CEIC 3005

Assessment No. 1 of 3
Due Date: 5.00 p.m. Friday August 17
Objective: The objective of this assignment is to research information on industrial
water use and the management of wastewater discharges in a regional town in south east
Australia.
Background: The town is located 50 km from the coast and has a population of 20,000.
The four largest employers in the town are a paper mill, a coal fired power plant, a cattle
abattoir and a leather tannery. Coal for the power plant is mined from the near by La
Trobe valley. The community and industry draw potable water from a confined aquifer
that is recharged by summer melt from the snowy mountains. This groundwater is very
good quality and contains less than 300 mg/L of total dissolved solids, has an alkalinity
of 80 mg/L and a total hardness of 40 mg/L.
Domestic wastewater from the town is collected and treated at a municipal wastewater
treatment plant using a biological nutrient removal process followed by tertiary filtration
with chemical phosphorous removal. The treated domestic wastewater is discharged into
a small stream that flows past the town and terminates in natural wetlands that cover 50
km2. Local farmers have some rights to draw water from the river for irrigation of small
farms. The quality of the stream water is influenced by flood irrigation practices in
communities upstream so that the level of dissolved solids in the stream is almost 700
mg/L. In the dry months of the year the stream flow that enters the wetlands contains
more than 70% of the treated domestic wastewater from the town.
The paper mill is one of the oldest operating mills in Australia. In the 1930s a 50 km
outfall was constructed to move wastewater from the mill to an ocean outfall as
government sponsored works project. Waste water and cooling tower blow down from
the power plant is also discharged into the canal as well as wastewater from the tannery
following some rudimentary on-site treatment to remove some metals. Wastewater from
the abattoir and tannery is collected and pumped to the domestic wastewater treatment
plant.

Tasks for Assignment No. 1

Working in groups of 4 find information about the following five topics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The use of water in the manufacturing of paper and cardboard products.

The use of water in brown coal fired power plants
The use of water in a abattoir
The use of water in the tanning of leather hides
The secondary and tertiary treatment of domestic wastewater.

For each application you should prepare a one page description of the movement of water
in and out of the process. In addition, collect and tabulate information on the following:
1. Volume of water required for each process/industry (for example; m3 of water per
tonne of bleached paper or m3 per megawatt of power).
2. The quality requirements for the water going into the plant (for example; high
pressure boilers in the power plant require make up water with less than 5 mg/L
total dissolved solids)
3. The volume and composition of wastewater streams generated by each industry
(per mass of product)
4. The average daily water consumption of the town based on a population of 15,000
and daily average domestic wastewater flows.
Finally for each industry develop a basic block flow diagram for the movement of water
through the plant. Graphically describe the flow of water in and out of the process in the
same way you would describe a chemical manufacturing process (i.e raw water storage,
pre-treatment, reaction, separation, product storage).
Work product: Your final product should be a report of about 15 pages including
information on water consumption, a process narrative for each industry and block flow
diagrams and references.
Please cite references where appropriate. Plagiarism particularly cutting and pasting
text from the internet will not be tolerated and penalized according to university rules.
Block diagrams are to be drawn in Visio and comply with AS 1100, including use of title
blocks.