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Surface Water Treatment Process; A Review on Various Methods

Article  in  Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering · January 2011

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 Surface Water Treatment Process; A
Review on Various Methods

Hossein Moayedi
Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia
Corresponding author: hossein.moayedi@gmail.com
Bujang B. K. Huat
Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia
Afshin Asadi
Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan Science and Research Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
Zakariah Kemas Salleh
Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia
Masoud Moghaddas
Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang,
Selangor, Malaysia.

ABSTRACT
This review paper focuses on process of water treatment plants (WTP) using three different methods. It is focused on the
comparing differences between traditional and new developed WTP models. For traditional system, settlement process is
selected and it is compared with a new system including Lamella tube. Sungai Terip water treatment plant was selected as
case study since both traditional (Settlement process) and modern technology (Dissolved Air Flotation, DAF) used. The
raw water was collected from Sungai dam which was an earth dam. After aeration it is distributed to three different WTPs.
The processes were reviewed and compared in order to find their efficiencies.
KEYWORDS: Surface water, wastewater treatment, Dissolved air floatation, Lamella tube.

INTRODUCTION
Water is vital to human life, from agriculture to industrial products. Recently due to population increases,
industrial development and transition to a modern consumer society, contamination of the water systems often
occurred [1-4]. Contaminated water as well as sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process
of removing contaminants from household sewage and wastewater, both domestic and runoff (effluents). It includes
physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. Its
objective is to develop an environmentally-safe fluid waste stream (or treated effluent) and a solid waste (or

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treated sludge) suitable for disposal or reuse (usually as farm fertilizer) [2, 5-7]. Using advanced technology is now
possible to reuse sewage effluent for drinking water. Singapore is the only country to implement such technology on
a production scale in its production of NEWater [3, 7-10]. On the other hand, wastewater treatment and re-use
engineers need a good understanding of wastewater microbiology for two reasons: firstly because most wastewater
treatment processes are microbiological (we generally use the term ‘biological wastewater treatment’ to reflect this,
but we should say ‘microbiological wastewater treatment’); secondly, because wastewaters contain micro-
organisms that can cause human disease. Wastewater treatment engineers also need to understand the effect of fully
treated, partially treated, and untreated wastewaters on the biology of the receiving watercourses. Present study
provides an introduction to the most famous raw water treatment method. It concludes with a brief description of a
simplified technique for the biological assessment of tropical freshwater quality using aquatic micro-invertebrates
[2, 6, 11-12]. The main objective of current study is to compare the various biological water treatment processes.

STUDY AREA
Sungai Terip water treatment plant project is located in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Figure 1 showed
the Sungai Terip water treatment plant. It has a capacity of about 136 Mld nominal, which can be increased to 179
Mld maximum. The source of water is from the Terip River. The project aimed to manage, operate, and maintain
Terip dam as well as water treatment stored in its reservoir. A schematic view of the water storage is shown in the
Figure 2. Sungai Terip dam is an earthfill dam to provide irrigation and water supply and was constructed in 1987.
The maximum level is 103m corresponding to 47.4 Mm3 of water storage in the reservoir.

Figure 1: Arial view of Sungai Terip water treatment plant

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 Vol. 16 [2011], Bund. G 755

Figure 2: Schematic view of water storage

Figure 3 shows three treatment phases in Sungai Terip water treatment plant. Table 1 provides information
regarding to the plant process in each phase.

Figure 3: Three treatment phases in Sungai Terip water treatment plant

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 Vol. 16 [2011], Bund. G 756

Table 1: Plant information

YEAR IN PROCESS
PHASE CAPACITY
OPERATION TECHNOLOGY

9 MGD
1 1986 SEDIMENTATION
41 MLD
28 MGD SEDIMENTATION
2 1992
127 MLD WITH PULSATOR
30 MGD DISSOLVED AIR
3 2002
136 MLD FLOATATION
TOTAL PRODUCTION : 67 MGD
TOTAL PRODUCTION : 304 MLD
MLD: MILLION GALLON PER DAY
MLD: MILLION LITRE PER DAY

TREATMENT ASSESSMENT AND PROCESS

Treated water quality

Water quality is the physical, biological and chemical characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition
of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and/or to any human need or purpose. It is most
frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance can be evaluated. The most common
standards used to assess water quality relate to safety of human contact, drinking water, and for the health
of ecosystems [13-17]. Raw water is treated to obtain treated water which conforms to national drinking water
standard. Table 2 presents the nine of the essential parameters which should be tested frequently.

Table 2: Essential parameters to assess water quality

PARAMETERS UNIT SPECIFICATION FREQUENCY
1 pH - 6.5 – 9.0 2 HOURLY
2 COLOUR TCU 15 (max) 2 HOURLY
3 TURBIDITY NTU 5 (max) 2 HOURLY
4 RESIDUAL CHLORINE ppm 3 – 3.5 2 HOURLY
5 RESIDUAL FLUORIDE ppm 0.4 – 0.6 2 HOURLY
6 ALUMINIUM ppm 0.2 (max) 8 HOURLY
7 IRON ppm 0.3 (max) DAILY
8 MANGANESE ppm 0.1 (max) DAILY
9 TOTAL COLIFORM CFU/100ml NIL DAILY
10 FEACAL COLIFORM CFU/100ml NIL DAILY

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 Vol. 16 [2011], Bund. G 757

TREATMENT IN PHASE 1 (Sedimentation tank)

The first method is include 4 steps, including aerator, mixing chamber, sedimentation tank, and filter (Figure 4).
Aerators are various devices that are used for aeration or mixing air with another substance, such as soil or water.
One of the final steps in the treatment stage is to settle out the biological flocculation or filter material through a
secondary clarifier and to produce sewage water containing low levels of organic material and suspended matter.
Sand filtration removes much of the residual suspended matter. Filtration over activated carbon, also called carbon
adsorption, removes residual toxins [12, 18-20].

Figure 4: Treatment in phase 1 (Sedimentation tank)

TREATMENT IN PHASE 2 (Lamella tube)

A Lamella clarifier is a water treatment process that features a rack of inclined metal plates, which
causes flocculated material to be precipitated from water that flows across the plates. Inclined plate settlers or
Lamella clarifiers are primarily used in the wastewater and water treatment industries to separate solids from liquids
in effluent streams [9, 21-23]. The clarifier is the third step in what is usually a four step process for wastewater and
water treatment. In wastewater treatment the four main steps are homogenization and collection of effluent, pH
adjustment, clarification, and sludge dewatering. Conventional clarification equipment requires a much larger
surface footprint in order to match the solids removal capacity of a lamella clarifier. This is accomplished because
the effective gravity settling area of the inclined plate design is proportional to the total surface area of the inclined
plate rack [8, 24-26]. Loading rates normally used for the design of conventional settlers can be applied to the sizing
of a Lamella clarifier/settler by substituting projected area for the surface settling area of a conventional clarifier
[27].

The compact design essentially eliminates any hydraulic disturbances caused by wind or temperature changes
that may be problematic with conventional clarifiers located outdoors. Balanced flow distribution ensures equal
flow to each plate and across the plate surface area, preventing short-circuiting. Units and plate packs arrive at the

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 Vol. 16 [2011], Bund. G 758

job site factory assembled which reduces installation time and lowers the installation costs. Minimal moving parts
mean low maintenance costs [28]. Lamella method is again performed within 4 steps, including aerator, mixing
chamber, Lamella tank, and filter (Figure 5).

Figure 5: A schematic view of Lamella process

TREATMENT IN PHASE 3: (Dissolved air flotation)

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is a water treatment process that clarifies wastewaters (or other waters) 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
released air forms tiny bubbles which adhere to the suspended matter causing the suspended matter to float to the
surface of the water where it may then be removed by a skimming device [12, 17]. It should be mentioned that,
DAF is very extensively used in treating industrial wastewater effluents from oil refineries, petrochemical
and chemical plants, natural gas processing plants, paper mills, general water treatment and similar industrial
facilities. A very similar process known as induced gas flotation is also used for wastewater treatment. Froth
flotation is commonly used in the processing of mineral ores. Figure 6 shows the DAF method process. Figure 7
shows treating wastewater before and after the DAF tank processes.

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 Vol. 16 [2011], Bund. G 759

Figure 6: Aerator, flocculation tank, DAF tank, filtration,

a) b)
Figure 7: DAF tank (a) during process, (b) after DAF process

CONCLUSIONS
Various wastewater methods were reviewed and discussed. It is clear that the using Lamella tube needs smaller
footprints compared with other methods and the processes also only need simpler equipment. Influent enters the
lamella clarifier where it is usually flash mixed with a polymer flocculent and then gently agitated with a separate
mixer. The water then flows downward through the inlet chamber in the center of the unit and enters the plate rack
through side-entry plate slots. This cross-current entry method reduces the risk of disturbing previously settled
solids. As the liquid flows upward, the solids settle on the inclined, parallel plates and slide into the sludge hopper
at the bottom. Further thickening of the sludge is achieved in the hopper due to compression of the sludge, as is the
case with a conventional clarifier.

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Vol. 16 [2011], Bund. G 760

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