CEE 3413 Environmental Engineering

Lecture 15 Wastewater Treatment

PRELIMINARY AND PRIMARY TREATMENT
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Tania Datta
Office: Prescott Hall, Room No. 333
Email: tdatta@tntech.edu

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

PreliminaryTreatment
Purpose of PRELIMINARY TREATMENT of wastewater is to remove large
and abrasive wastewater constituents in the raw influent that can cause
operational problems in downstream processes or increase maintenance
requirement in downstream equipments
Constituents include:
Large solids
Rags
Floating debris
Abrasive inert material
Oil/Grease

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

PreliminaryTreatment
Unit Processes Include:
SCREENING
GRIT REMOVAL

HEADWORKS

FLOW EQUALIZATION
WherearetheylocatedinaWWTP?
Influent

Headworks

Secondary
Treatment

Disinfection

ReturnActivatedSludge(RAS)

PRELIMINARY
TREATMENT

WasteActivated
Sludge(WAS)

Effluent to
surfacewater
dischargeor
Reclaimed
water toreuse

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

Screens

Removes large solid objects that damage pumps or

Or can remove finer objects to protect downstream
sensitive process equipments

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

Screens
Screen Classification (based on screen opening sizes)

Coarse or Bar Screens

6 mm to 150 mm

Fine Screens
0.5 m to 6 mm

Vendor provided design/equipments

Manually or mechanically cleaned
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqcMjYhZtc

Rake screens
Chain-driven screens

Micro Screens
<0.5 m

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

Screens DesignConsiderations
Location:
Coarse/Bar screens always placed before grit removal chamber
Finer screens always placed after grit removal chambers
Enclosed or Not Enclosed:
Depends on odor control, climate and equipment design
Screen opening size already discussed
Approach Velocity:
Design engineer must ensure that wastewater approach velocity is not too
slow and not too fast.
Approach velocity of at least 1.25 ft/s is recommended to avoid solids
settling
But during peak flow events, approach velocity should not increase
3.0 ft/s

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

Screens DesignConsiderations
Velocity of flow through the openings
Good designs allow velocities of 0.6 to 1.2 m/s for mechanically
bar screens
Should obtain this data from screen vendor/manufacturer
Headloss through bar/coarse screens:

Headloss through screens

HL
Approach
Velocity (v)
Velocity
thru
opening (V)

1
HL
C

V 2 v2

2g

C = Empirical coefficient to account for

turbulence and eddy losses
0.7 Clean screen
0.6 Clogged screens

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

Screens DesignConsiderations
Allowable head loss is
6 for manually cleaned bar racks
6-24 for mechanically cleaned bar racks
Racks should be cleaned when headloss is
greater than the allowable values.

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

Screening
Screenings Handling, Processing and Disposal
Screenings are the materials that are retained on the screens.
Bar/Coarse screenings Removed from the screens, grinded,
compacted and hauled to landfill for disposal.
Fine screenings Either processed with bar/coarse screening
or sometimes treated as primary sludge, depending on screen
size.
Operational Issues with Wastewater Screening
Odorous screenings requires proper storage and disposal of
screenings
Mechanical failure always plan for a redundant system

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

GritRemoval
Purpose: to remove inorganic suspended material
referred to as grit to prevent abrasion of pumps and to
reduce deposits in pipe lines and open channels.
Grit includes sand, gravel, eggshells, bone chips, coffee
grounds, etc.
Grit Removal follows the concept of Type I settling

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

GritRemoval
Most common designs for Grit removal:
Horizontal Flow Grit Chambers (square or rectangular
configuration)
Aerated Grit Chambers
Vortex Grit Chambers

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

GritRemoval AeratedGritChambers

TYPICAL DESIGN
INFORMATION:

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

GritRemoval VortexGritChambers
Uses a vortex flow pattern to allow heavier particles to settle down
and lighter particles to remain floated
Mechanical Vortex Relies on a mechanically enhanced vortex
flow, using a mechanical turbine

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

PrimaryTreatment
Purpose: Removes readily
settable solids and floating
materials (scum) and thus
reduces TSS, particulate BOD
and bound phosphorus
Removal Rate: 50-70% of total
suspended solids and 25-40%
of BOD (in particulate form)
Based on: Settling Theory,
Ideal Settling Basin Theory

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

PrimaryTreatment

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

PrimaryTreatment
Typical Design Information (Table 5-20 & 5-21 Metcalf and Eddy)

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction

AdditionalReadingAssignment
Textbook Chapter 8: Wastewater Treatment
Section 8-1: Introduction
Section 8-2: Characteristics of Wastewater
Section 8-4: Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Systems
Section 8-5: Unit Operation of Pre-treatment
Section 8-6: Primary Treatment