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Wastewater Management CIE 3202- Study material

INTRODUCTION
Wastewater treatment is a process of crucial importance for several reasons related to the social
and economic aspects of human life such as public health, environmental protection and aesthetics.
Irrespective of the source (domestic, industrial or storm water) the wastewater must be collected
and treated before returning it into natural water bodies. Depending on the source, a complex
mixture of compounds (dissolved or particulate) may be found in the wastewater compositio n.
Thus, large quantities of organic matter, inorganic particulates, and numerous pathogenic and
disease-causing microorganisms are often contained in the wastewater. The discharge of these
pollutants into the receiving waters can have severe negative consequences for the ecosystem,
starting from eutrophication of the receiving water bodies due to the excessive growth of
vegetation and malodorous gases emissions by the decomposition of the organic matter. These
result in decrease of the aquatic life, make the water unsuitable for other activities and become a
very dangerous source of diseases. The role of the wastewater treatment is to reduce these
contaminants to acceptably low concentrations, in order that they do not create any harmful effect
to the receiving water bodies. The contaminants present in water may be removed by following a
series of steps, which practically involve physical, chemical and biological unit processes
(Tchobanoglous et al., 2003), which may be accordingly classified.

Typical wastewater composition is given in the following table.

WASTEWATER & WASTEWATER TREATMENT

COMPOSITION
➢ Solids: 70:30 ratios organic (body wastes, food waste, paper, rags and biological cells) to
inorganic (surface sediments and soil); have to be removed prior discharge
➢ Soluble Organics: proteins (amino acids), carbohydrates (sugar, starch, cellulose) and
lipids (fats, oils, grease); contain carbon that can be converted to carbon dioxide
biologically; fraction of wastewater exerting the oxygen demand
➢ Waterborne pathogens: bacteria, viruses and protozoa; direct hazard to public health;
Coliform bacteria used as indicator of disease-causing organisms
➢ Other components: minerals and metals; some nitrogen (proteins), and other nutrie nts
such as phosphorus (6-20 mg/l).
➢ BOD is a measure of the amount of biodegradable organic substances in the water:
typically, 100-300 mg/l for untreated wastewater.

Course instructor: Vishnu Sharma A Civil Engineering

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Wastewater Management CIE 3202- Study material

PROCESS SELECTION AND APPLICABILITY

➢ Land availability: the size of the area available, can determine the standards of the
processes/operations to be used; simplicity associated with larger area; larger area allows
cost to lower and vice versa.
➢ Environmental constraints: e.g. winds allow odour to spread, activate sludge will create
noise; receiving waters; Table 5, indicates how the choice of process to be used affects
primarily the removal efficiency of a particular parameter.
➢ Climate: temperature affects the rate of reaction of most of the biological and chemical
reactions; may also affect physical operation of the facilities; odour generation and
atmospheric emissions are.
➢ Influent characteristics: affect the types of processes to be used; proper operation.
➢ Applicability: contaminants present; to what amount they are present; past experience
used; where the process is new, pilot-plant studies should be used; flow rate;
➢ Performance: complying with required effluent standards; variation of efflue nt
characteristics (table 6); removal of pathogens important.
➢ Compatibility: in cases where a treatment plant already exists and has to be expanded,
compatibility of existing processes/operations has to be taken into consideration
➢ Energy requirements: highly associated with cost

Course instructor: Vishnu Sharma A Civil Engineering

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Wastewater Management CIE 3202- Study material

Course instructor: Vishnu Sharma A Civil Engineering

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Wastewater Management CIE 3202- Study material

LECTURE On 25-01-2018
COARSE SOLIDS REDUCTION
SCREENS
AIM & DESCRIPTION OF PROCESS/ OPERATION
➢ Removal of large objects such as rags, paper, plastics, and metals to prevent damage and
clogging of downstream equipment, piping, and appurtenances.
➢ First unit operation used at wastewater treatment plants;
➢ Preliminary treatment.

AVAILABLE OPTIONS
Coarse screens
➢ Openings of 6 – 150 mm: may be of any shape, but circular or rectangular are the ones most
commonly used for wastewater treatment.
➢ Can consist of parallel bars, rods or wires, grating, wire mesh, or perforated plate.
➢ Types most commonly used for wastewater treatment are manually and mechanically cleaned
coarse screens:

Manually cleaned: Designed to remove large solids, rags, and debris.

Bars set at 30 to 45 degrees from vertical to facilitate cleaning. Primarily used in older or smaller
treatment facilities, or in bypass channels.
Mechanically cleaned: opening size 6 to 38 mm. Designed to remove large solids, rags, and debris.
Almost always used in new installations because of large number of advantages relative to other
screens.

Comminutors
➢ Primarily used at small treatment facilities: less than 0.2 m3/s to process material between 6
and 19 mm (WEF, 1998);
➢ Shredded material remains in the wastewater and is removed in downstream treatment
processes;
➢ A typical communitor uses a stationary horizontal screen for intercepting the flow, and a
rotating or oscillating arm meshing with the screen, that contains cutting teeth;
➢ The cutting teeth and the shear bars cut coarse material.

DESIGN CRITERIA & PARAMETERS

Screens
➢ Classified based on the size of the material they remove (the screenings ); the “size” of
screening material refers to its diameter;
➢ other design considerations include the depth, width, and approach velocity of the channel; the
discharge height, the screen angle; wind and aesthetic considerations; redundancy; and head
loss;
➢ Typical design criteria for mechanically cleaned bar rack type screens are shown in table.

Course instructor: Vishnu Sharma A Civil Engineering

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Wastewater Management CIE 3202- Study material

DESIGN OF THE BAR SCREEN CHANNEL (APPROACH CHANNEL)

The cross section of the bar screen channel is determined from the continuity equation:
𝑸𝒅 = 𝑨𝒄 𝑽𝒂
𝑸
𝑨𝒄 = 𝒅
𝑽𝒂
𝑨𝒄 = 𝒘 ∗ 𝒅
𝑸𝒅 = design flow, m3 /s; 𝑨𝒄 = channel cross section, m2 ; 𝑽𝒂 = Velocity in the approach channel,
m/s; 𝒘 = channel width, m; 𝒅 = water depth in the channel, m.

Usually, rectangular channels are used, and the ratio between depth and width is taken as 1.5 to
give the most efficient section:
𝒅
= 𝟏. 𝟓
𝒘

The head loss through the bar screen is given by the following equation:

• Head losses due to installation of screens must be controlled so that back water will not
cause the entrant sewer to operate under pressure. Head loss through a bar rack can be
calculated by using Kirchmer’s equation:
𝟒
𝑾 𝟑
𝒉 = β ( ) 𝒉𝒗 𝒔𝒊𝒏θ
𝒃
where, 𝒉 = head loss, m;
β = Bar shape factor
= 2.42 for sharp edge rectangular bars
= 1.83 for rectangular bars with semicircular upstream
= 1.79 for circular bars
= 1.67 for rectangular bars with both u/s and d/s faces as semicircular.
𝑾 = Width of bars facing the flow, m
𝒃 = Clear spacing between the bars, m
𝒉𝒗 = Velocity head of flow approaching the bars, m
𝑣2
= 2𝑔 𝑣 = geometric mean of the approach velocity, m/sec
θ = Angle of inclination of the bars with horizontal.

Course instructor: Vishnu Sharma A Civil Engineering

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Wastewater Management CIE 3202- Study material

Usually accepted practice is to provide loss of head of 0.15 m but the maximum loss of head with
the clogged hand cleaned screen should not exceed 0.3 m.
• The head loss through the cleaned or partially clogged flat bar screen can also be calculated
using following formula:
ℎ𝑙 = 0.0729(𝑉𝑏2 − 𝑉𝑎2 )

𝑽𝒂 = Approach velocity in m/s; 𝑽𝒃 = Flow through velocity in m/s

• The slope of the hand cleaned screen should be in between 30 to 60° with horizontal. The
mechanically cleaned bar screens are generally erected almost vertical; however, the angle
with the horizontal can be in the range 45 to 85°.
• The clear spacing between the bars may be in the range of 15 mm to 75 mm in case of
mechanically cleaned bar screen. However, for the manually cleaned bar screen the clear
spacing used is in the range 25 mm to 50 mm.
• The quantity of screening varies depending on the type of rack or screen used as well as
sewer system (combined or separate) and geographic location. Quantity of screening
removed by bar screen is 0.0035 to 0.0375 m3 / 1000 m3 of wastewater treated (Typical
value = 0.015 m3 /1000 m3 of wastewater) (Metcalf & Eddy, 2003). In combined system,
the quantity of screening increases during storm and can be as high as 0.225 m3 /1000 m3
of wastewater.

QUESTIONS
Remembering level questions:
1. Describe types of screens used in wastewater treatment.
2. Discuss classification of screens and state application of each class.
3. With schematic describe how double chamber bar screen channels can be arranged? For
what discharge each of them will be designed?
4. Describe design guidelines for the bar racks.
5. Determine head loss through a bar screen when it is 50% clogged. The approach
velocity of wastewater in the channel is 0.6 m/sec, velocity of flow through the clear
rack is 0.8 m/sec. Clear opening area in the screen is 0.2 m2 . Consider flow coefficient
for clogged bar rack as 0.7.

Understanding level questions:

1. A bar screen is inclined at a 60° angle from horizontal. The rectangular bars have a diameter
of 20 mm and a clear spacing of 25 mm. determine the headloss when the bars are cleaned
and the velocity approaching the screen is 1 m/s. Is this a very realistic computation in
terms of what actually happens at a treatment plant?
2. Design an aerated grit chamber installation for an average wastewater flowrate of 0.3 m3/s
and a peak flow rate of 1.0 m3/s. The average depth is 3 m, the width to depth ratio is 1.5:1,
and the detention time at peak flow is 3.5 min. the aeration rate is 0.4 m3/min- m. Determine

Course instructor: Vishnu Sharma A Civil Engineering

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Wastewater Management CIE 3202- Study material

the dimensions of the grit chamber and total air required. (Detailed notes on grit chamber
will be sent in a week time)
3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of aerated grit chambers versus vortex-type grit
chamber.
Application level question:
1. Visit MIT STP and review the grit and screening operations. What methods do they use
and what problems do they have? How might their operations be improved as compared to
alternate methods which we have studied in this Unit?

REFERENCES
1. Crites, R. and Tchobanoglous G. (1998) Small and Decentralized Wastewater Management
Systems, Mcgraw-Hill, Boston, Massachusetts
2. Metcalf and Eddy (2003) Wastewater Engineering, Treatment and Reuse, 4th Edition,
McGraw-Hill, New York
3. US Environmental Protection Agency (1999) Wastewater Technology Fact Sheet:
Screening and Grit Removal, EPA 832-F-99-040, USEPA Office of Water, Washingto n
D.C.
4. Reynolds, T. and Richards P. (1996) Unit Operations and Processes in Environme nta l
Engineering, PWS Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts, 2nd Edition.
5. WEF (1998) Design of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants, Mop 8, 4th Edition.

Course instructor: Vishnu Sharma A Civil Engineering