INTRODUCTION

Water purification, process by which undesired chemical

compounds, organic and inorganic materials, and biological
contaminants are removed from water. That process also
includes distillation (the conversion of a liquid into vapour to
condense it back to liquid form) and deionization
(ion removal through the extraction of dissolved salts). One
major purpose of water purification is to provide clean
drinking water. Water purification also meets the needs of
medical, pharmacological, chemical, and industrial
applications for clean and potable water. The purification
procedure reduces the concentration of contaminants such
as suspended particles, parasites, bacteria, algae, viruses,
and fungi. Water purification takes place on scales from the
large (e.g., for an entire city) to the small (e.g., for individual
households).

Most communities rely on natural bodies of water as intake

sources for water purification and for day-to-day use. In
general, these resources can be classified
as groundwater or surface water and commonly include
underground aquifers, creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes.
With recent technological
advancements, oceans and saltwater seas have also been
used as alternative water sources for drinking and domestic
use.
Pretreatment
In pretreatment, biological contaminants, chemicals, and other
materials are removed from water. The first step in that process is
screening, which removes large debris such as sticks and trash from
the water to be treated. Screening is generally used when purifying
surface water such as that from lakes and rivers. Surface water
presents a greater risk of having been polluted with large amounts of
contaminants. Pretreatment may include the addition of chemicals to
control the growth of bacteria in pipes and tanks (prechlorination) and
a stage that incorporates sand filtration, which helps suspended solids
settle to the bottom of a storage tank.
Preconditioning, in which water with high mineral content (hard water)
is treated with sodium carbonate (soda ash), is also part of the
pretreatment process. During that step, sodium carbonate is added to
the water to force out calcium carbonate, which is one of the main
components in shells of marine life and is an active ingredient in
agricultural lime. Preconditioning ensures that hard water, which
leaves mineral deposits behind that can clog pipes, is altered to
achieve the same consistency as soft water.
Prechlorination, which is often the final step of pretreatment and a
standard practice in many parts of the world, has been questioned by
scientists. During the prechlorination process, chlorine is applied to
raw water that may contain high concentrations of natural organic
matter. This organic matter reacts with chlorine during the
disinfection process and can result in the formation of disinfection by-
products (DBPs), such as trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, chlorite,
and bromate. Exposure to DBPs in drinking water can lead to health
issues. Worries stem from the practice’s possible association with
stomach and bladder cancer and the hazards of releasing chlorine into
the environment.
Disinfection and sterilization
of water
Sterilization of water is the process that kills, eliminates or deactivates the
all form of microorganisms in the water. It is the critical stage for safe
potable water. This method must achieve all most 100% deactivation so that
prevents the spread of water-borne diseases. On the other hand disinfection
means the process that are removing or reducing harmful microorganisms.
There are different methods of sterilization. We can divide them into two
methods; chemical methods and physical method.

Chemical methods of sterilization

There are various chemicals are used to the sterilization process. The
consumption of these chemical can be reduced by installing a
filtration system before this stage. Some of the chemical sterilization
methods are described here:-

 Ozone sterilization

 Hydrogen per-oxide sterilization

 Chlorine sterilization

 Calcium and sodium hypochlorite

 Mono chloramines

 Chlorine di-oxide

 Aeration

 Silver ion method

Ozone sterilization of water
Ozone is a highly effective sterilization chemical for water. It has strong
oxidizing properties. It can kills wide range of pathogens microorganisms by
oxidizing method. Ozone is more powerful disinfectant than chlorine
or chlorine dioxide. Moreover it has effective inactivation activities on
giardia or cryptosporidium which is not possible by some others chemicals.
This method does not affected by pH. After complete the oxidation process,
the excess ozone will breaks into oxygen. So it does not create bad taste or
odor’s to the water and leaves no solid residue. On the contrary, it
added dissolved oxygen into the water which enhances the water’s taste.
The disadvantages of ozone are that it is costly, toxic, unstable and must be
produced on mill site. It can create irritation on nose even in low concs.
Hydrogen peroxide sterilization

Hydrogen peroxide is another ideal sterilizer like ozone. It is a strong

oxidant. It destroys microorganisms without leaving any solid particle
to the water. The disadvantage of the hydrogen peroxide is that it is
unstable, costly and toxic at high concentrations. The vapor of it can
affect the eyes and respiratory system. Some metallic peroxide like
Na2O2 has better stability and effectiveness than hydrogen peroxide.
Na2O2 produces hydrogen peroxide by the reaction with dissolve
carbon dioxide. It also produces sodium carbonate which can able to
soften the hard water. You can also apply calcium hydrogen and
magnesium hydrogen. Some processes use both hydrogen peroxide
and ozone commonly to accelerate the ozone decomposition rate
which increases the oxidation rate.

Na2O2 + CO2 + H2O → Na2CO3 + H2O2

Na2CO3 + CaSO4 → Na2SO4 + CaCO3
Chlorination sterilization

Chlorination is the most common and cheapest system for sterilization of

water. Chlorine input into the water as chlorine gas, sodium hypochlorite or
calcium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide. When inject it forms several
chemicals like hypochlorous acid.

Chlorine inactivates a microorganism by damaging its cell membrane. Once

the cell membrane is weakened, the chlorine can enter the cell and disrupt
cell respiration and DNA activity (two processes that are necessary for cell
survival).