MODULE 4 : UNIT OPERATIONS

AND PROCESSES FOR

SURFACE WATER AND
WASTEWATER TREATMENT
WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES
● Raw water may contain suspended, colloidal, and
dissolved impurities.
● The purpose of water treatment is to remove all those
impurities which are objectionable either from taste and
odour point of view or from public health point of view.
Following are the purposes of water treatment:
● To remove colour, dissolved gases, and murkiness of
water.
● To remove objectionable tastes and odour.
● To remove the disease-producing micro-organisms so
that water is safe for drinking purposes.
● To remove hardness of water.
● To make it suitable for a wide variety of industrial
purposes such as steam generation, brewing, dyeing, etc.
●Unit Process – Removal of pollutants with
the help of chemical and biological forces .
E.g. Coagulation
●Unit operations – Removal of pollutants
with the help of physical forces. Unit
operations in water treatment include plain
sedimentation, filtration, chlorination or
other methods of disinfection, aeration,
water softening, demineralization,
defluoridation and such other
combinations to suit specific requirements
of the users.
For surface waters, the following treatment
processes are generally adopted:
● Screening
● Aeration
● Plain Sedimentation
● Sedimentation aided with Coagulation
● Filtration
● Disinfection
● Misc. treatments such as water softening,
desalination, fluoridation, removal of iron,
Manganese and other harmful constituents
● Screening :
■ Adopted to remove all the floating matter/large sized
particles such as branches of trees, pieces of paper,
plastics, debris etc. from surface waters. It is generally
provided in front of the pumps or at the intake point.
■ Types of screens
■ Coarse screens or Bar screens
■ Fine screens

■ Coarse screens (generally called Trash racks)consist of

parallel iron rods placed vertically or at a slight slope, at
about 2.5 to 5 cm apart.
■ Fine screens are used at surface water intakes,
sometimes alone, sometimes following a bar screen.
They normally get clogged and are to be cleaned
frequently.
Coarse screens remove the bigger floating bodies and
organic solids, and the fine screens then remove the fine
suspended solids.

● Aeration:
■ Adopted to remove objectionable tastes and odours and
also to remove dissolved gases such as carbon dioxide,
hydrogen sulphide, etc.
■ The iron and manganese present in water are also
oxidised to some extent.
■ It increases the dissolved oxygen content of water.
■ It kills bacteria to some extent.
■ It decreases the carbon dioxide content of water, and
thereby reduces its corrosiveness and raises its pH value.
TYPES OF AERATORS
Aeration is done by the following main types of aerators:
(a) Free fall aerators or gravity aerators
(i) Cascade aerators
(ii) Inclined apron aerators
(iii) Slat tray aerators
(iv) Gravel bed aerators (trickling beds)
(b) Spray aerators
(c) Air diffuser basins

● Sedimentation (with or without coagulants):

■ The purpose of sedimentation is to remove suspended
impurities by gravitational settling. Sedimentation tanks
are designed to reduce the velocity of flow of water so as
to permit suspended solids to settle out of the water by
gravity.
Plain Sedimentation
● When the impurities are separated from suspending
fluid by action of natural forces alone, i.e. by gravitation
and natural aggregation of the settling particles, the
operation is called plain sedimentation.
● With plain sedimentation, silt and sand can be removed.
● Most of the suspended impurities present in water tend
to settle down under gravity, although in normal raw
supplies, they remain in suspension, because of the
turbulence in water. Hence, as soon as the turbulence is
retarded by offering storage to the water, these
impurities tend to settle down at the bottom of the tank,
offering such storage.
This is the principle behind sedimentation.
 The basin in which the flow of the water is retarded is
called the settling tank or sedimentation tank or
sedimentation basin or clarifier.
The theoretical average time for which the water is
detained in the tank is called the detention period.
Theory of Sedimentation
The settlement of a particle in water brought to rest is
opposed by the following factors:
(i) The velocity of flow which carries the particle horizontally.
The greater the flow area, the lesser is the velocity, and
hence more easily the particle will settle down.
(ii) The viscosity of water in which the particle is travelling.
The viscosity varies inversely with temperature. Warm water
is less viscous and, therefore, offers less resistance to
settlement.
(iii) The size, shape and specific gravity of the particle. The
greater is the specific gravity, more readily the particle will
settle. The size and shape of the particle also affect the
Sedimentation with Coagulation (Clarification)
● When chemicals or other substances are added to induce
or hasten aggregation and settling of finely divided
suspended matter, colloidal substances, and large
molecules, the operation is called sedimentation with
coagulation or simply clarification.
● With coagulants, very fine suspended particles and some
bacteria can also be removed.
Factors affecting coagulation :
[Link] of coagulant
[Link] or dose of coagulant
[Link] of water such as
(a) Type and quantity of suspended matter
(b) Temperature of water
(c) pH of water
[Link], violence and method of mixing
Common coagulants used are:
[Link] sulphate or alum
[Link] copperas
[Link] sulphate and lime
[Link] carbonate
[Link]
[Link] aluminate

Alum : This is the most common and universal coagulant

used in water works.
Its chemical composition is Al₂(SO₄)₃·18H₂O.
It requires the presence of alkalinity in water to form the
floc.
Alum is found to be effective when pH of water ranges
between 6.50 to 8.50.
Its dose depends upon turbidity, colour, taste, pH value
and temperature of water.
 The dose of alum varies between 10 to 30 milligrams per
litre of water.
Alum is preferred over other coagulants because it
reduces taste and odour in addition to turbidity in water.
It is cheap and the floc formed is quite tough to be broken
easily.
It produces crystal clear water.

● Filtration:
● The most important stage in water purification.
● Filtration removes very fine suspended and colloidal
impurities that may have escaped sedimentation.
● It also removes micro-organisms present in water.

● Disinfection:
● Carried out to eliminate or reduce remaining micro-
organisms to a safe minimum limit and to prevent
contamination of water during its transit from the treatment
 Types of Settling
● Based on concentration of the suspension and the
flocculating properties of particles.
Type I – Discrete settling
Type II – Hindered settling
Type III – Zone settling
Type IV – Compression settling
 Type I: Discrete Settling
● Corresponds to the Sedimentation of discrete particles in
a suspension of low solids concentration.
● Also known as free settling since particles have little
tendency to flocculate or coalesce.
● Particles settle individually without interaction with
neighbouring particles.
● A particle that does not alter its shape, size, and weight
while settling or rising in water is known as a discrete
particle.

● Type II: Hindered Settling

● Refers to dilute suspension of particles that coalesce or
flocculate during sedimentation process.
● • Due to flocculation, particles increase in mass and settle
faster.
Type III: Zone Settling
● Refers to flocculent suspension of intermediate
concentration.
● Interparticle forces hold the particles together,
and hence the mass of the particles subside as a
whole.
Type IV: Compression Settling
● Refers to flocculent suspension of so high
concentration that particles actually come in
contact with each other, resulting in the
formation of a structure.
● In water treatment, only type I and type II
settlings are encountered.
 Types of Settling tank
●Based on method of operation-
●Fill and Draw type tank (Quiescent tank)
●Continuous flow type tank
●Based on shape –
●Circular tank
●Rectangular tank
Fill and Draw type
● In this type, the sedimentation tank is first filled with
incoming water, and is allowed to rest for a certain time.
● During this rest period, the suspended particles settle
down at the bottom of the tank.
● Generally, a detention time of 24 hours is allowed.
● At the end of the period, the clear water is drawn off
through the outlet valve.
● The tank is then cleaned of settled particles and filled
again.
● Cleaning may take another 6 to 12 hours. Thus, the cycle
of operation takes 30 to 36 hours.
● A minimum of three such units are required to maintain a
constant supply.
Continuous flow type tank
● In the continuous flow type, the water continuously keeps
on moving in tank, though with a very small velocity during
which time the suspended particles settle at the bottom
before they reach the outlet.
● There are two types of continuous flow tanks:
(a) Horizontal flow tank
(b) Vertical flow tank

In the horizontal flow type, the tank is generally

rectangular in plan having length equal to at least twice
the width. The water flows practically in the horizontal
direction, with a maximum permissible velocity of 0.3 m/
sec.
Vertical flow type tanks are generally deep, circular or
rectangular basins with hopper bottom.