Wastewater treatment

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Wastewater treatment plant in Cuxhaven, Germany

Wastewater treatment is a process used to remove contaminants from wastewater or
sewage and convert it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle with
minimum impact on the environment, or directly reused. The latter is called water
reclamation because treated wastewater can then be used for other purposes. The
treatment process takes place in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), often
referred to as a Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) or a sewage treatment
plant. Pollutants in municipal wastewater (households and small industries) are
removed or broken down.

The treatment of wastewater is part of the overarching field of sanitation.

Sanitation also includes the management of human waste and solid waste as well as
stormwater (drainage) management.[1] By-products from wastewater treatment plants,
such as screenings, grit and sewage sludge may also be treated in a wastewater
treatment plant.[2]:Ch.14

Contents
1 Disposal or reuse
2 Processes
2.1 Phase separation
2.2 Oxidation
2.3 Polishing
3 Wastewater treatment plants
3.1 Sewage treatment plants
3.2 Industrial wastewater treatment plants
3.3 Agricultural wastewater treatment plants
3.4 Leachate treatment plants
4 Regulation
4.1 United States
5 See also
6 References
6.1 Sources
7 External links
Disposal or reuse
Although disposal or reuse occurs after treatment, it must be considered first.
Since disposal or reuse are the objectives of wastewater treatment, disposal or
reuse options are the basis for treatment decisions. Acceptable impurity
concentrations may vary with the type of use or location of disposal.
Transportation costs often make acceptable impurity concentrations dependent upon
location of disposal, but expensive treatment requirements may encourage selection
of a disposal location on the basis of impurity concentrations. Ocean disposal is
subject to international treaty requirements. International treaties may also
regulate disposal into rivers crossing international borders. Water bodies entirely
within the jurisdiction of a single nation may be subject to regulations of
multiple local governments. Acceptable impurity concentrations may vary widely
among different jurisdictions for disposal of wastewater to evaporation ponds,
infiltration basins, or injection wells.

Processes
Biological processes can be employed in the treatment of wastewater and these
processes may include, for example, aerated lagoons, activated sludge or slow sand
filters. To be effective, sewage must be conveyed to a treatment plant by
appropriate pipes and infrastructure and the process itself must be subject to
regulation and controls. Some wastewaters require different and sometimes
specialized treatment methods. At the simplest level, treatment of sewage and most
wastewaters is carried out through separation of solids from liquids, usually by
sedimentation. By progressively converting dissolved material into solids, usually
a biological floc, which is then settled out, an effluent stream of increasing
purity is produced.[2][3]

Phase separation

Clarifiers are widely used for wastewater treatment.

Phase separation transfers impurities into a non-aqueous phase. Phase separation
may occur at intermediate points in a treatment sequence to remove solids generated
during oxidation or polishing. Grease and oil may be recovered for fuel or
saponification. Solids often require dewatering of sludge in a wastewater treatment
plant. Disposal options for dried solids vary with the type and concentration of
impurities removed from water.[4]

Production of waste brine, however, may discourage wastewater treatment removing

dissolved inorganic solids from water by methods like ion exchange, reverse
osmosis, and distillation.

Primary settling tank of wastewater treatment plant in Dresden-Kaditz, Germany

Sedimentation
Further information: Sedimentation (water treatment)
Solids like stones, excretes etc. and non-polar Impurties liquid's may be removed
from wastewater by gravity when density differences are sufficient to overcome
dispersion by turbulence. Gravity separation of solids is the primary treatment of
sewage, where the unit process is called "primary settling tanks" or "primary
sedimentation tanks". It is also widely used for the treatment of other
wastewaters. Solids that are heavier than water will accumulate at the bottom of
quiescent settling basins. More complex clarifiers also have skimmers to
simultaneously remove floating grease like soap scum and solids like feathers or
wood chips. Containers like the API oil-water separator are specifically designed
to separate non-polar liquids.[5]

Filtration
Suspended solids and colloidal suspensions of fine solids may, generally following
some form of coagulation, be removed by filtration through fine physical barriers
distinguished from coarser screens or sieves by the ability to remove particles
smaller than the openings through which the water passes. Other types of water
filters remove impurities by chemical or biological processes described below.[6]

Oxidation
Oxidation reduces the biochemical oxygen demand of wastewater, and may reduce the
toxicity of some impurities. Secondary treatment converts organic compounds into
carbon dioxide, water, and biosolids. Chemical oxidation is widely used for
disinfection.

Aeration tank of an activated sludge process at the wastewater treatment plant in

Dresden-Kaditz, Germany
Biochemical oxidation
Main article: Secondary treatment
Secondary treatment by biochemical oxidation of dissolved and colloidal organic
compounds is widely used in sewage treatment and is applicable to some agricultural
and industrial wastewaters. Biological oxidation will preferentially remove organic
compounds useful as a food supply for the treatment ecosystem. Concentration of
some less digestible compounds may be reduced by co-metabolism. Removal efficiency
is limited by the minimum food concentration required to sustain the treatment
ecosystem.[7]

Chemical oxidation
Main article: Redox
Chemical (including Electrochemical) oxidation is used to remove some persistent
organic pollutants and concentrations remaining after biochemical oxidation.[8]
Disinfection by chemical oxidation kills bacteria and microbial pathogens by adding
ozone, chlorine or hypochlorite to wastewater.[2]:1220

Polishing
Polishing refers to treatments made following the above methods. These treatments
may also be used independently for some industrial wastewater. Chemical reduction
or pH adjustment minimizes chemical reactivity of wastewater following chemical
oxidation.[9] Carbon filtering removes remaining contaminants and impurities by
chemical absorption onto activated carbon.[2]:1138 Filtration through sand (calcium
carbonate) or fabric filters is the most common method used in municipal wastewater
treatment.

Wastewater treatment plants

For plant species utilized in water treatment, see Organisms involved in water
purification.
Wastewater treatment plants may be distinguished by the type of wastewater to be
treated, i.e. whether it is sewage, industrial wastewater, agricultural wastewater
or leachate.

Overview of the wastewater treatment plant of Antwerpen-Zuid, located in the south

of the agglomeration of Antwerp (Belgium)
Sewage treatment plants
Main article: Sewage treatment plant
A typical municipal sewage treatment plant in an industrialized country may include
primary treatment to remove solid material, secondary treatment to digest dissolved
and suspended organic material as well as the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus,
and � sometimes but not always � disinfection to kill pathogenic bacteria. The
sewage sludge that is produced in sewage treatment plants undergoes sludge
treatment. Larger municipalities often include factories discharging industrial
wastewater into the municipal sewer system. The term "sewage treatment plant" is
now often replaced with the term "wastewater treatment plant".[2] Sewage can also
be treated by processes using "Nature-based solutions".

Tertiary treatment
Main article: Sewage treatment � Tertiary treatment
Tertiary treatment is a term applied to polishing methods used following a
traditional sewage treatment sequence. Tertiary treatment is being increasingly
applied in industrialized countries and most common technologies are micro
filtration or synthetic membranes. After membrane filtration, the treated
wastewater is nearly indistinguishable from waters of natural origin of drinking
quality (without its minerals). Nitrates can be removed from wastewater by natural
processes in wetlands but also via microbial denitrification. Ozone wastewater
treatment is also growing in popularity, and requires the use of an ozone
generator, which decontaminates the water as ozone bubbles percolate through the
tank. The latest, and very promising treatment technology is the use aerobic
granulation.

Industrial wastewater treatment plants

Main article: Industrial wastewater treatment
Pre-treatment systems can include various types of pretreatment equipment to remove
color, suspended solids, dissolved solids and other contaminants harmful for
process.
Surface Water Pretreatment Plant[10]
Disposal of wastewaters from an industrial plant is a difficult and costly problem.
Most petroleum refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants[11][2]:1412 have
onsite facilities to treat their wastewaters so that the pollutant concentrations
in the treated wastewater comply with the local and/or national regulations
regarding disposal of wastewaters into community treatment plants or into rivers,
lakes or oceans. Constructed wetlands are being used in an increasing number of
cases as they provided high quality and productive on-site treatment. Other
industrial processes that produce a lot of waste-waters such as paper and pulp
production has created environmental concern, leading to development of processes
to recycle water use within plants before they have to be cleaned and disposed.[12]

Industrial wastewater treatment plants are required where municipal sewage

treatment plants are unavailable or cannot adequately treat specific industrial
wastewaters. Industrial wastewater plants may reduce raw water costs by converting
selected wastewaters to reclaimed water used for different purposes. Industrial
wastewater treatment plants may reduce wastewater treatment charges collected by
municipal sewage treatment plants by pre-treating wastewaters to reduce
concentrations of pollutants measured to determine user fees.[13]

Although economies of scale may favor use of a large municipal sewage treatment
plant for disposal of small volumes of industrial wastewater, industrial wastewater
treatment and disposal may be less expensive than correctly apportioned costs for
larger volumes of industrial wastewater not requiring the conventional sewage
treatment sequence of a small municipal sewage treatment plant.[14]

An industrial wastewater treatment plant may include one or more of the following
rather than the conventional primary, secondary, and disinfection sequence of
sewage treatment:

An API oil-water separator, for removing separate phase oil from wastewater.[15]
A clarifier, for removing solids from wastewater.[16]
A roughing filter, to reduce the biochemical oxygen demand of wastewater.[17]
A carbon filtration plant, to remove toxic dissolved organic compounds from
wastewater.[18]
An advanced electrodialysis reversal (EDR) system with ion exchange membranes.
Agricultural wastewater treatment plants
Main article: Agricultural wastewater treatment
Agricultural wastewater treatment for continuous confined animal operations like
milk and egg production may be performed in plants using mechanized treatment units
similar to those described under industrial wastewater; but where land is available
for ponds, settling basins and facultative lagoons may have lower operational costs
for seasonal use conditions from breeding or harvest cycles.[19]

Leachate treatment plants

Leachate treatment plants are used to treat leachate from landfills. Treatment
options include: biological treatment, mechanical treatment by ultrafiltration,
treatment with active carbon filters, electrochemical treatment including
electrocoagulation by various proprietary technologies and reverse osmosis membrane
filtration using disc tube module technology.

Regulation
United States
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state environmental
agencies set wastewater standards under the Clean Water Act.[20] Point sources must
obtain surface water discharge permits through the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES). Point sources include industrial facilities, municipal
governments (sewage treatment plants and storm sewer systems), other government
facilities such as military bases, and some agricultural facilities, such as animal
feedlots.[21]

EPA sets basic national wastewater standards:

The "Secondary Treatment Regulation" applies to municipal sewage treatment plants,

[22] and
Effluent guidelines are regulations for categories of industrial facilities.[23]
These standards are incorporated into the permits, which may include additional
treatment requirements for individual plants developed on a case-by-case basis.
NPDES permits must be renewed every five years.[24] EPA has authorized 47 state
agencies to issue and enforce NPDES permits. EPA regional offices issue permits for
the rest of the country.[25]

Wastewater discharges to groundwater are regulated by the Underground Injection

Control Program (UIC) under the Safe Drinking Water Act.[26] UIC permits are issued
by 34 state agencies and EPA regional offices.[27]

Financial assistance for improvements to sewage treatment facilities is available

to state and local governments through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, a low
interest loan program.[28]