CE312-Fall-20/21 2/2/2021

Dr. Alanood Alkhaled

Ch.4: Water & Wastewater Treatment

2/2/2021 CE312 / Dr. A.Alkhaled Slide 1

Classification of treatment methods

 Contaminants in water and wastewater are removed by
physical, chemical and biological means. Therefore,
the specific methods are classified as physical unit
operations, chemical unit processes, biological unit
processes.

 Although several of these operations and processes are

combined in most treatment systems, we will study
each type separately.

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Classification of treatment methods

 Physical unit operations
 Treatment operations in which change is brought about through the
application of physical forces.
 Typical unit operations include screening, mixing, sedimentation,
filtration.
 Chemical unit processes
 Treatment processes in which the removal or treatment of
contaminants is brought about by the addition of chemicals or by
chemical reactions.
 Important examples are chemical precipitation and disinfection
 Biological unit processes
 Treatment processes in which the removal of contaminants is
brought about by biological means.
 The best known example is activated sludge treatment of the
organic matter in wastewater.

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2/2/2021 CE312 / Dr. A.Alkhaled Slide 5

Wastewater treatment levels

 Wastewater treatment level
depends on the effluent discharge
requirements.
 Wastewater treatment schemes are
often identified as primary,
secondary, or advanced ( also
known as tertiary).
 In pretreatment:
 The objective of pretreatment is to
provide protection to the wastewater
treatment plant (WWTP) equipment
that follows.

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Dr. Alanood Alkhaled

Wastewater treatment levels

 In primary treatment:
 To remove from wastewater those pollutants that will either settle
or float.
 A portion of the suspended solids and organic matter is removed
(about 60% of suspended solids in raw sewage) usually using
physical operations such as screening and sedimentation.
 Effluent from primary treatment will ordinarily contain
considerable organic material and high BOD (only 35% of BOD5 is
usually removed from raw sewage).
 Soluble pollutants are not removed.

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Wastewater treatment levels

 In Secondary treatment:

 Further treatment is conducted on the effluent from primary

treatment to remove residual organic matter and suspended
material.
 In general, biological processes employing microorganisms are
used to accomplish secondary treatment.
 Effluent from secondary treatment usually have low BOD5 and
suspended solids (may remove more than 85% of BOD5 and
suspended solids). The effluent may contain several mg/L of DO.
 Does not remove significant amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, or
heavy metals, nor does it completely remove pathogenic bacteria
and viruses.

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Dr. Alanood Alkhaled

Wastewater treatment levels

 Advanced (tertiary) treatment (AWT):
 Mostly used if water is required for water reuse or control of
eutrophication.
 AWT removes suspended and dissolved materials
remaining after secondary treatment.
 AWT can remove up to 99% of BOD5, phosphorus,
suspended solids and bacteria, and 95% of the nitrogen.

 Some of the impurities removed from the wastewater

breakdown into harmless CO2 and water. Most are
removed as a solid (sludge). Therefore, sludge handling
and disposal must be carried out carefully for adequate
pollution control.
2/2/2021 CE312 / Dr. A.Alkhaled Slide 9

Pretreatment
 Bar racks (bar screens): Removes large objects that would
damage or foul pumps, valves and other mechanical equipment
(e.g. rags, logs, etc). Types of Bar racks (or bar screens) include
trash racks, manually cleaned racks, and mechanically cleaned
racks.
 Grit champers:
 Grit is inert dense material such as sand, broken glass, silt and
pebbles.
 Grit abrade pumps and other mechanical devises causing undue
wear.
 Grit also settles in corners and bends causing reduced flow or
clogging pipes & channels.
 Most common types of grit-removal devices:
 Velocity controlled grit chambers.
 Aerated grit chambers.

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Pretreatment – Comminutors and Macerators

 Comminutors: Devices that are used to macerate
wastewater solids (rags, paper, plastic, etc) by revolving
cutting bars.
 Most commonly used in small WWTPs with flows less
than 0.2 m3/s.
 Comminutors are used in place of downstream bar racks.
 Comminutors are placed downstream of grit chambers to
protect their cutting bars from abrasion.
 One disadvantage is that they can produce ropes of rags or
plastic that accumulates on downstream equipment.

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Pretreatment – Comminutors & Macerators

 Macerators:
 slow speed grinders.
 One type consists of counter-rotating blades that chops
material as it passes between the blades. The chopping
reduces the potential of producing ropes of rags or
plastic

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Pretreatment – Equalization
 Wastewater flows varies from hour to hour in amount and
strength.

 Equalization basins are used to reduce hourly variations

such that wastewater can be treated at nearly constant
rates.

 Equalization :
 improves the effectiveness of secondary and advanced
wastewater treatment.
 Allows for the design of treatment units based on average
flows instead of maximum flows  prevents oversized units.

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Pretreatment – Equalization
 Flow equalization is achieved by constructing large basins
that collect and store wastewater flow, and from which
flow is pumped to the treatment plant at a constant rate.

 Equalization basins are located downstream of other

pretreatment facilities (e.g. bar screens, comminutors, etc.)
and at the head of treatment works.

 Adequate aeration and mixing should be provided in

equalization basins to prevent odors and solids deposition.

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Ch.4: Water & Wastewater Treatment

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Example
Design an equalization basin for the given cyclic flow pattern. Provide 25%
excess capacity. Evaluate the impact of equalization on mass loading of
BOD5.

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Col.3 Col.4 Col.5 Col.6 Col.7 Col.8 Col.9 Col.10

∆V, Vs = Σ∆V, m3

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Dr. Alanood Alkhaled

Solution
From the table
(column #6), the
maximum volume
accumulating in
the equalization
basin during the
24-hr cycle is
863.74m3
∆V =  Volume of the
∆V
equalization basin
= 863.74 m3 x 1.25 =
Σ∆V = 1,079.68m3  1,080
Σ∆V m3

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⸪ mixing problem:
1) ∑ 𝑄 = ∑ 𝑄
2) ∑ 𝐶 𝑄 = ∑ 𝐶 𝑄

For both equations, multiply each side by time (∆t) :

1) ∑ 𝑉 = ∑ 𝑉  𝑉 +𝑉 = 𝑉
2) ∑ 𝐶 𝑉 = ∑ 𝐶 𝑉
 (𝐵𝑂𝐷 ) 𝑉 +𝑆 𝑉 = 𝑆 𝑉
( )
𝑆 =

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Introduction
 Pretreatment is usually followed by the mixing (or rapid mixing) stage.
During the mixing, chemicals are added to rapidly disperse the chemicals
through out the water (to cause coagulation or to remove hardness –
softening) .
 The chemicals react with the desired impurities and forms precipitates (flocs)
that are slowly brought into contact with one another during flocculation.
 Flocculation allows the flocs to collide and grow to a settleable size. The
particles are then removed by gravity in sedimentation.
 After sedimentation the amount of solids that are applied to filters during
filtration is minimized.
 Coagulation, softening, and disinfection are chemical unit processes, while
mixing, flocculation
sedimentation, and
filtration are physical
unit operations.
 Biological treatment
occurs only in WWTP.

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Chemical unit processes - Coagulation

 Colloids are suspended in solution and cannot be
removed by sedimentation (too small to settle in
reasonable time) or filtration (too small so they pass
the filter holes).

 Collides are continually involved in random motion.

 Colloids are stable (don’t settle) because of their

surface charge. Most colloids have a negative surface
charge that repels other colloidal particles before they
collide with one another.

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Colloid stability and destabilization

 Coagulation is a chemical process used to alter colloidal
particles (of color, turbidity, and bacteria)so that they will
be able to approach and adhere to each other to form larger
floc particles.

 During coagulation a positive ion is added to water to

reduce the colloids surface charge to a point where colloids
are not repelled from one another.

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Coagulant properties:
 A coagulant is the chemical substance that is added to water to
accomplish coagulation.
 Properties of a coagulant:
 Trivalent cation.
 Nontoxic.
 Insoluble in the neutral pH range (such that it precipitates out of
solution  high concentrations of the coagulant are not left in the
water and this also assist in colloidal removal).

 Most common coagulants are aluminum (Al3+) and ferric iron

(Fe3+):
 Aluminum coagulant is purchased as dry or liquid alum
[Al2(SO4)3.14H2O].
 Ferric iron is purchased as either sulfate salt [Fe2(SO4)3.xH2O] or the
chloride salt [Fe2Cl3.xH2O].

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Coagulation aids
 Four basic types of coagulant aids:
 pH adjusters (acids and alkalis)
 Activated silica
 Clay
 Polymers
 pH adjusters help adjust water pH to optimal range for coagulation.
 Other coagulant aids help in the formation of heavier flocs that settles
faster with better enmeshment. They are especially useful for treatment
of colored, low-turbidity waters.

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