Wastewater treatment - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

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Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process used to convert wastewater into
an effluent (outflowing of water to a receiving body of water) that can be
returned to the water cycle with minimal impact on the environment or
directly reused. The latter is called water reclamation because treated
wastewater can then be used for other purposes. The treatment process
takes place in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), often referred to
as a Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) or a sewage treatment
plant. Pollutants in municipal wastewater (households and small
industries) are removed or broken down.

The treatment of wastewater is part of the overarching field of

sanitation. Sanitation also includes the management of human waste
and solid waste as well as stormwater (drainage) management.[1] By-
products from wastewater treatment plants, such as screenings, grit and
sewage sludge may also be treated in a wastewater treatment plant.
[2]:Ch.14

Wastewater treatment plant in

Cuxhaven, Germany
Contents
Disposal or reuse
Processes used
Phase separation
Oxidation
Polishing
Wastewater treatment plants
Sewage treatment plants
Industrial wastewater treatment plants
Agricultural wastewater treatment plants
Leachate treatment plants

See also
References
Sources

Disposal or reuse
Although disposal or reuse occurs after treatment, it must be considered first. Since disposal or reuse are the
objectives of wastewater treatment, disposal or reuse options are the basis for treatment decisions. Acceptable
impurity concentrations may vary with the type of use or location of disposal. Transportation costs often make
acceptable impurity concentrations dependent upon location of disposal, but expensive treatment requirements
may encourage selection of a disposal location on the basis of impurity concentrations. Ocean disposal is subject to
international treaty requirements. International treaties may also regulate disposal into rivers crossing
international borders. Water bodies entirely within the jurisdiction of a single nation may be subject to regulations

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of multiple local governments. Acceptable impurity concentrations may vary widely among different jurisdictions
for disposal of wastewater to evaporation ponds, infiltration basins, or injection wells.

Processes used

Phase separation
Phase separation transfers impurities into a non-aqueous
phase. Phase separation may occur at intermediate points in
a treatment sequence to remove solids generated during
oxidation or polishing. Grease and oil may be recovered for
fuel or saponification. Solids often require dewatering of
sludge in a wastewater treatment plant. Disposal options for
dried solids vary with the type and concentration of
impurities removed from water.

Production of waste brine, however, may discourage

wastewater treatment removing dissolved inorganic solids
Clarifiers are widely used for wastewater
from water by methods like ion exchange, reverse osmosis,
treatment.
and distillation.

Sedimentation
Solids and non-polar liquids may be removed from wastewater by
gravity when density differences are sufficient to overcome dispersion
by turbulence. Gravity separation of solids is the primary treatment of
sewage, where the unit process is called "primary settling tanks" or
"primary sedimentation tanks". It is also widely used for the treatment
of other wastewaters. Solids that are heavier than water will accumulate
at the bottom of quiescent settling basins. More complex clarifiers also
Primary settling tank of wastewater
have skimmers to simultaneously remove floating grease like soap scum
treatment plant in Dresden-Kaditz,
and solids like feathers or wood chips. Containers like the API oil-water Germany
separator are specifically designed to separate non-polar liquids.[3]

Filtration
Colloidal suspensions of fine solids may be removed by filtration through fine physical barriers distinguished from
coarser screens or sieves by the ability to remove particles smaller than the openings through which the water
passes. Other types of water filters remove impurities by chemical or biological processes described below.[4]

Oxidation
Oxidation reduces the biochemical oxygen demand of wastewater, and may reduce the toxicity of some impurities.
Secondary treatment converts organic compounds into carbon dioxide, water, and biosolids. Chemical oxidation is
widely used for disinfection.

Biochemical oxidation
Secondary treatment by biochemical oxidation of dissolved and colloidal organic compounds is widely used in

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sewage treatment and is applicable to some agricultural and industrial

wastewaters. Biological oxidation will preferentially remove organic
compounds useful as a food supply for the treatment ecosystem.
Concentration of some less digestible compounds may be reduced by co-
metabolism. Removal efficiency is limited by the minimum food
concentration required to sustain the treatment ecosystem.[5]

Chemical oxidation
Chemical oxidation may remove some persistent organic pollutants and Aeration tank of an activated sludge
concentrations remaining after biochemical oxidation.[6] Disinfection by process at the wastewater treatment
plant in Dresden-Kaditz, Germany
chemical oxidation kills bacteria and microbial pathogens by adding
ozone, chlorine or hypochlorite to wastewater.[2]:1220

Polishing
Polishing refers to treatments made following the above methods. These treatments may also be used
independently for some industrial wastewater. Chemical reduction or pH adjustment minimizes chemical reactivity
of wastewater following chemical oxidation.[7] Carbon filtering removes remaining contaminants and impurities by
chemical absorption onto activated carbon.[2]:1138 Filtration through sand (calcium carbonate) or fabric filters is the
most common method used in municipal wastewater treatment.

Wastewater treatment plants

Wastewater treatment plants may be distinguished by the type of wastewater to be treated, i.e. whether it is sewage,
industrial wastewater, agricultural wastewater or leachate.

Sewage treatment plants

A typical municipal sewage treatment plant in an industrialized country
may include primary treatment to remove solid material, secondary
treatment to digest dissolved and suspended organic material as well as
the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, and – sometimes but not always
– disinfection to kill pathogenic bacteria. The sewage sludge that is
produced in sewage treatment plants undergoes sludge treatment.
Larger municipalities often include factories discharging industrial Overview of the wastewater
wastewater into the municipal sewer system. The term "sewage treatment plant of Antwerpen-Zuid,
treatment plant" is now often replaced with the term "wastewater located in the south of the
treatment plant".[2] Sewage can also be treated by processes using agglomeration of Antwerp (Belgium)

"Nature-based solutions".

Tertiary treatment
Tertiary treatment is a term applied to polishing methods used following a traditional sewage treatment sequence.
Tertiary treatment is being increasingly applied in industrialized countries and most common technologies are
micro filtration or synthetic membranes. After membrane filtration, the treated wastewater is nearly
indistinguishable from waters of natural origin of drinking quality (without its minerals). Nitrates can be removed
from wastewater by natural processes in wetlands but also via microbial denitrification. Ozone wastewater
treatment is also growing in popularity, and requires the use of an ozone generator, which decontaminates the

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water as ozone bubbles percolate through the tank, but this treatment is energy intensive. The latest, and very
promising treatment technology is the use aerobic granulation.

Industrial wastewater treatment plants

Disposal of wastewaters from an industrial plant is a difficult and costly problem. Most petroleum refineries,
chemical and petrochemical plants[8][2]:1412 have onsite facilities to treat their wastewaters so that the pollutant
concentrations in the treated wastewater comply with the local and/or national regulations regarding disposal of
wastewaters into community treatment plants or into rivers, lakes or oceans. Constructed wetlands are being used
in an increasing number of cases as they provided high quality and productive on-site treatment. Other industrial
processes that produce a lot of waste-waters such as paper and pulp production has created environmental concern,
leading to development of processes to recycle water use within plants before they have to be cleaned and
disposed.[9]

Industrial wastewater treatment plants are required where municipal sewage treatment plants are unavailable or
cannot adequately treat specific industrial wastewaters. Industrial wastewater plants may reduce raw water costs by
converting selected wastewaters to reclaimed water used for different purposes. Industrial wastewater treatment
plants may reduce wastewater treatment charges collected by municipal sewage treatment plants by pre-treating
wastewaters to reduce concentrations of pollutants measured to determine user fees.[10]

Although economies of scale may favor use of a large municipal sewage treatment plant for disposal of small
volumes of industrial wastewater, industrial wastewater treatment and disposal may be less expensive than
correctly apportioned costs for larger volumes of industrial wastewater not requiring the conventional sewage
treatment sequence of a small municipal sewage treatment plant.[11]

Textile dyeing typically treats and releases measureable effluent in categories of color (ADMI standard units), TSS<
BOD, COD, phenol, sulfides, oil & grease, heavy metals like zinc and copper.

An industrial wastewater treatment plant may include one or more of the following rather than the conventional
primary, secondary, and disinfection sequence of sewage treatment:

An API oil-water separator, for removing separate phase oil from wastewater.[12]
A clarifier, for removing solids from wastewater.[13]
A roughing filter, to reduce the biochemical oxygen demand of wastewater.[14]
A carbon filtration plant, to remove toxic dissolved organic compounds from wastewater.[15]
An advanced electrodialysis reversal (EDR) system with ion exchange membranes.

Agricultural wastewater treatment plants

Agricultural wastewater treatment for continuous confined animal operations like milk and egg production may be
performed in plants using mechanized treatment units similar to those described under industrial wastewater; but
where land is available for ponds, settling basins and facultative lagoons may have lower operational costs for
seasonal use conditions from breeding or harvest cycles.[16]

Leachate treatment plants

Leachate treatment plants are used to treat leachate from landfills. Treatment options include: biological treatment,
mechanical treatment by ultrafiltration, treatment with active carbon filters and reverse osmosis using disc tube
module technology.

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See also
Algae fuel
List of waste-water treatment technologies
List of water supply and sanitation by country
Sanitary engineering
Wastewater engineering

References
1. "Sanitation" (http://www.who.int/topics/sanitation/en/). Health topics. World Health Organization.
2. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. (2003). Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Reuse (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
ISBN 0-07-112250-8.
3. Weber, pp.111-138
4. Weber, pp.139-196
5. Steel & McGhee, pp. 477–521
6. Weber, pp.363-408
7. Weber, p.439
8. Beychok, Milton R. (1967). Aqueous Wastes from Petroleum and Petrochemical Plants (1st ed.). John Wiley &
Sons. LCCN 67019834.
9. Byrd, J.F.; Ehrke, M.D.; Whitfield, J.I. (April 1984). "New Bleached Kraft Pulp Plant in Georgia: State of the Art
Environmental Control". Journal (Water Pollution Control Federation). 56 (4): 378–385. JSTOR 25042250
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/25042250)..
10. Hammer, pp.300-302
11. Kemmer, pp.40-4-40-11
12. Patterson, p.180
13. Kemmer, p.41-15
14. Kemmer, p.23-11
15. Patterson, p.210
16. Reed, Middlebrooks & Crites, pp.6-8

Sources
Hammer, Mark J. (1975). Water and Waste-Water Technology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN 0-471-34726-4.
Kemmer, Frank N. (1979). The Nalco Water Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Patterson, James W. (1980). Wastewater Treatment Technology. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Science.
ISBN 0-250-40086-3.
Ramseur, Jonathan L. (September 22, 2017). Wastewater Infrastructure: Overview, Funding, and Legislative
Developments (https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44963.pdf) (PDF). Washington, DC: Congressional Research
Service. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
Reed, Sherwood C.; Middlebrooks, E. Joe; Crites, Ronald W. (1988). Natural Systems for Waste Management
and Treatment. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. ISBN 0-07-051521-2.
Weber, Walter J., Jr. (1972). Physicochemical Processes for Water Quality Control. New York: Wiley-
Interscience. ISBN 0-471-92435-0.

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