)
2
Water – the medium of life
Distribution of w ater on the earth's surface
Ocean
Salty waters
Soil content, Atmosphere
3 Available for life on earth
Distribution of water on earth, and
Operations and Mechanisms within the water cycle
Volumes in tera cubic

metres 10^12 m^3
Atmosphere 13
Snow and ice 26,000
Infiltration 150
Lakes 230
Rivers 1.7
Groundwater
flow 7000
Oceans 1,350,4000
4
Waste(water)
Waste is an ‘unwanted’ thing that has to be disposed and can
come from domestic, agricultural, shipping and industrial (i.e. the major sources
of water pollution – next slide)
Disposal methods cause harm to the environment

and to human health.
Case Histories
 Erin Brockovich – Chromium poisoning, of the water table, from a
compressor station
 Minamata bay - mercury poisoning (in fish) from a factory that

uses mercury catalyst in making acetaldehyde
Brittle bone syndrome – Cadmium poisoning ( in rice) from metal
plating and battery industries
5
Main Sources of Wastewaters (water Pollution)
 Natural – decaying vegetable matter and other materials

being washed out of the soil and into the water
 Domestic (Municipal)
 Agricultural
 Shipping
 Industrial – this is of interest because it is highly
variable and depends on the industry.
6
Wastewater Management
Taking DECISIONS on how best to deal with

the ‘unwanted’ wastewater so as NOT TO
CAUSE HARM to human health (directly or
indirectly) and the environment (the surface water and
the marine life)
Note that if discharge is intermittent the water is able to return to a clean and unpolluted
condition as pollutants are flushed out to sea and also broken down by organic matter –
Self-purification capacity of water
Decisions -- Prevention, Minimization, Treatment
7
Wastewater characteristics
The effective management of any wastewater requires a reasonably

accurate knowledge of its characteristics, which can be classified
as:
– Physical
– Chemical
– Biological
8
Physical Characteristics
 Solids Suspended solids

Dissolved solids
Colloids
 Odour
 Taste
 Colour / Turbidity
 Temperature T => metabolic rate & DO
9
chemical Characteristics
 pH – measure of acidity/alkalinity
 Alkalinity (Hardness)
 Organic content Total Organic Carbon, TOC

Biochemical Oxygen Demand, BOD
Chemical Oxygen Demand
10 COD – BOD = measure of non biodegradable matter

chemical Characteristics – contd.
THE BOD5 Test
 The BOD of a wastewater is defined as the amount of oxygen required by

aerobic microorganisms to (partially) oxidize the organic matter in a known
volume of wastewater according to a standardized test
 BOD is typically expressed in mg of oxygen/L of wastewater
 The test consists of incubating for a fixed period of time ( 5 days) a sample
of the wastewater (appropriately diluted) at constant temperature, and
measuring the amount of residual oxygen at the end of the test to determine
the amount of oxygen consumed
11
Typical BOD and COD values for variuos effluents
12
chemical Characteristics – contd.
 Oil & Grease - Reduces rate of oxygen transfer from air to water
and affects insects and others that float or adhere to the water surface
 Total Nitrogen & Total Phosphorus

– Responsible for growth of aquatic life ->algal bloom -> eutrophication. (
Plants require this nutrients in very small concentrations, when present in
large amounts, they fertilize the water for algae to grow. This excessive
growth of algae is known as algae bloom. This covers the water body and
hinder sunlight from getting to organisms at the bottom, thus hindering their
growth. On dying they decay and deplete the oxygen which eventually
leads to fish kill, and eutrophication of the water body. (see slides 14– 17)
 Priority Pollutants (Toxic pollutants)

– These are compounds selected on the basis of their known or suspected
carinogenicity, mutagenicity and teratogenicity (birth defects), they include:
Nitrates, cyanides and heavy metals ( slides 18-22)
13
14
Flowchart for
Organic Pollution / Eutrophication
15
Eutrophication
16
Why are lakes more susceptible to
eutrophcation?
17
Toxic Pollutants
 Heavy metals  Nitrates

atomic wt. >23 and sp,gr >5 in babies, nitrates get converted
to nitrite by the bacteria in the
In terms of environmental
digestive system. These nitrites
impact, most important ones
combine with haemoglobin in
are : Mercury,
the bloodstream - (met-
Lead, haemoglobin-aemia) and inhibit
Cadmium and oxygen distribution around the
Arsenic body
– BLUE BABY SNYDROME
 Cyanide also attaches to the
Hb, impairing oxygen transport
18
Toxic Pollutants
Toxicity of materials depends on pH:

– Nickel cyanide complex is 500 times more toxic to fish at pH 7 than at pH 8
bcos the complex dissociates into cyanide and nickel ions. Cyanide forms
hydrogen cyanide HCN
– Ammonia is 10 times more toxic at pH 8 than at pH 7
The two significant groups of toxic pollutants are:

 Heavy metals, and
 Synthetic Organic substances – do not easily biodegrade
naturally, e.g pesticides (DDT), therefore bioaccumulates –
remains in the body, not broken down by digestion, and
biomagnifies, up the food chain. Also called
Persistent (stubborn) Organic Pollutants
19
concentration increases 10 fold as biomass is transferred from one
level of the food chain to the next
The concentration of DDT tends to

increase in food chain from one level to
the next.
Those at the top of the food chain receive
the largest doses.
Biomagnification of DDT is due to:
1) high solubility in tissue fats; low in water;
2) very low rate of metabolism; low loss from
body;
3) biomass transfer from one level of the food
. chain to next.
20
Toxicity of some chemicals in small mammals
Toxicity is
measured by LD50
- i.e. Lethal dose large
enough to kill 50% of the
sample of animals under
test
21
Observed effect of pH on fish
22
Biological Characteristics
 Bacteria
 Viruses
 Fungi
 Protozoa
 Algae
Biological pollutants can spread disease through water, and also disrupt
ecology. The total coliform test is used for biological characteristics
estimate
23
24
Summarised effect
of different pollutants
based on
their classifications
26
27
28
29
Variation in DO in a day- DO replenishment is
greatest in the afternoon, during photosynthesis, and this would be the best
time to discharfe effluents to river bodies
30
Effect of Waste Water Characteristics on the Water Ecosystem
SUN
Phytoplankton
(e.g. algae) Death
Zooplankton &
(e.g. worms) decay
Plankton Big Fish

Predators
A simplified water food chain

31
A Simple food chain experiment
Shows the dependence of organisms in the

water body on each other – Symbiosis.
1 2 3
Snail Algae Algae

No Algae No Snail Snail
Result Death Death Both survive
32
Biogeochemical cycles of life
Life in general is made up of chemical elements,

which exists in the right amounts (quantity), the right concentrations (quality), and the
right ratios to one another.
The big six macronutrients (they form the fundamental buidling blocks
of life) are:
Carbon - along with H and O form carbohydrates

Nitrogen - along with C, H and O form proteins
Phosphorus – energy element, used for the transfer and use of
energy within cells
Others are Calcium –structure element
33 Sodium, Potassium - for nerve signal transmission
Carbon cycle in the water body
34
The carbon cycle and the effect of wastewater
Death &
decay
Organic
Carbon
Waste Anaerobic
bacteria
Fauna
Death &
decay Decomposition
by aerobic bacteria +
Photosynthesis
Flora dissolved oxygen CH4
+ nutrients
Dissolved CO2
What’s the effect of adding wastewater with

high suspended solids and high BOD?
35
The Nitrogen cycle and the effect of wastewater
36

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Module 6-2

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CHG 519

Environmental Pollution Engineering

 INDUSTRIAL (wastewater management)

Volumes in tera cubic

Disposal methods cause harm to the environment

 Minamata bay - mercury poisoning (in fish) from a factory that

 Natural – decaying vegetable matter and other materials

Taking DECISIONS on how best to deal with

Decisions -- Prevention, Minimization, Treatment

The effective management of any wastewater requires a reasonably

 Solids Suspended solids

 Organic content Total Organic Carbon, TOC

Chemical Oxygen Demand

10 COD – BOD = measure of non biodegradable matter

THE BOD5 Test

 The BOD of a wastewater is defined as the amount of oxygen required by

 BOD is typically expressed in mg of oxygen/L of wastewater

 Total Nitrogen & Total Phosphorus

 Priority Pollutants (Toxic pollutants)

 Heavy metals  Nitrates

Toxicity of materials depends on pH:

The two significant groups of toxic pollutants are:

The concentration of DDT tends to

Plankton Big Fish

A simplified water food chain

Shows the dependence of organisms in the

Snail Algae Algae

Result Death Death Both survive

Life in general is made up of chemical elements,

Carbon - along with H and O form carbohydrates

What’s the effect of adding wastewater with

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