Wastewater Treatment System

Prepared by:
Romnick Jay R. Rejano
Wastewater Treatment Facilities
– are designed to speed up the natural purification process that
occurs in natural waters and to remove contaminants in
wastewater that might otherwise interfere with natural process in
the receiving waters.
3 Major categories of municipal wastewater treatment
1. Primary treatment (Physical Process)
2. Secondary treatment (Biological Process)
3. Tertiary treatment (Combination of physical, biological and
chemical process)
3 Basic goals of wastewater treatment process
1. To produce clean effluent
2. To protect public health and natural resources
3. To have an ambient environment
Preliminary treatment system
-are designed to physically remove or cut up the larger
suspended and floating materials, and to remove the heavy
inorganic solids and excessive amount of oil and grease.
-It’s main objective is to protect pumping equipment and
subsequent treatment units.
Preliminary treatment consist of the following devices or method
1. Flow measurement devices and regulators
2. Racks and screen (Screening bulge item)
3. Comminuting Devices (grinders, cutters)
4. Flow equalization
5. Grit chambers
6. Pre-aeration tanks
7. Chlorination (for disinfection)
Disinfection of sewage is practice for the following purposes;
1. Where water supplies are endangered
2. If there is a shell beds in sewage
3. To protect bathing beaches
Primary Treatment System
- Is to reduce the flow velocity of the wastewater sufficiently
to permit suspended solids to settle, i.e. to remove settleable
solids. Floating materials are also removed by skimming.
- A primary treatment device may be called a settling tank
or basin.
Settling tanks may be divided into four:
1. Plain sedimentation with mechanical sludge removal.
2. Two-story tank (Imhoff tank)
3. Upflow clarifier with mechanical sludge removal
4. Septics tank
Auxillary units when chemical are applied in a settling tank
1. Chemical feeder
2. Mixing devices
3. Flocculators
4. Sludge management treatment
Quality of wastewater under Primary treatment system
1. Removes approximately 50% to 70% of total suspended
solid from wastewater
2. The BOD removal efficiency is 25% to 35%
3. When coagulants are applied, a total of 80% to 90% of TSS
are removed.
4. Approximately 10% of the phosphorus corresponding
insoluble is normally removed.
5. Biological activity in wastewater is negligible.
 Secondary treatment system
-Is used to remove the soluble and colloidal organic matter
which remains after the primary treatment.
-Secondary treatment is commonly referred as the biological
process.
Biological Treatment
– consist of application of controlled natural process in which
a very large number of microorganisms consume soluble and
colloidal organic matter from the wastewater in a relatively
small container over a reasonable time.
Two Groups of Secondary Treatment Devices
1. Attached Growth Process
a) Trickling Filters
b)Rotating Biologic Contactors
c) Intermitting Sand Filters
2. Suspended Growth Process
a) Activated Sludge
b)Contact Stabilization Tank
c) Sequencing Batch Reactors
d)Aerobic and anaerobic digestors
e) Anerobic filters
f) Stabilization pond
g)Aerated lagoons
Advanced Treatment System
-The methods and processes that remove more contaminants
from wastewater than the conventional treatment.
-The term advanced treatment may be applied to any system
that follows the secondary, or that modifies or replaces step in
the conventional process.
-A tertiary system is the third treatment step that is used after
primary and secondary process.
Goals of Advanced Treatment Process
1. To remove nitrogen, phosphorous, and suspended solids
including BOD
2. To meet certain regulations for specific conditions.
Advanced processes use some processes for drinking water
treatment such as;
1. Chemical coagulation
2. Wedge-wire screen
3. Granular media filter
4. Diatomaceous earth filters
5. Micro-screening
6. Ultrafiltration
7. Nanofiltration
Techniques used by advanced treatment for the control of
Nitrogen
1. Biological assimilation
2. Nitrification
3. Denitrification
4. Ion exchange
5. Breakpoint Chlorination
6. Air stripping