Ch - 2 Lecture 3

PRIMARY (Sedimentation) TREATMENT

 PRIMARY (Sedimentation) TREATMENT
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 A physical process, involves the removal of settle able solids

which are separated as sludge.
 wastewater flow is slowed down and suspended solids settle to
the bottom by gravity
 The material that settles is called sludge or bio solids
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 Primary treatment reduces the suspended solids and the

B.O.D. of the wastewater.
 BOD is a measure of total quantity of oxygen required
by micro organism to breakdown (reduce) the organic
matter
 COD measures the total quantity of oxygen required for
oxidation of organics into carbon dioxide and water.
 After the primary treatment, waste water is pumped to
the secondary treatment.
 SECONDARY TREATMENT
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 Also called Biological treatment process

 the dissolved and colloidal organics are oxidized in the
presence of micro-organisms.
 Utilizes bacteria and algae to metabolize organic matter
in the secondary treatment plant
 Further reduce the suspended solids and B.O.D. of the
wastewater.
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New Cells
Wastewater
Bacillus Sp. with NH3
Slime Layer
CO2
Cell H2O

Food Membrane
Oxygen
Storage
Enzymes

(Absorption)

Soluble Organics Adsorbed

Particle
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 Trickling Filters : consist of tanks of coarser filtering media.

Principles of operation:
over tanks of coarser filtering media, the WW is allowed to
sprinkle or trickle down, by means of spray nozzles or rotary
distributors.
The percolating sewage is collected at the bottom of the tank
through a well designed under-drainage system.
sufficient quantity of oxygen is supplied by providing suitable
ventilation facilities in the body of the filter
The purification is done mainly by the aerobic bacteria, which
form a bacterial film around the particles of the filtering media.
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 The effluent must be taken to the secondary sedimentation

tank for settling out the organic matter oxidized while
passing down the filter
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 Filter media
 consists of coarser materials like cubically broken stones
or slag free from dust and small pieces.
 The size of the material used may vary between 25 to
75mm. should be washed before it is placed in position.
 should not be easily affected by acidic WW, and should be
sufficiently hard.
 Its resistance to freezing and thawing(melting) is another
important property,
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 Advantages of tricking filter

i. Effluent obtained from the trickling filters is sufficiently
nitrified and stabilized. They can remove about 75% of
BOD and about 80% of suspended solids.
ii. Working of tricking filters is simple, and does not require
any skilled supervision.
iii. They are flexible in operation, and they can, therefore,
withstand the application of variety of sewages having
different concentrations and compositions
iv. They are self-cleaning.
v. Mechanical wear and tear is small, as they contain less
mechanical equipment.
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 disadvantages of the trickling filter

Cost of construction of trickling filters is high.

These filters cannot treat raw sewage, and primary

sedimentation is a must. These filters pose a number of
operational troubles such as given below:

Sometimes, the voids in the filter media get clogged due to

heavy growth of fungi and algae. This may result in ponding of
the sewage over the filter bed.
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 The activated sludge: provides an excellent method of

treating either raw sewage or more

generally the settled sewage.

 The sewage effluent from primary sedimentation tank,
which is , thus normally utilized in this process is mixed
with 20 to 30 percent of own volume of activated sludge
which contains a large concentration of highly active
aerobic micro-organisms.
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 The mixture of wastewater and activated sludge in the

aeration basis is called mixed liquor.
 The biological mass (biomass) in the mixed liquor is
called the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) or
mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS).
 The settled sludge (containing micro organisms)
called activated sludge is then recycled to the head of
the aeration tank to be mixed again with the sewage
being treated.
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 New activated sludge is continuously being produced by

this process and a portion of it being utilized and sent back
to the aeration tank whereas the excess portion is disposed
of properly along with the sludge collected during primary
treatment after digestion.
 The effluent obtained from a properly operated
activated sludge plant is high quality usually having a
lower BOD than that of a trickling filter plant.
 BOD removal is up to 80 - 95 percent

 bacteria removal is up to 90 - 95 percent

 land area required is also quite less

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 Principles of operation:
 the removal of grit and larger solids by screening in grit
chambers and primary sedimentation tanks is generally
considered necessary before aeration.
 The pre-removal of these settle able solids is helpful in
preventing deposits on aeration devices, and there by not
reducing their efficiencies.
 Grit removal, screening, and primary sedimentation are
considered necessary for a conventional activated sludge
process.
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Fig. Flow diagram for a conventional AS plant giving high

degree of treatment
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Aeration Tank Loadings

The important terms which define the loading rates of an
activated sludge plant, include:
(i) Aeration Period
(i.e. Hydraulic Retention Time - HRT)
(ii) BOD loading per unit volume of aeration tank
(i.e. volumetric loading)
(iii) Food to Micro-organism Ratio (F/M Ratio)
(iv) Sludge age
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(i) The Aeration Period or HRT

The aeration period (t) empirically decides the loading
rate at which the sewage is applied to the aeration tank.
Detention period =
t =*24hr
t = aeration period in hours
V = Volume of aeration tank
Q = Quantity of wastewater flow into the aeration tank
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(ii) Volumetric BOD Loading

Another empirical loading parameter is volumetric loading,
 which is defined as the BOD 1oad applied per unit volume of
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aeration tank.

Q = Sewage flow into the aeration tank in m3

Yo = BOD5 in mg/l (or gm/m3) of the influent sewage
V = Aeration tank volume in m3
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 Food (F) to Micro-organisms (M) Ratio

 F/M ratio is an important rational organic loading rate
adopted for an activated sludge process.
 The BOD load applied to the system in kg or gm is
represented as food (F),
 the total microbial suspended solid in the mixed liquor of
the aeration tank is represented by M.

 Tertiary treatment (Disinfection)
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 Further treatment of a biologically treated effluent to remove

BOD5, bacteria, suspended solids, specific toxic compounds or
nutrients to enable the final effluent to comply with a standard.
 Final treatment focuses on removal of disease causing
organisms from wastewater.
 Treated wastewater can be disinfected by adding chlorine or by
using ultraviolet light.
 High levels of chlorine may be harmful to aquatic life in
receiving streams. Treatment systems often add a chlorine-
neutralizing chemical to the treated wastewater before stream
discharge.
 Sludge Treatment
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 Sludge is the viscous sediment collected at the bottom of

various treatment units as Secondary settling tanks after
Trickling Filter, Activated Sludge Process and septic
tank.
 Sludge Types

a)Primary sludge
 Primary sludge from the primary settling tank, which
comprises inorganic solids and coarser organic solids of
granular and dense nature
 3 to 8% solids
 About 70% organic material
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b)Secondary sludge
 Secondary sludge generated from secondary settling tank

which is rich in organic matter and biological solids

(bacterial cells).
 Consists of wasted microorganisms and inert materials
 About 90% organic material
 Trickling filter sludge: 2-5% solids

 Sludge can be contaminated with heavy metals and other

pollutants, especially when industrial wastes are disposed into

the sewer.
 Pre-treatment of industrial wastes is therefore essential before

discharge to the sewer.

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Composition of Sludge:
• Predominantly water
• Microbes including viruses and pathogens
• Organic compounds and particles, heavily bio-degradable
and adsorpted to sludge flocs
• Heavy metals
• Micro-pollutants, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupters
 All non-degraded compounds extracted from wastewater
are found in the sludge
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 Reasons for sludge treatment

 To reduce the volume through thickening and dewatering
 To eliminate pathogenic organisms
 To stabilize the organic substances through gas production
for energy, reduction of dry content,
 improvement of dewatering and reduction of odour.
 To recycle the substances through composting to serve as
bio-fertilizer and biogas production
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 Factors affecting the selection of treatment processes:

 The nature of the wastewater

 The potential use of the treated effluent

 The compatibility of the various operations and processes
 The available means to dispose of the ultimate

contaminants, and
 The environmental and economic feasibility of the various

systems
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 Options for sludge treatment include

Thickening,

Dewatering

Stabilization and
Incineration
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Sludge thickening:
 It is the process of concentrating the solids of sludge to reduce their
volume.
 separates water from solids by gravity or flotation

Sludge Conditioning :
 treats sludge with chemicals or heat so that the water can be readily

separated
Sludge stabilization (Sludge digestion)
 Sludge is stabilized to reduce their pathogen content, eliminate

offensive odors, heavy metals and reduce or eliminate the potential

for putrefaction
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Sludge Incineration
 decreases the volume of sludge by incineration
 This treatment process can be affect the environment by
releasing Green House Gas (carbon dioxide during burring
of the sludge)
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The end!