Appropriate technologies for wastewater

treatment in Latin America

Maria Fürhacker

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna

April, 2014, Lima

Content

• Waste water treatment

• Requirements
• Treatment techniques
• Practical experiences
• Conclusions

April, 2014, Lima

Waste water treatment

• is the process of removing

contaminants from waste water both
from industry and domestic.

• It includes physical, chemical, and

biological processes

• Its objective is to produce a treated

effluent and a solid waste or sludge
suitable for discharge or reuse in the
environment. This material is
sometimes contaminated with organic
and inorganic compounds.
April, 2014, Lima
 Targets to be reached
Waste water
reuse
treatment requirement
irrigation
infiltration
recieving
waters drinking water

technical Chemicals,
requirements Pathogens Chemicals Chemicals,
WHO GL WFD GW Pathogens Chemical,
WFD/Bathingwater Pathogens
DWD

April, 2014, Lima

Industrial Wastewater

Industrial Emissions Directive (IED, 2010/75/EU)

(http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference/)
• Best Available Techniques (BAT) reference
documents, the so-called BREFs
•
For each BREF in the table below, the following information can be found:
• information on a specific industrial/agricultural sector in the EU, on the
techniques and processes used in this sector, current emission and
consumption levels, techniques to consider in the determination of the best
available techniques (BAT) and emerging techniques
• the list of references (background material), webpages containing relevant
legislation/standards,
• additional technical information.
April, 2014, Lima
 Irrigation water (WHO, 2006)

Soil, plant, human health protection – chemicals, salts

Microbial contamination
Disease burden associated
1*10-6 DALY per person per year
Health based targets for
wastewater use:
• Reduktion of 6-7 logs (bacteria
or viruses) helminths < 1 egg/L

Slight disease Verification:

e.g. diarrhoe E. coli oder thermotolerante coli < 100-101/100ml
(e.g. rate of mortality 1*10-5 at a
yearly risk 1 in 1000
(1 in 10 life long risk)
equivalent ca. 1*10-6 DALY pppy

April, 2014, Lima

Recomendations for surface water
quality

WFD good chemical status – list of 33 + 8 substances + 15

good biological status

April, 2014, Lima

„Combined approach“

Biological quality components Priority substances and „relevant“

substances
hydromorphological and
general chemical quality
components
(pH, T, conductivity) + specific
pollutants
good chemical status

good ecological status

good status
Measures Environmental quality standards (EQS)

EQS
Point sources: best available techniques (BAT)
BAT
diffuse sources: best environmental practice (BEP)
BEP
EQS BAT, BEP EQS
(exceeded) measure (still exceeded)

More stringent measures

April, 2014, Lima

Water management/pollution
prevention hierarchy
• Water minimization
• Recycle/reuse
• Treatment and disposal

Use most environmentally friendly option where possible

April, 2014, Lima

April, 2014, Lima
Treatment processes
Mechanical treatment
• Sedimentation
• Flotation (API – American petroleum standard)
• Filtration – e.g. nutshell filters, membrane separation, desalination

Physical/chemical treatment
• Dissolved air flotation
• Adsorption
• Ion Exchange
• Oxidizing processes
• Disinfection

Biological treatment
• Biological Processes – aerobic, anaerobic

April, 2014, Lima

Sedimentation
Sedimentation is a physical water treatment process using gravity to
remove suspended solids from water.

e.g. primary sedimentation, clarifyer, sedimentation basin

separator, centrifuge

April, 2014, Lima

Flotation - oil-water separator (API)
The API (American Petroleum Institute ) separator is a gravity separation
device designed by using Stokes Law to define the rise velocity of oil droplets
based on their density and size.

1 = trash trap (inclined rods),

2 = oil retention baffles,
3 = flow distributors,
4 = oil layer,
5 = slotted pipe skimmer,
6 = adjustable overflow weir,
7 = sludge sump,
8 = chain and flight scraper;
Beychok, M.R. (20007) (IPIECA, 2010).

CPI (Corrugated plate interceptor) or TPI (Tilted plate interceptor) separators

requires significantly less space than a conventional API separator to achieve
the same degree of separation.

April, 2014, Lima

 Dissolved air flotation (DAF)
Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is a water treatment process that clarifies
wastewaters by the removal of suspended matter such as oil or solids. The
removal is achieved by dissolving air in the water or wastewater under pressure
and then releasing the air at atmospheric pressure in a flotation tank or basin.

The feed water to the DAF float

tank is often (but not always)
dosed with a coagulant (such as
ferric chloride or aluminum
sulfate) to flocculate the
suspended matter.

Beychok, M.R. (1967)

The DAF process reduces the general hydrocarbon content by 50 to 90% (Galil and Wolf,
2001).
April, 2014, Lima
Adsorption

Adsorption processes are used for waste water

generally, but mostly for individual wastewater streams.

Adsorbents:
• Activated carbon
• Lignite coke
• Aluminium oxide
• Adsorber resins

e.g. Remove solvents, metals, organic pollutans

April, 2014, Lima

Biological treatment

Because of the enormous adaptation ability of bacteria biocoenosis

industrial waste water can often be biologically treated. The following
points must however be considered:

• BOD5 : N : P ratio (should be about 100 : 5 : 1)

• Investigations which wastewater streams can be treated biologically

(laboratory scale, pilot plants) – aerob or anaerob treatment

Potential inhibition
• Investigations which wastewater streams have to be pretreated
(adsorption, extraction, chemical oxidation)

• Excess sludge should be used for production of biogas

April, 2014, Lima

Anaerobic treatment of wastewater

 High organic concentrations: BOD5-concentration > 2000 mg/l

 Sugar industry, starch industry, yeast manufacture, alcohol
destillation

More info in the anaerobic block

Advantages:
 No energy for supplying the process with air
 Energy rich biogas is formed
 Less production of sludge (ca. 10 % compared to aerobic degradation)

Disadvantages:
 Subsequent aerobically biological purification is necessary
 Residence time longer (> 2 days)  not for treatment of municipal wastewater

April, 2014, Lima

Oxidation with H2O2, H2O2/UV,O3
H2O2:
• Selfdecomposition, catalyzed by heavy metal ions is unfavourable
H2O2/Fe2+ (Fenton’s reagent):
• Best results at pH 3
• Neutralization leeds to sludge formation
O3, O3/UV:
• so called direct oxidation under acidic conditions, slow process –
can be accelerated by UV-rays
• alkaline oxidation takes place also via the intermediate formation of
hydroxyl radicals

Micropollutants e.g. organic halogen compounds are dehalogenated, but

formation of new organic halogen compounds from inorganic halides is possible

April, 2014, Lima

 Selection for treatment processes for
removal of pathogens and micropollutants
Legal requirements
Properties bio-degradable? adsorbable? oxidisable?

Treatment Biological Activated carbon Chlorination

Conventional activated sludge
Ion exchange AOP
(CAS)
Membrane bioreactor MBR Ozone/H2O2

Bac-Removal 2.5 to >6 log10 2 to >6 log10

Micropollutants- + to +++ + to +++ +++
removal
April, 2014, Lima
Treatment of industrial wastewater

BAT and BMP best management practices:

Goal is to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants to water
• Industry can look at overall processes
• Scheduling of activities
• Prohibitions of practices
• Maintenance procedures

Expecially when the industry discharge into municipal sewer systems

effluent limitation guidelines are generally based on the BAT within an

industrial category or subcategory

April, 2014, Lima

Case studies: life stock and milk
industry

April, 2014, Lima

Potential on-farm sources of
contamination
On-site
• Fodder storage – silage leachate
• Manure – handling or storage
• Livestock run-off
• Livestock mortalities
• Milking wastewater
In the field
• Manure application

April, 2014, Lima

 Use treated faecal waste (WHO, 2012)
• Manure is a mixture of animal
faeces, urine and vegetable • Taking a whole-farm approach
waste. • Wellhead protection
• Ageing is one way to treat • Nutrient management
manure - up to one year with no
further additions of fresh manure.
• Use faecal waste (manure and
• turning the manure pile -
human excreta) that is
periodically exposed to air to
properly treated
accelerate decay - appropriate
temperatures (at least 55 °C) - • Apply treated faecal waste to
least 3 months. fields prior to planting
• Maximize the time between
the application of treated
faecal waste and harvest
Hygenic quality
April, 2014, Lima
Milk-, creameries, food- production

Wastewater can be treated biologically (aerob or anaerobic) but BOD5 :

N : P-ratio has to be checked.

Problem:
• Waste water can cause the formation of bulking sludge
• The extent of activated sludge flocs is diminished relative to
filament-like organisms
• Nitrification inhibition

April, 2014, Lima

Case study: oil industry refinery WW

April, 2014, Lima

April, 2014, Lima
Ratio of water-to-oil

• –World-wide estimate – 2:1 to 3:1

• –U.S. estimate – 7:1
• –Many older wells have ratios > 50:1

Huge amounts

April, 2014, Lima

Oil industry - produced water

Water that comes to the surface with oil and gas

• Contains many chemical constituents
– Salt content (salinity, total dissolved solids, electrical
conductivity, chloride up to 200 g/L)
– Oil and grease
• Composite of many hydrocarbons and other organic
materials
– Toxicity from various natural inorganic and organic
compounds or chemical additives
– Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM)
– Some oxygen demanding materials

April, 2014, Lima

BAT produced water

• Water minimization – Downhole oil/water

separation
– Mechanical blocking devices
• Packers
• Plugs
• Cement
– Water shut-off chemicals
• Polymer gels
• Recycle/reuse -Injection for recovering
more oil
• Treatment and disposal – Discharge,
Injection, Evaporation, offsite commercial
disposal
April, 2014, Lima
Treatment of produced water

• Treatment to remove salt and

other inorganics from produced
water

• Treatment to remove oil and

grease and other organics from
produced water

April, 2014, Lima

Practices to remove salt and other
inorganics from produced water
• –Membrane processes
• –Ion exchange
• –Capacitive deionization
• –Thermal distillation

April, 2014, Lima

Practices to remove oil and grease and
other organics from produced water
Physical separation
• Flotation
• Coalescence
• Combined physical and extraction
• Solvent extraction
• Adsorption

April, 2014, Lima

 Refinery wastewater
Wastewater from different sources:
- COKER
- FCC (Fluid Catalytic Cracking)
- DGRS (Gas Desulphurization and Sulphur Recovery Unit); used waters stripping
- Flare

Contaminants
• Hydrocarbons (e.g. VOC BTX)
• Sulphur compounds (e.g. H2S)
• Nitrogen compounds (e.g. NH3)
(TOP PETROLEUM, 2012)
• Organic oxygen compounds (e.g. phenol)
• Inorganic salts (halogenides, sulphates, phosphates)
• Solids
• Heavy metals

April, 2014, Lima

Key data of the refinery treatment plant

April, 2014, Lima

 Treatment steps
Pipe II
in a refinery
wastewater
treatment

April, 2014, Lima

Performance of the treatment plant
in a refinery
Performance of the chemical physical stage and the biological stage
CPS = chemical physical stage; biological st. = biological stage;

April, 2014, Lima

Managment of oily sludges

• In refineries with a coker, oily sludges, sludges

from the waste water treatment, and waste can
be destroyed in the coker (delayed, fluid or
flexicoker).
• If coke is produced, the coke quality produced
should remain acceptable

April, 2014, Lima

 Oil spills

February 2014
Oil spill in Trompeteros (Loreto); 93
barrels of oil was leaked over 741 m² of
soil
September 2013
Bagua: Oil spill in río Utcubamba: 10
barrels

July 2013
Piura: Oil spill of 200 barrels in hte
Pacific Ocean in Piura
Mayo 2014
Ecuador: Oil spill in Rio Coca and it
is connected to the river Napo View of the amazonic river Coca polluted with oil
(Ecuador and Peru) . 11.480 barrels
was leaked.
April, 2014, Lima
Oil on water surfaces

Contain
Booms help to concentrate oil in
thicker surface layers so that
skimmers, vacuums, or other
collection methods can be used
more effectively.

Disperse
Dispersants may rapidly disperse
large amounts of certain oil types
from the sea surface by transferring it
into the water column – to allow
degradation.

April, 2014, Lima

Conclusions

Simple treatment allow to improve the situation -

but

the appropriate technologies for wastewater

treatment do not depend on the global area but on
the agreed protection level for human and the
environment

April, 2014, Lima

Thank you for your attention

maria.fuerhacker@boku.ac.at
www.boku.ac.at

April, 2014, Lima