Chapter-06

6.1 INTRODUCTION Water Pollution

Water pollution takes place in many
ways, such as
• Insecticides used in agriculture now-a-days are deadly, as they are either chlorinated hydrocarbons or
organophosphates. Additionally, excessive use of fertilizers is also a serious matter. These pollute underground
water.
• Underground disposal of industrial wastes (which contain mainly huge amount of chemicals) is another concern
in many countries.
• Untreated industrial effluents are discharged to the nearby water reservoirs such as lakes, canals, rivers, etc.
• Oil and other chemicals leakage in to the sea during transportation in sea vessels or tankers is a major concern
for ocean pollution.
6.2 EFFLUENT TREATMENT PLANT (ETP)
6.2.1 Basics of ETP
The ETPs treat the industrial effluents before discharging it to the soil or nearby water reservoirs.
Industrial wastewater treatment covers the mechanisms and processes used to treat waters that have been
contaminated in some way by man's industrial or commercial activities prior to its release into the environment or its
re-use.

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The five steps to effective effluent management are:
∙ Characterize all effluents produced on-site;

∙ Implement a waste minimization program to reduce the volume and strengths of effluents;

∙ Incorporate in-process conditioning and treatment, where appropriate;

∙ Determine and install segregation facilities for tailor treatment options;

∙ Optimize performance of ETP

6.2.2 Brief examples of ETP

Textile dyeing factory
Textile dyeing is a Red category industry, which is highly harmful for environment. Therefore, ETP is a must for operating such an
industry.
The major steps of operations of ETP are outlined below:
• In the first step (using collection and screening tanks), hard materials, pieces of clothes, plastic materials, etc. are separated.

• Temperature of effluent is reduced by spraying water.

• A homogeneous mixture of effluent is produced (in a mixture tank) by circulating air. Oxidization also takes place.

• Add H2SO4 to make ph 7.

• Biological Oxidation takes place at BOD tank.

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• The heavy materials are accumulated as sludge at the bottom of the tank.

• The water from the above step is taken in a sludge thickener tank to separate nearly clean water.

• Sludge is dried and pressed to form dry cake for disposal.

6.3 WASTE WATER QUALITY

6.3.1 BOD detail

• Biological (or Biochemical) Oxygen Demand (BOD) indicates the amount of organic matter present in water.
• Therefore, a low BOD is an indicator of good quality water, while a high BOD indicates polluted water.
• The decrease in the oxygen supply in the water has a negative effect on the fish and other aquatic life.
• BOD specifies the strength of sewage. In sewage treatment, to say that the BOD has been reduced from 500 to 50 indicates that
there has been a 90 percent reduction.
• Most pristine rivers will have a 5 day BOD of less than 1 mg/L. Moderately polluted rivers may have BODs in the range 2mg /L to 8
mg/L.
• A three-day would have a BOD value of about 20 mg/1.
• Organic material + Dissolved Oxygen Consumed by bacteria.
• Oxidizable material + Bacteria + Nutrient + Oxygen CO2 + H2O + Oxidized inorganics (NO3, SO4).

BOD Level (in ppm) Water Quality

1-2 Very Good
3-5 Moderate
6-9 Fairly Polluted
10+ Very Polluted
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BOD test
• BOD measures the rate of uptake of oxygen by micro-organisms in the sample of water at a fixed temperature (20 0C, which is
the usual temperature of bodies of water in nature) and over a given period of time (usually 5 days) in the dark (to prevent
photosynthesis).

• To ensure that all other conditions are equal, a very small amount of micro-organism seed is added to each sample being
tested. This seed is typically generated by diluting activated sludge with de-ionized water.

• The difference between the final D.O (Dissolved oxygen) and initial D.O is the B.O.D. The test generally takes place over an
elapsed period of 5 days but other BOD tests are also used.

6.3.2 COD

• BOD is similar in function to Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), in that both measure the amount of organic compounds
in water.

• However, COD is less specific since it measures everything that can be chemically oxidized rather than just levels of
biology active organic matter, but inorganic matters too.

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 What is an ETP?
• ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant) is a process design for treating the industrial waste
water for its reuse or safe disposal to the environment.
• Influent: Untreated industrial waste water.
• Effluent: Treated industrial waste water.
• Sludge: Solid part separated from waste water by ETP.

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 Need of ETP
• To clean industry effluent and recycle it for further use.
• To reduce the usage of fresh/potable water in Industries.
• To cut expenditure on water procurement.
• To meet the Standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants
from various Industries set by the Government and avoid hefty penalties.
• To safeguard environment against pollution and contribute in sustainable
development.

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 Design of ETP
The design and size of the ETP depends upon:
• Quantity and quality of the industries discharge effluent.
• Land availability.
•Monetary considerations for construction, operation & maintenance.
• Area dimension depends on:
Quality of wastewater to be treated,
Flow rate
Type of biological treatment to be used .
• In case of less available land, CETP (Common Effluent Treatment Plant)
is preferred over ETP

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 Treatment Levels & Mechanisms of ETP
• Treatment levels:
Preliminary
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary (or advanced)

• Treatment mechanisms:
Physical
Chemical
Biological

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 Preliminary Treatment level
Purpose: Physical separation of big sized impurities like cloth, plastics, wood
logs, paper, etc.

Common physical unit operations at Preliminary level are:

Screening: A screen with openings of uniform size is used to remove large
solids such as plastics, cloth etc. Generally maximum 10mm is used.
Sedimentation: Physical water treatment process using gravity to remove
suspended solids from water.
Clarification: Used for separation of solids from fluids.

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 Primary Treatment Level

Purpose: Removal of floating and settleable materials such as suspended

solids and organic matter.

Methods: Both physical and chemical methods are used in this treatment level.

• Chemical unit processes:

Chemical unit processes are always used with physical operations and may also be
used with biological treatment processes.
Chemical processes use the addition of chemicals to the wastewater to bring about
changes in its quality.
Example: pH control, coagulation, chemical precipitation and oxidation.

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 Primary Treatment Level (cont…)
pH Control:
❖ To adjust the pH in the treatment process to make wastewater pH neutral.
❖ For acidic wastes (low pH): NaOH, Na2CO3 , CaCO3or Ca(OH)2.
❖ For alkali wastes (high pH): H2SO4 , HCl.

Chemical coagulation and Flocculation:

• Coagulation refers to collecting the minute solid particles dispersed in a liquid into a larger mass.
• Chemical coagulants like Al2 (SO4)3 {also called alum} or Fe2 (SO4)3 are added to wastewater
to improve the attraction among fine particles so that they come together and form larger
particles called flocs.
• A chemical flocculent (usually a polyelectrolyte) enhances the flocculation process by bringing
together particles to form larger flocs , which settle out more quickly.
• Flocculation is aided by gentle mixing which causes the particles to collide.

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 Secondary Treatment Level
Methods: Biological and chemical processes are involved in this level.
Biological unit process:
▪ To remove, or reduce the concentration of organic and inorganic compounds.
▪ Biological treatment process can take many forms but all are based around microorganisms, mainly
bacteria.
Aerobic Processes
▪ Aerobic treatment processes take place in the presence of air (oxygen).
▪ Utilizes those microorganisms (aerobes), which use molecular/free oxygen to assimilate organic impurities i.e.
convert them in to carbon dioxide, water and biomass.
Anaerobic Processes
▪ The anaerobic treatment processes take place in the absence of air (oxygen).
▪ Utilizes microorganisms (anaerobes) which do not require air (molecular/free oxygen) to assimilate organic impurities.
▪ The final products are methane and biomass.

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Activated sludge process

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 Tertiary / Advanced Treatment
Purpose: Final cleaning process that improves wastewater quality before it is reused, recycled or
discharged to the environment.

Mechanism: Removes remaining inorganic compounds, and substances, such as the nitrogen
and phosphorus. Bacteria, viruses and parasites, which are harmful to public health, are also
removed at this stage
Methods:
✔ Alum: Used to help remove additional phosphorus particles and group the remaining solids
together for easy removal in the filters.
✔ Chlorine contact tank disinfects the tertiary treated wastewater by removing microorganisms in
treated wastewater including bacteria, viruses and parasites.
✔ Remaining chlorine is removed by adding sodium bisulphate just before it's discharged.

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 Flow chart for ETP

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 Case Study
ETP Process Design for a typical Textile factory

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Textile production flow diagram

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Emission and waste generation from textile industry

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Effluent characteristics from typical textile industry
Process Composition Nature
Sizing starch, waxes, carboxymethyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol. High in BOD & COD
Desizing Starch, waxes, carboxymethyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol. High in BOD, COD, suspended
solids, dissolved solids.
Scouring Caustic soda, waxes, grease, soda ash, sodium silicate, fibers, Dark colored, High pH, COD,
sulfactants, sodium phosphate dissolved solids
Bleaching Hypochlorite,Caustic soda, sodium silicate, hydrogen peroxide, Alkaline suspended solids.
sulfactants, sodium phosphate.
Mercerizing Caustic soda. High pH, low COD, high dissolved
solids.
Dyeing Various dyes, mordants, reducing agents, active acid soap Strongly colored, High COD,
dissolved solids, low SS
Printing Pastes, starch, gums, oil, mordants, acids, soaps. Highly-colored, High COD, oily
appearance, SS
finishing Inorganic salts. Slightly Alkaline, low BOD.

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Waste water characteristics: Process-wise

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Important Characteristics of Wastewater from Textile Industry

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Human carcinogenic compound

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1. Screen chamber:
ETP Plant Operation
Remove relatively large solids to avoid abrasion of mechanical equipment's and clogging of hydraulic
system.
2. Collection tank:
The collection tank collects the effluent water from the screening chamber, stores and then pumps it to
the equalization tank.
3. Equalization tank:
The effluents do not have similar concentrations at all the time; the pH will vary time to time.
Effluents are stored from 8 to 12 hours in the equalization tank resulting in a homogenous mixing of
effluents and helping in neutralization.
It eliminates shock loading on the subsequent treatment system.
Continuous mixing also eliminates settling of solids within the equalization tank.
Reduces SS, TSS.

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 ETP Plant Operation
4. Flash mixer
Coagulants were added to the effluents:
• Lime: (800-1000 ppm) To correct the pH up to 8-9.
• Alum: (200-300 ppm) To remove color .
• Poly electrolyte: (0.2 ppm) To settle the suspended matters & reduce SS, TSS.
The addition of the above chemicals by efficient rapid mixing facilitates homogeneous combination of flocculates to
produce microflows.
5. Clarriflocculator:
In the clarriflocculator the water is circulated continuously by the stirrer.
Overflowed water is taken out to the aeration tank.
The solid particles are settled down, and collected separately and dried; this reduces SS, TSS.
Flocculation provides slow mixing that leads to the formation of macro flocs, which then settles out in the
clarifier zone.
The settled solids i.e. primary sludge are pumped into sludge drying beds.

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 ETP Plant Operation

6. Aeration tank:
The water is passed like a thin film over the different arrangements like staircase shape.
Dosing of Urea and DAP is done.
Water gets direct contact with the air to dissolve the oxygen into water.
BOD & COD values of water is reduced up to 90%.

7. Clarifier:
The clarifier collects the biological sludge.
The overflowed water is called as treated effluent and disposed out.
The outlet water quality is checked to be within the accepted limit as delineated in the norms of the
standards.
Through pipelines, the treated water is disposed into the environment river water, barren land, etc.

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 ETP Plant Operation
8. Sludge thickener:
The inlet water consists of 60% water + 40% solids.
The effluent is passed through the centrifuge.
Due to centrifugal action, the solids and liquids are separated.
The sludge thickener reduces the water content in the effluent to 40% water +
60% solids.
The effluent is then reprocessed and the sludge collected at the bottom.

9. Drying beds:
Primary and secondary sludge is dried on the drying beds.

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FLOW CHART OF ETP

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 SCREENING
Screening is the filtration process for the separation of coarse particles from influent.
Stainless steel net with varying pore size can be utilized.
Screens are cleaned regularly to avoid clogging.

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 EQUALIZATION TANK
Equalization makes the waste water homogenous.
Retention time depends upon the capacity of treatment plant. (Generally 8-16 hours)

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 PH CORRECTION

In this tank pH of the influent is corrected to meet the standard.

Acid or alkali is added to the effluent to increase or decrease the pH.

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 DISPERSE UNIT
Disperse tank mixes the sludge coming from recycle tank with waste water for to proper
aeration.

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 AERATION

Function of aeration is oxidation by blowing air.

Aerobic bacteria is used to stabilize and remove
organic material presents in waste.

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SCHEMTIC DIAGRAM OF AERATION

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 SEDIMENTATION TANK

▪ In this tank sludge is settled down.

▪ Effluent is discharged from plant through a fish pond.
▪ Sludge is passed to the sludge thickening unit.

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SCHEMTIC DIAGRAM OF SEDIMENTATION TANK

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 EFFLUENT DISCHARGE

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 SLUDGE THICKENING UNIT

Here sludge is dried and discharged.

Partial amount of sludge is returned back to the
aeration tank from thickening unit through recycle
tank called return sludge tank and disperse tank

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SCHEMTIC DIAGRAM OF SLUDGE THICKENING
UNIT

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 DRIED SLUDGE

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 RETURN SLUDGE TANK

Function of return tank or recycle tank is to mix water with sludge .

This mixture is then passed to aeration tank through disperse
tank.

Advantages of Sludge Tank

Sludge again oxidized to minimize the pollution from sludge.
Alive bacteria of sludge is again used in aeration to utilize this bacteria.

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