Environmental Engineering-I

Class# 8 : Water Treatment Processes

Muhammad Umer Arif Khan

Department of Civil Engineering, MUST 1

 Isn’t This a Great Day to Study
Environmental Engineering ???

Department of Civil Engineering, MUST 2

Source: When Is The Right Time to Study Abroad? “[Link]
 Today’s Agenda
— Water Treatment
— Objectives of Water Treatment
— Water Treatment Processes
— Principles of Process Engineering
— Reaction Kinetics & Rate Laws
— Reactor Theory

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 Water Treatment
— Water can not be consumed in its natural state due
to the presence of pollutants

— The processing of water in order to remove these

pollutants is called water treatment

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Source: Taste & Odors,“[Link]
 Objectives of Water Treatment
Objectives of Water Treatment
• Protect consumer’s health
• Bacteriologically safe
• Make is acceptable by the consumers
• Aesthetics (odor, taste and color)
• Economic reasons
• Protection of water distribution equipment
e.g. prevention of scaling in pipes
• Jurisdictional legislations
• PSQCA (Pakistan Standards and Quality Control
Authority) Water Quality Standards
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 Water Treatment Processes
— Water treatment processes depend on the different
techniques used
— Broadly categorized as;
a) Physical
b) Chemical
c) Biological
— Choice of Treatment Processes Depends Upon;
— Quality of raw water
— Required quality of treated water (end use)
— Economical resources available for operation
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 Water Treatment Processes
a) Physical Processes:
— Based on exploitation of physical properties of
pollutants
— Consist of techniques like Screening, floatation,
sedimentation and filtration

b) Chemical Processes:
— Makes use of chemical properties of the contaminants
or chemicals that are added
— Consist of techniques like Precipitation, coagulation
and disinfection

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 Water Treatment Processes
c) Biological Processes:
— Use of Biochemical reactions
— Biological substances derive energy from oxidation of
organic food sources (BOD)
— Consist of Techniques like Biological infiltration etc.

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Source: Biological Wastewater Treatment (BOD & N removal),Prepared by Kapesh Dankhara
 Principles of Process Engineering
Process Engineering
— It focuses on design, operation, control and
optimization of physical, chemical and biological
processes
— Involves translating the needs of customer into
facilities that convert raw water into value-added
water
— Mass Balance Approach
— The mass that enters a system must, by conservation of
mass, either leave the system or accumulate in the
system
— It provides a basis for analyzing engineering problems
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 Principles of Process Engineering
Mass Balance Approach
— For an environmental system, the equation may be
written as:
— Accumulation of material in a system (Reactor) = Input of
material – Output of material + Transformations
— In many environmental problems, Time is an important
factor
— In order to take into account time dependent changes
(transformations) that take place when a reaction is
taking place in a container (reactor), the mass balance
equation takes the form of;
— Accumulation Rate (kg/d) = Input Rate (kg/d) – Output Rate
(kg/d) + Transformation rate (kg/d)
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 Principles of Process Engineering
Analysis of Conservative Substances
Example:
A stream carries a flow of 2000m3/d with TDS concentration
of 700mg/l. At a point, 80m3/d of industrial wastewater is discharged
into the stream with a TDS concentration of 3500mg/l. Find out the
resulting TDS concentration in the stream after industrial waste is
completely mixed with the stream flow. No accumulation takes place.
Solution:
According to the Mass Balance Approach;
Accumulation (Mass of TDS)= Input (Mass) – Output (Mass)
Input 1 (Mass of TDS)= QsxCs= 2000m3/d x 700g/m3= 1,400,000g/d
Input 2 (Mass of TDS)= QwxCw= 80m3/d x 3500g/m3= 280,000g/d
Output= (Qs+Qw)xC= (2000+80)xC= 2080.C m3/d

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 Principles of Process Engineering
Analysis of Conservative Substances
Example Solution (Cont.):
Since Accumulation = 0
Therefore;
Input = Output
1,400,000+280,000= 2080.C
C= 1680000/ 2080 = 807.7g/m3 = 807.7mg/l
— The above process can be used for calculating concentrations
of conservative substances i.e. substances that don’t change
over time (no reactions= zero transformations)
— However, for non-conservative substances (i.e. substances
change overtime due to physical, chemical or biological
reactions), reactor mass balance approach is employed
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 Principles of Process Engineering
Analysis of Non-Conservative Substances
— First establish a system boundary so that all the flow
of mass into and out of the system can be identified
— Assumptions:
— The flow in and out of the container is constant
— Condition of steady state flow (state in which the inflow
concentration of the reactant in the reactor doesn’t
change with time)
— The liquid is not subject to evaporation
— The reaction involving the reactant ‘C’ is occurring
within the reactor container

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 Principles of Process Engineering
Analysis of Non-Conservative substances
— Representation of Mass balance Equation:
dC
V = Q.C 0 − Q.C + V (r)
where; dt
V= Volume of the reactor
dC
= Rate of change of reactant concentration
dt
within the reactor
Q= Rate of flow in and out of the reactor
C0= Concentration of the reactant in inflow
C= Concentration of the reactant in outflow
r= Rate of reaction
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 Reaction Kinetics and Rate Laws
Kinetic Reactions
— Reactions that are time dependent are called kinetic
reactions
Rate Law
— The mathematical expression describing the rate at which a
reaction proceeds is called the rate law
— The rate laws are written in terms of concentrations of
reactants
r = k (C)
Where;
r= rate of reaction
k= kinetic constant
C= concentration of the reactant
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 Reaction Kinetics and Rate Laws
Order of Reaction
— For many reactions, rate law can be written in the
form of a simple expression where rate of reaction
is proportional to the concentration of reactant
raised to some power
Zero order reaction: r = k (C)0
First order reaction: r = k (C)
Second order reaction: r = k (C)2

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 Reaction Kinetics and Rate Laws
Order of Reaction
— If the concentration of reactant (substance) is
decreasing in the reactor with time, then rate of
reaction also decreases
Zero order reaction: r = –k (C)0
First order reaction: r = –k.C
Second order reaction: r = –k.C2
Note:
— In Environmental engineering processes, many biochemical
reactions are first order reactions (also called monomolecular)
— Reactions in which rate of reaction is proportional to the
concentration of reactant present
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 Reactor Theory
Reactor
— Refers to the vessel (container) in which reaction
takes place
— Normally three types of reactors are considered in
environmental engineering processes
a) Completely Mixed Batch Reactor
b) Continuous Flow Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
c) Plug Flow Reactor (PFR)

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 Reactor Theory
a) Completely Mixed Batch Reactor
— It is a closed system
— Flow is neither entering or leaving the system
— The reactants are initially introduced into the
container, thoroughly mixed and left for a certain
period after which they are discharged to empty the
reactor and the process is repeated
— As reaction proceeds, concentration of the reactant
changes with time

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 Reactor Theory
a) Completely Mixed Batch Reactor
— Mathematical Equation:
From mass Balance Equation;
Accumulation Rate = Input Rate – Output Rate + Transformation Rate
dC
V = Q.C 0 − Q.C + V (r)
dt
Since it is in no flow condition i.e. Q=0
dC
V = (0).C 0 − (0).C + V (r)
dt
dC
V = V (r)
dt
dC
=r
dt
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 Reactor Theory
a) Completely Mixed Batch Reactor
— Mathematical Equation:
Considering first order reaction i.e. r = –k.C
dC
= −k.C
dt
dC
= −[Link]
C
Integrating; C t
dC
∫ C
= −k ∫ dt
C0 0
C
ln = −kt
C0
C
= e−kt
C0
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 Reactor Theory
a) Completely Mixed Batch Reactor
— Mathematical Equation:
Therefore,

C = C 0 e−kt
Where;
C0= Initial concentration of the reactant
C= Concentration of the reactant at time ‘t’
k= Reaction rate constant
t= time in the reactor
e= Euler’s Number= 2.718

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 Reactor Theory
b) Continuous Flow Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
— It is an open system
— The inflow and outflow are continuous
— The contents in the reactor are well mixed, so that
the concentration of the reactant is homogenous
— If the inflow concentration (Co) remains constant, a
steady state flow is achieved

Q,C0 Q,C

V,C
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 Reactor Theory
b) Continuous Flow Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
— Mathematical Equation:
From mass Balance Equation;
Accumulation Rate = Input Rate – Output Rate + Transformation Rate
dC
V.
= Q.C 0 − Q.C + V (r)
dt
dC V
Under steady state flow condition i.e. = 0 and = tCSTR
dt Q
V (0) = Q(C 0 − C) + V (r)

Q(C 0 − C) = −V (r)
Q
(C 0 − C) = −r
V
Department of Civil Engineering, MUST 24
 Reactor Theory
b) Continuous Flow Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
— Mathematical Equation:
C0 − C
= −r
tCSTR
C − C0
=r
tCSTR
Considering first order reaction i.e. r = –k.C
C − C0
= −k.C
tCSTR
C − C0
= −[Link]
C
C0
1− = −[Link]
C
C0
= 1+ [Link]
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 Reactor Theory
b) Continuous Flow Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
— Mathematical Equation:
Therefore,
C0
C=
1+ [Link]
Where;
C0= Initial concentration of the reactant in inflow
C= Concentration of the reactant in outflow
tCSTR= Detention time in the reactor
k= Reaction rate constant

Department of Civil Engineering, MUST 26

 Reactor Theory
c) Plug Flow Reactor
— It is an open system with water flowing through the
reactor
— However, fluid going through a PFR is modeled as
flowing through the reactor as a series of plugs, each
with a uniform composition traveling in the axial
direction of the reactor with each plug having a
different composition from the one before and after
— Key assumptions:
— Fluid is perfectly mixed in the radial direction (direction
perpendicular to flow) but not in the axial direction
(direction of flow)
— Each plug is considered a separate entity 27
 Reactor Theory
c) Plug Flow Reactor

Q,C0 Q,C

dx

Time of travel ‘t’

28
 Reactor Theory
c) Plug Flow Reactor
— Mathematical Equation:
— Consider a strip of fluid with width (dx) moving at a velocity (V)
across the cross-section
— At the start i.e. at Time (t=0) and distance (x=0), the
concentration of reactant in the strip=C0. If ‘t’ is the time taken
by strip to accomplish the reaction, then
dC
=r
dt
— Considering first order reaction i.e. r= –k.C
dC
= −k.C
dt
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 Reactor Theory
c) Plug Flow Reactor
— Mathematical Equation:
Integrating;
dC
= −[Link]
C
C t
dC
∫ C
= −k ∫ dt
Co 0

C
ln = −[Link]
C0
C = C 0.e−[Link]
(Same as mixed batch reactor for first order reaction)
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 Principles of Process Engineering
Example:
Considering a first order kinetic reaction with k=0.23/day and a
detention time of 5 days; find out the efficiencies achieved in plug flow and
completely stirred tank reactor
Solution: 1) Plug Flow Reactor

C = C 0.e−[Link]
Here;
k.t = 0.23(5) = 1.15
C
= e−1.15 = 0.316
C0
n= Efficiency of the reactor
C0 − C C
n= = 1−
C0 C0
n = 1− 0.316 = 0.684
n = 68.4% 31
 Principles of Process Engineering
Example Solution (cont.)

2) Completely Stirred Tank Reactor

C0
C=
1+ [Link]
Here;
k.t = 0.23(5) = 1.15
C 1 1
= = = 0.465
C 0 1+1.15 2.15
n= Efficiency of the reactor
C0 − C C
n= = 1−
C0 C0
n = 1− 0.465 = 0.535
n = 53.5%

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 Questions ???

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