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Shown below are the results of water quality analyses of the Thames River in London. If the water is treated with
60.00 mg/L of alum to remove turbidity, how much alkalinity will remain? Ignore side reactions with phosphorus
and assume all the alkalinity is HCO- 3 ion. Does the final pH of the water rise or fall ? Why ?
Expressed as
CaCO 3
CaCO 3
CaCO 3
Fe
Cu
Cr
CaCO 3
Cl
PO4
SiO2
-
Constituent
Total hardness
Calcium hardness
Magnesium hardness
Total iron
Copper
Chromium
Total alkalinity
Chloride
Phosphate (total)
Silica
Suspended Solids
Total Solids
pHa
a Not
mg / l
260.0
235.0
25.0`
1.8
0.05
0.01
130.0
52.0
1.0
14.0
43.0
495.0
7.4
in mg/L
Solution: When alum is added to water containing alkalinity the following reaction occurs
carbon dioxide
Al2(SO4)3.14H2O + 6HCO3- <====> 2Al(OH)3(s) + 6CO2 + 14H2O + 3SO4alum
alkalinity
precipitate
aluminum hydroxide
water
sulfate
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alkalinity reactions.mcd
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treated water
to
filtration
settling
basin
flash mix
flocculation
sludge - to disposal
MWHCO3 := ( 1 + 12 + 3 16)
MWCaCO3 := 100
3-37 alkalinity reactions.mcd
last save 10/4/99 / 7:59 AM
gm
mole
gm
mole
gm
mole
EWCaCO3 :=
MWCaCO3
2
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gm
mole
130
bicarb :=
mg
liter
EWCaCO3
MWHCO3
60
alum :=
bicarb = 158.6
mg
liter
mg
liter
alum = 1.01 10
MWalum
mole
liter
Alkalinity - mg/liter as the ion HCO3 used up in the reaction alkHCO3 := 6 alum MWHCO3
alkHCO3 = 36.972
mg
liter
alkCaCO3 = 30.305
alkremaining := 130
mg
liter
alkremaining = 99.695
mg
liter
alkHCO3
MWHCO3
EWCaCO3
mg
liter
alkCaCO3
NOTE : The creation of carbon dioxide will use up additional alkalinity
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How much alum sludge will have to be disposed of if 12 Mgd of water are treated and 100% of the total
suspended solids in the raw water are removed.
Q := 12 10
gal
day
dry_sludge := Q
TSS := 43
mg
liter
( alum 2 MWfloc) +
dry_sludge = 5.884 10
lb
day
TSS
dry solids
If the alum sludge coming from the clarifier is, in fact 98% water, by weight, what is the volume of sludge to be
disposed of ?
solids_content := .02
dry_sludge = solids_content total_weight
total_weight :=
dry_sludge
solids_content
total_weight = 294198.522
lb
day
Convert lbs of wet sludge to gallons of wet sludge by dividing by the unit weight of the wet sludge. This is
obtained as the product of the unit weight of water * specific gravity of the wet sludge
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Assume the specific gravity of the wet mixture is 1.05. This will depend on the degree to which the sludge is
thickened, i.e. the solids content.
sg := 1.05
vol_sludge :=
total_weight
sg 7.48
vol_sludge = 3.746 10
lb
gal
gal
day
vol_sludge ( solids_content) :=
1 . 10
gal
1 . 10
dry_sludge
79018
38986
1 . 10
1 . 10
0.5
2.2
3.9
5.6
7.3
Notice that a seemingly small increase in solids content of the sludge initially results in a major decrease in
sludge volume. However, as the sludge solids content increases further thickening becomes a process of
diminishing returns.
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