WATER TECHNOLOGY

Unit I: Hard water – Reasons for hardness – units of hardness - Boiler troubles –Priming and
Foaming, Scale formation, Boiler corrosion, Caustic embrittlement – Internal treatments -
Softening of Hard water: Lime – Soda process, Zeolite process and numerical problems based
on these processes and Ion Exchange process - Water for drinking purposes- Purification –
Sterilization and disinfection: Chlorination, Break point chlorination and other methods –
Reverse Osmosis and Electro Dialysis.

Introduction:

Water is one of the abundant available substances in nature. Water forms about 75% of the
matter on earth’s crust. It is an essential ingredient to both plant and animal life. Water is not
only essential for human beings, plants and animals for sustaining life but is also equally
important for agricultural, industrial and other purposes.

Without food human being can survive for a number of days, but water is such an essential
thing without it one cannot survive.Probably it’s most important use as an engineering
material is inthe steam generation. Water is also used as a coolant, in power, and chemical
plants. In addition to it, water can also be used in the production of steel, rayon, paper,
textiles, chemicals, irrigation, drinkingetc.

Sources of water: The chief sources of water fall in two main groups,

1. Surface water, 2. Underground water

Impurities in water: The main impurities present in water are classified into three types.

1. Physical impurities, 2. Chemical impurities, 3. Bacteriological impurities

Types of water: Water is classified into two types based on the property of it with soap
solution.

 Soft water
 Hard water
Soft water: Soft water is one that gives good lather readily with soap solution.

Hard water:Water that does not produce lather with soap readily is called as hard water.
This is due to the presence of certain salts of calcium, magnesium and other heavy metals
dissolved in water. A sample of hard water when treated with soap, (sodium or potassium salt
of higher fatty acid such as oleic, palmatic or stearic) does not produce lather, but on the

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 1

other handforms a white scum or precipitate. This precipitate is resulted due to the formation
of insoluble salts of calcium and magnesium.

When water with such hardness is used for washing, large amount of soap is consumed. Thus
hardness of water can be defined as the soap consuming capacity of water. The reaction can
be explained as follows,

2RCOONa + M2+ → (RCOO)2 M + 2Na+

Insoluble soap

where R = long chain fatty acid like palmitic, oleic and stearic acid.

M2+ = Ca2+, Mg2+

Common hardness producing salt present in water are chlorides, sulphates and bicarbonates
of Calcium and Magnesium. i.e., CaCl2, CaSO4, MgCl2, MgSO4,Ca(HCO3)2 and Mg(HCO3)2.
Their quantity only decides the extent of hardness of water.

Classification of hardness of water: Hardness of water can be classified into two categories.

1. Temporary hardness: This is caused by the presence of dissolved bicarbonates of

calcium and magnesium. Temporary hardness is mostly destroyed by simple boiling of
water.
2. Permanent hardness:This is due to the presence of dissolved chlorides and sulphates of
calcium and magnesium. Unlike temporary hardness, permanent hardness is not destroyed
on boiling.

Units of hardness:

Hardness of water is expressed in terms of equivalents of CaCO3.The choice of CaCO3 in

particular is due to

 CaCO3 is the most insoluble salt which can be precipitated in water treatment.
 Molecular weight of CaCO3 is 100 which is easy for calculations.

If water contains CaCO3 alone the hardness is a measure of equivalents of CaCO3. Usually,
water contains some other salts. The amount of these salts is converted in to their CaCO3
equivalent.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 2

Parts per million (ppm): It is the number of parts of CaCO3equivalent hardness per million
(106) parts of water.

Milligram per Litre (mg/L): It is the number of milligram of CaCO3 equivalent hardness
present per litre of water.

Boiler Feed Water:

Most of the water used in industry and power houses is in the form of steam. For steam
generation, boilers are employed.The water fed into the boiler for the production of steam is
called boiler feed water. Water used in boilers should be free from dissolved calcium and
magnesium salts and dissolved gases such as oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

Boilers are generally classified according to their pressures into three categories.

 Low-pressure boilers: Up to 15 kg/cm2

 Medium-pressure boilers: 15 to 30 kg/cm2
 High pressure boilers: Over 30 kg/cm2

Disadvantages of using hard water in boilers:

If the boiler feed water contains impurities (or) if the hard water obtained from natural
sources is fed directly to the boilers, the following troubles may arise:

1. Scale and Sludge formation

2. Boiler corrosion
3. Caustic embrittlement
4. Priming and foaming
1. Scale and Sludge formation in boilers:

In boilers, water evaporates continuously and the concentration of the dissolved salts
increases progressively. If the precipitated matter is soft and slimy, it is called sludge. While
the precipitate forms an adherent coating on the inner walls of the boiler, it is called scale.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 3

Scale is a hard, adherent coating forms on the inner walls of the boiler during steam
generation. The main scale forming substances are Ca(HCO3)2 and MgCl2, CaSO4.

Disadvantages of scale and sludge:Wastage of fuel,Decrease in efficiency, Danger of

Explosion.

2. Boiler corrosion:

The decay of boiler material by its environment is termed as boiler corrosion. Corrosion in
boilers is due to the presence of

(i) Dissolved oxygen,(ii) Dissolved carbon dioxide, (iii) Dissolved salts

i) Dissolved Oxygen (DO): When water containing dissolved oxygen is heated in the boiler,
the dissolved oxygen gets liberated and corrodes the boiler material as follows

Removal of DO: Sodium sulphite and hydrazine are some of the chemicals used for
removing oxygen.

ii) Dissolved carbon dioxide: Dissolved carbon dioxide in water produces carbonic acid,
which is acidic.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 4

Carbon dioxide is also released inside the boiler, if water used for steam generation contains
bicarbonates of Calcium and Magnesium

Removal of dissolved carbon dioxide:Carbon dioxide may be removed by adding calculated

amount of NH4OH into water.

iii) Dissolved salts: If water used for steam-generation contains dissolved magnesium salts,
they liberate acids on hydrolysis.

The liberated acid reacts with iron material of the boiler in a chain-like reaction producing
HCl again and again.

Thus presence of even a small amount of MgCl2 will cause corrosion of iron to a large extent.
Removal of acids:Corrosion by acids can be avoided by the addition of alkali to the boiler
water.

3. Caustic embrittlement:

Caustic embrittlement is the phenomenon in which the material of a boiler becomes brittle
due to the accumulation of caustic substances,such as sodium hydroxide and sulphuric acid.
Caustic embrittlement is a type of boiler corrosion, caused by using highly alkaline water in
the boiler. Boiler water usually contains a certain proportion of sodium carbonate, added for
water softening purposes. In highpressure boilers, Na2CO3 decomposes to give sodium
hydroxide and carbon dioxide,and this makes the boiler-water “caustic”.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 5

Alkaline water enters hair cracks, joints, rivets bends and when water evaporates it leaves
NaOH behind in the cracks/spot.This NaOH when reacts with iron (usually boiler wall
materials are iron alloys), it dissolves iron and yield sodium ferrate.

This causes embrittlement of boiler parts, particularly at bends, joints, rivets etc

Prevention: It can be prevented by

 Adding sodium sulphate (or) sodium phosphate as softening reagent instead of Na 2CO3.
 Adding tannin, lignin to the boiler water which blocks the hair cracks.

4. Priming and Foaming(Carry Over Process):

Sometimes,steam may be associated with small droplets of water. Such steam containing
liquid water is called wet steam. These droplets of water may carry with them some dissolved
salts and sludge materials present in water. This phenomenon is called Carry Over Process.
This occurs mainly due to Priming and Foaming. Priming and foaming usually occur
together.

Priming: It refers the formation of wet steam by rapid boiling of water at the heating surface.
Priming may be caused by

i) High steam velocity

ii) Very high water level in the boiler
iii) Improper boiler design
iv) Sudden boiling of water
Prevention: Priming can be controlled by controlling the velocity of steam, keeping the
waterlevel lowerand good boiler design.

Foaming: The formation of stable bubbles above the surface of water is called foaming.
These bubbles are carried along with steam leading to excessive priming. Foaming may be
caused by presence of oil, grease in water and finely divided sludge particles.

Prevention:Foaming can be prevented by adding coagulants and anti-foaming chemicals.

Softening methods:

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 6

The process of removing hardness producing salts from water is known as softening of water.
Softening of water can be done by the two ways

I. External treatment:

It involves the removal of hardness producing salts from the water before feeding into the
boiler. The external treatment can be done by the following methods.
(a) Cold and hot lime-soda process, (b) Zeolite process, (c) Ion-Exchange process
a)Cold and hot lime-soda process:

The lime-soda process involves the chemical conversion of all the soluble hardness-causing
salts by the addition of soda and lime into insoluble precipitates which could easily be
removed by settling and filtration. In this process, water to be softened is treated with
calculated amounts of lime Ca(OH)2 and soda Na2CO3.

Functions of lime:Lime removes temporary hardness, permanent magnesium hardness,

dissolved iron and aluminium salts, dissolved CO2 and H2S gases and free mineral acids
present in water.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 7

 During the removal of Mg2+, Fe2+, Al3+, HCl and H2SO4 by lime,
Functions of soda:During
permanent calcium
m hardness is introduced in the water due to formation of calcium salts. The
permanent hardness present in water is removed by soda.

The process carried out at room temperature is called cold lime

lime-soda
soda process and that carried
out at 94°-100°C
100°C is called hot lime-soda
lime process.

1. Cold Lime-Soda process: In this method, water to be softened is treated with calculated
quantities of lime and soda at room temperature. Small amounts of a coagulant such as
a alum,
aluminium sulphate, sodium aluminate etc., are also added. The coagulant helps the finely
divided precipitate formed in the process to flocculate.

Method:The
The mixture of water, calculated quantities of lime and soda and a small amount of a
coagulantt is fed from the top into inner chamber of a vertical circular tank (Figure).
(Figure The
chamber is provided with a vertical rotating shaft carrying a number of paddles to ensure
vigorous stirring and continuous mixing of water with the chemicals added.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 8

The chemical reactions take place and the hardness producing salts get converted into
insoluble precipitates which accumulate in the form of a heavy sludge. The softened water
rises upwards and is filtered by a wood-fibre filter and finally taken out from an outlet
provided at the top of the outer cylinder. The heavy sludge settles down at the bottom of the
outer chamber and is taken out through an outlet. The softened water obtained from this
process contains calcium hardness about 40 ppm and magnesium hardness is brought down to
almost zero.

2. Hot Lime-Soda process: This process is similar to cold lime-soda process.In this process,
water is treated with the softening chemicals at a temperature of 94°-100°C. As the reaction
takes place at high temperature, this process has some advantages.

 The precipitation reaction becomes almost complete

 The reaction takes place faster
 The sludge settles rapidly
 No coagulant is needed
 Dissolved gases are removed
 Viscosity of soft water is lower, hence filtered easily
 Residual hardness is low compared to the cold process

Hot lime-soda process consists of three parts:

 Reaction tank-in which complete mixing of the ingredients takes place

 Conical sedimentation vessel-where the sludge settles down
 Sand filter-where sludge is completely removed

Raw water is fed from the top into the reaction tank where it is thoroughly mixed with
calculated quantities of softening chemicals and is agitated with superheated steam. The
reactions take place and water gets softened. The softened water containing sludge then
enters into the sedimentation vessel where sludge settles down. The softened water rises up
in the vessel, while precipitated sludge is taken out through an outlet provided at the bottom
of the vessel. The softened water is then taken to a sand filter which ensures the complete
removal of the sludge from softened water. The softened water obtained from this process
contains a residual hardness of 15-30 ppm.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 9

Advantages of lime-soda process:

 Economical
 Improves the corrosion resistance of the water and
 Mineral content of the water is reduced.

Disadvantages:

 Disposal of large amounts of sludge formed in the process poses problems.

 The treated water obtained by this process is not completely softened. Due to residual
hardness, water is not good for high pressure boilers.

b) Zeolite (or) Permutit process:

Zeolites are naturally occurring hydrated sodium aluminium silicate, Na 2O. Al2O3. xSiO2
yH2O where x = 2 to 10 and y = 2 to 6. The synthetic form of zeolite is known as permutit.
Synthetic zeolite is represented by Na2Ze. The sodium ions which are loosely held in Na2Ze
are replaced by Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions present in the water.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 10

Process:In this process, the hard water is passed through a bed of sodium zeolite (Na2Ze).
The hardness causing ions (Ca2+, Mg2+) in hard water is replaced by loosely held sodium ions
in zeolite bed. The outgoing soft water contains only sodium ions.

Regeneration: After the softening process, the zeolite is completely converted into calcium
and magnesium zeolites and it gets exhausted. At this stage the hard water supply is stopped
and the exhausted bed is regenerated by treating with a concentrated 10% brine (NaCl)
solution.

Advantages:

 This process removes hardness upto 10ppm.

 Operational cost is less.
 Requires less time for softening
 Maintenance and operation is easy

Limitations:

 The process exchanges only Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions with Na+ ions. It does not remove the
acidic ions like bicarbonate and carbonate ions. Water containing such ions is not much
suitable for boilers as it may cause corrosion of boilers.
 Turbid water, if used clog the pores of the Zeolite bed, making it inactive.
 Highly acidic or alkaline water destroy the Zeolite bed.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 11

c) Ion-exchangeprocess:

In this method ion exchange resins are used as softening material.In this process cations like
Ca2+, Mg2+ and anions like Cl-, SO42- which are responsible for hardness are removed
respectively by cation exchange resins and anion exchange resins.

Ion exchange resins are insoluble, cross linked, long chain organic polymers with a micro
porous structure. The functional groups attached to the chains are responsible for the
ionexchanging properties.

Cation exchange resins (RH+):Resin containing acidic functional groups (-COOH, -SO3H)
are capable of exchanging their H+ ions with cations of hard water.

Ex: Sulphonated polystyrene

Anion exchange resins (ROH-):Resins containing basic functional groups (-NH2, -OH) are
capable of exchanging their OH- ions with the anions of hard water.

Ex: Cross-linked quaternary ammonium salts

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 12

Process:The hard water first passed through a cation exchange column which absorbs all the
cations like Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+etc., present in the hard water.

The cation free water is then passed through an anion exchange column, which absorbs all the
anions like Cl-, SO42-etc., present in the water.

Thus the water coming out from the anion exchange is free from both cations and anions.
This water is known as ionfree water (or) deionised (or) demineralised water.

Regeneration: When the cation exchange column is exhausted, it can be regenerated by

passing a solution of dil.HCl (or) dil.H2 SO4.

When the anion exchange column is exhausted, it can be regenerated by passing a solution of
dil. NaOH.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 13

Advantages:
 The process can be used to soften highly acidic (or) alkaline water.
 It produces water of very low hardness (2ppm).

Disadvantages:

 The equipment is costly and more expensive chemicals are needed.

 If the water contains turbidity, the output is low due to clogging.

II. Internal treatment:

This process involves the adding of chemicals directly to the water in the boilers for
removing dangerous, scale-forming salts which were not completely removed by the external
treatment for water softening. This method is used to convert scale forming substances into
sludge.

i) Colloidal conditioning: Scale formation can be avoided by adding organicsubstances like

tannin, agar-agar (a gel), gelatin, glue etc., which get coated over on the scale forming
precipitate, thereby, yielding non-sticky and loosedeposits.This can be removed easily.

ii) Carbonate conditioning:Scale formation due to CaSO4 in high pressure boilers can be
avoided by adding Na2CO3 to the boiler water.

iii) Calgon conditioning:Calgon is sodium hexametaphosphate, Na2[Na4(PO3)6]. In Calgon

conditioning, the added Calgon forms soluble complex compound with CaSO4, thereby it
prevents the scale and sludge formation in water.Since the complex is highly soluble, there is
no problem of sludge disposal.

iv) Phosphate conditioning: In high pressure boilers, CaSO4, can be converted into soft
sludge by adding excess of soluble phosphates.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 14

There are 3 types of phosphates employed for this purpose

1. Trisodium phosphate (Na3 PO4, too alkaline)-used for too acidic water.

2. Disodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4, weakly alkaline)-used for weakly acidic water.

3. Monosodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2 PO4, acidic)-used for alkaline water in boilers.

Numerical problems:

Lime requirements: Lime, i.e. Ca(OH)2is required for

 Temporary calcium hardness Ca (HCO3)2.

 Temporary magnesium hardness, Mg(HCO3)2. Lime requirement for temporary Mg-
hardness is double that required for Ca-hardness.
 Lime eliminates permanent magnesium hardness but introduces an equivalent
permanent calcium hardness.
 Lime also reacts with dissolved CO2, iron and aluminium salts, free acids and
introduces anequivalent Ca-hardness.
 NaCl, KCl and SiO2. Do not contribute to hardness.

Since 100 parts of CaCO3 is equivalent to 74 parts of Ca(OH)2,

Lime required for softening,

Soda requirement:
Soda is required for eliminating salts of calcium other than temporaryhardness. Since 100
parts of CaCO3 is equivalent to 106 parts of sodium carbonate.
Soda required for softening,

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 15

Problems:

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 16

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 17
Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 18
Water for drinking purposes:

 Drinking water, also known as potable water, is water that is safe to drink or use for
foodpreparation.
 The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health depends on physical
activity level, age, health-related issues, and environmental conditions.
 The human body contains 50 % to 78 % of water according to the size of the body.
Humans need to drink 7 litres of water every day to avoid dehydration.
 It plays an important role in digestion and other biological processes that occur in living
organisms.
 It plays an important role in maintaining the pH of the body.
 It helps in regulating the body temperature.
 Water provides the necessary cooling effect to the body.
 Water removes harmful toxins from the body through sweat and urination.
 As per Indian standards, safe drinking water should meet the following requirements for
water quality.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 19

Purification:

 Water purification means freeing water from any kind of contaminants.

 Impurities are removed from water by sedimentation, filtration, chlorination etc.
 Various salts and metals cause hardness in water. Hardness may be removed by boiling,
by adding sodium carbonate and lime or by filtering through natural or artificial zeolites.
 Water is also purified by processes such as sterilization and disinfection, reverseosmosis,
electrolysis, chlorination etc.

Disinfection and sterilization:

 Disinfection and sterilization are the two common methods of killing or inhibiting the
growth of microorganisms.
 Microbes can cause a number of diseases in humans and animals. They are also
responsible for food spoilage. Therefore, it is necessaryto kill or inhibit their growth.
This is achieved by sterilization or disinfection.
 However, both these processes are based on different principles.

Sterilization:

 Sterilization is a process mainly used to kill all forms of microorganisms.

 This process is carried out to maintain a germ-freeenvironment.
 It is usually done through combinations of heat, irradiation, filtration, high pressure etc.

Disinfection:

 Disinfection is a chemical process used to eliminate or inhibit the growth of bacteria and
other pathogens that may cause infectious diseases in humans and animals.
 Disinfectants are the chemical solutions used to make substance infection-free. These
include alcohol, iodine, chlorine, etc.

Similarities between disinfection and sterilization:

 Both are used to decontaminate objects and surfaces

 Both processes can kill harmful microbes.

Difference between disinfection and sterilization:

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 20

Chlorination:

 Chlorination is one of many methods that can be used to disinfect water.

 Water chlorination is the process of adding small quantities of chlorine or
chlorinecompounds to water.
 This method is used to kill bacteria, viruses and other microbes in water. In particular,
chlorination is used to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera,
typhoid.
 Chlorine hydrolyses in water to form hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and further
producehypochlorite ion (OCl-). The HOCl and OCl- together are known as free
available chlorine.
 If Ammonia is also present in water, chlorine reacts to form chloramines
(monochloromine, dichloramine and trichloramine). The chlorine existing in the form of
chloramines is called as combined available chlorine.
 Total = Free chlorine + Combined chlorine

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 21

 Free chlorine: hypochlorous acid + hypochlorite ion
HOCl ↔ H+ + OCl-
 Combined chlorine (chloramines):
HOCl + NH3 ↔ NH2Cl (monochloramine) + H2O
HOCl + NH2Cl ↔ NHCl2 (dichloramine) + H2O
HOCl + NHCl2 ↔ NCl3 (trichloramine) + H2O
 These resulting chlorine compounds in water interfere with certain enzymes in the
bacterial wall forming a toxic chloro-compounds thus destroying bacteria completely.
 The killing power of chlorine as disinfectant is proportional to the product of contact
period and chlorine concentrationin water.
 Chlorine can be applied by any of the following methods:
o As dry chlorine gas
o As chlorine liquid/ solution
o In powder form (bleaching powder, CaO(Cl)2/sodium hypochlorites, NaOCl)
 Too little chlorine is ineffective and too much chlorine cause taste and odours. So the
amount of chlorine required to be added should be determined. It can be determined in
thelaboratory.
 Chlorine dosage can be calculated with help of following formula:
. /
Dosage in kg. of chlorine =
, ,

The typical amount of chlorine gas required for water treatment is 1-16 mg/L of water.

Break point chlorination:

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 22

 The graph below shows what happens when chlorine (either chlorine gas or a
hypochlorite) isadded to water.

 Stage I (up to A): Chlorine reacts with reducing compounds in the water, such as
hydrogen sulfide, Fe2+, Mn2+, complete oxidize all these reducing compounds. No
residual chlorine.
 Stage II (A to B): As the applied chlorine increases, chlorine reacts with organic
impurities and nitrogen compound like ammonia naturally found in the water, to form
chloro-organics and chloramines (combined chlorine residuals).The process would be
stopped at point B.

HOCl + NH3 ↔ NH2Cl (Monochloramine) + H2O

HOCl + NH2Cl ↔ NHCl2 (Dichloramine) + H2O

HOCl + NHCl2 ↔ NCl3 (Trichloramine) + H2O

Chloramines are an effective disinfectant against bacteria but not against viruses.
 Stage III (B to C): When the dose of chlorine increases, destruction of chloro-organics
and chloramines take place.Chloramines are broken down and converted in to nitrogen
gas which leaves the system.

2NH3 + 3Cl2 → N2 + 6HCl

2NH2Cl + HOCl → N2 + 3HCl + H2O

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 23

 Breakpoint (Point C): Finally, the water reaches the breakpoint, shown at point C. The
breakpoint is the point at which the chlorine demand has been totally satisfied - the
chlorine has reacted with all reducing agents, organics, and ammonia in the water and
further residual chlorine acts as disinfectant to destroy the pathogens. The breakpoint
chlorination confirmsthe destruction of organic compounds and disease producing
micro-organisms.
 Stage IV (Beyond C): When more chlorine is added beyond the breakpoint, the chlorine
reacts with water and forms hypochlorous acid in direct proportion to the amount of
chlorine added. Free available residuals formed and some chloro-organics still remain as
combined residuals. Total residual chlorine [90% free residual chlorine (HOCl&OCl -)
and 10% combined chlorine] acts asdisinfectant.
 Advantages:
o It oxidizes completely organic compounds, ammonia and other reducing compounds.
o It removes colour,odour and taste in water, due to organic matter.
o It destroys completely all the disease-producing bacteria.
o It prevents the growth of any weeds in water.

Reverse Osmosis:

 When two solutions of unequal concentrations are separated by a semi permeable

membrane, flowof solvent takes place from dilute to concentrate sides, due to osmosis.
 Semi-permeable is defined as the membrane being permeable to some material but
impermeable to others.
 The membrane will allow small molecules and ions to pass through it but acts as a
barrierto larger molecules or dissolved substances.
 Let’s assume the membrane is permeable to water, but not to salt.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 24

 Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to
prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane.
 If a pressure higher than the osmotic pressure is applied on the solution, the solvent (pure
water) will flow reverse, higher concentration solution to low concentration solution
across the membrane. This is the principle of reverse osmosis.
 Thus in reverse osmosis method, pure solvent is separated from its contaminants, rather
thanremoving contaminants from the water.
 In reverse osmosis process, pressure is applied to the sea water or impure water to force
the pure water content of it out the semi-permeable membrane, leaving behind the
dissolve solids. The principle of reverse osmosis is applied for treating saline/sea water.
 The membrane consists of very thin film of cellulose acetate. However, more recently
superior membranes made of polymethacrylate and polyamide polymers have come into
use.

 Advantages:
o Removes ionic, non-ionic, colloidal and high molecular weight organic matter.
o The life time of membrane is quite high, about 2 years.
o The maintenance cost is entirely on the replacement of the semi permeable membrane.
o Due to low capital cost, simplicity, low operating cost and high reliability, the reverse
osmosis is become more popular.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 25

Electro dialysis:

 Electro dialysis is an electrochemical process whereby electrically charged particles

(ions), are transported through ion-selectivemembranes by applying an electric field.
 In order to separate salts from a solution, ion-selective membranes, through which
onlyone type of ions can permeate are arranged in the solution.
 When a salt solution is under the influence of an electric field the charge carriers in the
solution come into motion. This means that the negatively charged anions migrate
towards the anode and the positively charged cationsmigrate towards the cathode.
 The negatively charged particles (anions) can pass through an anion exchange membrane
on their way to the anode but are retained by the cation exchangemembrane. Similarly,
positively charged particles (cations) can pass through cation exchange membrane on
their way to the cathode but are retained by the anion exchangemembrane.
 This separation results in a concentration of electrolytes in the concentrateloop and a
depletion of charge carriers in the dilute loop.
 So, in one compartment of the cell, the salt concentration decreases while in the adjacent
compartment it increases. Thus, we get alternative stream of pure water and
concentratedwater.
 Electrodialysis membranes are comprised of polymer chains - styrene-divinyl
benzenemade anionic with quaternary ammonium groups and made cationic with
sulphonic groups.
 Applications:
o Nitrogen removal from drinking water (nitrate, ammonium)
o Relatively low energy consumption
o The product water needs only limited pre-treatment.
o Suitable for separating non-ionizedcomponents from ionized components.

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 26

Dr M Suneetha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, RGUKT-Nuzvid-AP 27