Water treatment

If you want to install a water treatment system, you need to choose a treatment method that will produce water quality suitable for your end uses. All treatment systems must be designed for your particular site and the characteristics of your water or wastewater.

Choosing the right treatment method

Analyse the characteristics of your source water and compare it to your proposed end uses to identify the main water quality risks that your treatment system needs to address. Most water and wastewater needs multiple treatment stages to produce the desired water quality. Using the right pre-treatment can also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your treatment method. All systems need regular maintenance to maintain the quality of water produced. All treatment systems produce waste. How you manage your waste stream will affect the cost and complexity of your treatment system. Removes organic matter Flotation (DAF) Biological treatment Membrane filtration Membrane bioreactor Ion exchange Disinfection Removes oil and grease Removes Removes suspended or kills solids pathogens Removes salts

   

   partially  partially  

Flotation and basic filtration

Flotation is used to remove oil, grease and some suspended solids from wastewater. Basic filtration is used to screen out large solids from wastewater. These treatments may be used so that effluent meets trade waste standards before it is disposed of to the sewer. They may also be used to pre-treat effluent so more advanced treatment processes work efficiently. Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) is the most widely used flotation process. It is used: in the pulp and paper industry to remove oil and grease from wastewater in large commercial kitchens to treat effluent from food and meat processing. DAF separates light suspended solids and liquid particles from wastewater by floating them to the surface on fine air bubbles. It produces a sludge of about four to six per cent solids that is skimmed from the surface. Flotation and basic filtration
Suspended waste collected and removed Outlet weir Wastewater enters DAF Underflow weir Sludge Recycle stream Treated effluent

Biological processes
You may add chemicals (coagulants and flocculants) to help particles suspended in the wastewater bind together so they can be easily removed. This can improve DAF efficiency, but you may need to adjust the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of the water. Biological systems can be used for: some industrial wastewater including in the food industry some agricultural wastewater municipal wastewater household wastewater. Biological processes use bacteria to reduce the organic matter in wastewater. They also remove ammonia from wastewater by: nitrification - which removes ammonia by transforming it into nitrates denitrification - which removes the nitrates formed by nitrification. Ammonia removal is important in applications such as treating landfill leachate. Biological processes can be used when the proportion of biodegradable organic matter is more than 40% of the total organic matter in the wastewater. This is measured by the biological oxygen demand (BOD)/chemical oxygen demand (COD) ratio. Biological processes may be aerobic or anaerobic. Aerobic systems - In aerobic systems air is pumped through the wastewater in biological reactors. Aerobic biological systems are mostly used for treating low concentration waste (typically where the BOD is less than 1000 mg/L). In these systems, about 50% of biodegradable organic matter is converted to sludge, which must be disposed of. The rest is converted to water and air.

Advantages
DAF is relatively easy and cheap to operate, and little operator input is required. DAF is more efficient than conventional sedimentation processes and can treat larger volumes.

Limitations
DAF does not remove any dissolved contaminants. You may need a balance tank to control the flow of wastewater into the DAF unit, to avoid upsetting the process.

Scraper

Air saturated water Recycle pump Compressed air

Biological processes
Activated sludge process
Bioreactor
Wastewater Suspended biomass Treated water

Clarifier

Membrane filtration
Membrane filtration is a fast growing technology that can produce high quality effluent, in a wide range of situations. Membranes remove solids and dissolved salts from water and wastewater by forcing them through a semi-permeable membrane, generally under pressure. Concentrated waste is captured on the membrane surface. There are four major types of membranes: 1. Microfiltration (MF) 2. Ultrafiltration (UF) 3. Nanofiltration (NF) 4 Reverse osmosis (RO) The type of membrane you need depends on the water quality you want. MF and UF membranes are generally used to remove solids, whereas NF and RO membranes can remove dissolved salts. MF membranes have the largest pore size, RO the smallest. The amount of pressure needed to operate the membrane increases as the pore size decreases. MF membranes can be operated at under 200 kPa of pressure, while RO membranes need pressure of over 1,000 kPa. Applications for membrane treatment include: salt removal from brackish or saline solutions RO colour removal in the textile industry UF/NF/RO pulp and paper water recovery UF oily wastewater treatment UF laundry effluent treatment UF/NF/RO boiler feed water treatment UF/RO landfill leachate UF/RO.

Settled biomass Biomass recycled to bioreactor

Aeration

Biomass sludge to waste

Aerobic systems are used in the food manufacturing industry and to treat municipal wastewater. Processes used in aerobic systems include: activated sludge process (ASP) sequential batch reactor (SBR) fixed film reactors. Anaerobic systems operate in the absence of oxygen. These systems are used for highly concentrated waste, such as breweries, or where sugar and carbohydrate rich wastewater needs treatment. About 10% of organic matter remains as sludge. Different types of anaerobic systems include: upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactors suspended growth reactors fixed film reactors. Biological processes work best when wastewater is homogenous, and when the pH is between six and eight, and temperature is between 15C and 43C.

other treatment processes, with most energy used to aerate water. Anaerobic systems are cheap to operate and can produce valuable biogas for energy recovery.

Limitations
Large amounts of toxic substances such as bleaches and biocides can destroy bacteria. Biological systems cant be used in heavy industry where metals, paints and chemicals are handled as this wastewater contains substances that are toxic to bacteria, or that arent easily biodegradable. Biological systems need good operator attention and maintenance to ensure temperature, pH and wastewater quality is within acceptable limits. If the system becomes seriously out of balance it can be difficult to re-establish. Biological systems can generate odours if they arent properly designed or operated. This may be more prevalent with anaerobic systems. Biological systems can require a lot of space, but this can be reduced by technologies such as the sequential batch reactor.

Advantages
Biological systems are relatively simple. They are cost effective and generally dont require chemicals. Biological systems produce a smaller amount of concentrated waste (in the form of sludge) than other systems. Aerobic systems are relatively energy efficient compared to

Membrane filtration

Membrane filter bank

Reject stream

Wastewater Permeate ( Clean water ) Pump

process combines the activated sludge process with membrane filtration (either MF or UF) in a single tank. MBR has a wide range of applications, and is particularly suitable when water is to be reused. MBR is used in the food processing industry, and in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment.

( Enlarged view )

Reject stream

Advantages
Concentrated waste is collected at membrane surface

Advantages
As membranes provide a physical barrier, they can produce consistent high quality water free of nearly all target contaminants, regardless of influent quality.

Limitations
Membranes can become fouled from suspended solids or covered in scale and salts, if not properly operated. The risk can be reduced by: - pre treating waste (including pH control, dosing with anti scalant and pre-screening) - selecting the appropriate membrane - maintaining proper operating conditions (including rate of recovery) - cleaning membranes regularly. Oxidising agents such as chlorine will damage some membranes. Membrane performance can degrade over time. Membranes must be changed periodically (generally every three to seven years). This is a major operational cost, but membrane longevity is improving.

Membrane processes are generally energy intensive, but are becoming more efficient. For example, desalination needs 3.5 kwh of electricity to produce one kilolitre of water, compared to about 2 kwh for other wastewater treatment options. The additional energy demands may be offset by a reduced need for chemical treatment, a more streamlined treatment process, and higher quality treated water that can be used in a wider range of applications.

MBR tanks are relatively compact and can handle large variations in biological oxygen demand in incoming wastewater, while producing consistent quality of treated water. The membrane provides a barrier to chlorine resistant pathogens, such as cryptosporidium, which expands opportunities for reuse. Sludge production can be minimised. MBR tanks are modular, so the treatment plant can easily be expanded.

Membrane bioreactors
Membrane bio reactors (MBR) are a new advanced wastewater treatment technology. The MBR Membrane bioreactor
Bioreactor tank
Suspended biomass

Limitations
MBR have high capital and operating costs compared to traditional biological treatment processes, but the gap is narrowing. Costs may be offset by reusing treated water.

Wastewater

Submerged membrane modules

Clean water tank

Aeration

Ion exchange
Ion exchange is commonly used to remove trace contaminants in water for high-end applications such as boiler feed water and ultra pure water for the pharmaceutical and semi conductor industries. Ion exchange removes unwanted ions dissolved in wastewater and replaces them with desirable ions that are held in an ion exchanger that is introduced to the process. The ion exchanger is usually a specially made resin. Ion exchange is used to remove or recover: water hardness (calcium and magnesium ions) alkalinity metals (for example, dissolved silver) silica ammonia.

Disinfection
Disinfection is used to kill pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa where there is a risk of close human contact with treated wastewater. It is generally used as a secondary treatment. Disinfection processes include: chlorination ultra violet light ozone.

Limitations
If water is turbid (cloudy with suspended solids) or if contact times are too low, disinfection will be less effective. Contaminants such as ammonia can also make chlorine ineffective. Chlorination can result in disinfection by-products. Chlorine is a hazardous product and needs care in handling and storage. Chlorine needs a large tank as it must remain in contact with the effluent for a set time for disinfection to be effective. Ultra-violet and ozone do not provide residual disinfection. Ultra-violet lamps and ozone generators need maintenance to provide consistent performance.

Advantages
Chlorine is well proven and effectively kills most pathogens (but not Cryptosporidium oocysts). Chlorine provides residual disinfection. UV and ozone can be produced on site, which avoids the need to handle dangerous chemicals, but uses a lot of energy. UV and ozone dont produce residual chemicals, which can make them more appropriate if you are discharging wastewater into sensitive environments. UV and ozone units have a compact footprint.

Advantage
Ion exchange can be used to produce very high quality water.

Limitations
Ion exchange resins need to be regenerated periodically to keep working. The chemicals needed (such as caustic and sulphuric acid) can be expensive. Regeneration also creates concentrated waste, which must be disposed of. Water must be pre-treated to reduce the frequency of regeneration (using technology such as membrane filtration). High concentrations of iron and oxidising agents can degrade the resin. Organics can also foul some resins.

Comparison of disinfection options Bacteria Virus Giardia cysts and Cryptosporidium oocysts Residual disinfection

Chlorination UV Ozone

  

  

  

  

Every Drop Counts Business Program

10 0.1 Macro molecular 100,000 Enzymes Paint pigment 500,000 Micro particulate Macro particulate 106 100 107 1000 100 0.01 Molecular 1000 10,000 20,000 1000 10,000 1.0 100,000 10

Printed on recycled paper SW241 1/09

Treatment options for water reuse

Angstrom (log scale) Micron (log scale)

0.001

Ionic

Size MWCO (log scale)

100

200

Aqueous salt

Range of common materials

Bacteria Virus Milled flour Sugars Carbon black Yeast cells

Atomic radius

Metal ion Beach sand

Antibiotics

Synthetic dye Latex/Emulsion Colloidal silica Blue indigo dye

Ion exchange bed resin

Pesticides / Herbicides Gelatin

Granular activated carbon Giardia cyst

Crypto sporidium

Observation range
Electron microscope Ultrafiltration Nanofiltration

Optical microscope

Visual spectrum Particle filtration

Reverse osmosis

Wastewater treatment options

Microfiltration Flotation Activated sludge/Membrane bioreactor

Ion exchange

To learn more: Contact your Every Drop Counts water efficiency specialist to discuss treatment and reuse options at your site.