Water Pollution And Water Treatment

S.L.O 23.2

S.L.O. 23.2.1 Explain the various techniques/methods of water analysis

(Using pH meter, TDS meter and titration method)

pH Meter:
pH is the measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. A pH meter is an electronic instrument used to measure the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of a liquid. A typical pH meter consists of a special measuring probe (a glass electrode) connected to an electronic meter that measures and displays the pH reading. The pH probe measures pH as the activity of hydrogen ions surrounding a thin-walled glass bulb at its tip. The probe produces a small voltage (about 0.06 volt per pH unit) that is measured and displayed as pH units by the meter.

pH meter is widely used to detect the acidity or alkalinity of various water sources. This is important because the pH of water body can have far-reaching effects, on wildlife, environment and the ecosystem. Normal rain has a pH of 5.6 slightly acidic because of the carbon dioxide picked up in the earth's atmosphere by the rain and natural water has pH 6.5-8.5. A pH<5 (acidic water) is damaging to most aquatic organisms. The normal range for pH in surface water systems is 6.5 to 8.5, for groundwater systems 6 to 8.5 and for seawater 8.5.

Some common pH values:

Substance Gastric juice Lemon Vinegar (Acetic acid) Soft drink Rain water Milk Pure water Sea water Sodium hydroxide 2.0 2.3 pHValue

2.8
3.0 6.2 6.5 7.0 8.5 13.0

TDS Meter:
A TDS Meter measures the amount of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in a solution. Generally the operational definition is that the solids must be small enough to survive filtration through a sieve size of two micrometres. The principal application of TDS is in the study of water quality for streams, rivers and lakes, although TDS is generally considered not as a primary pollutant, but it is rather used as an indication of characteristics of drinking water and as an indicator of presence of a broad array of chemical contaminants. Total Dissolved Solids are most commonly measured in parts per million (ppm). This is equivalent to one drop of water diluted into 50 liters

Primary sources for TDS in receiving waters are agricultural and residential runoff and discharge from industrial or sewage treatment plants. The most common chemical constituents are calcium, phosphates, nitrates, sodium, potassium and chloride, which are found in nutrient runoff and general stormwater runoff. More exotic and harmful elements of TDS are pesticides arising from surface runoff. Certain naturally occurring total dissolved solids arise from the weathering and dissolution of rocks and soils.
The "Glossary of Salt Water" published by the Water Quality Association classifies water as follows: Fresh: <1,000 ppm TDS Brackish: 1,000-5,000 ppm TDS Highly Brackish: 5,000-15,000 ppm TDS Saline: 15,000-30,000 ppm TDS Sea Water: 30,000-40,000 ppm TDS Brine: 40,000-300,000+ ppm TDS

Titration Method:
Titration is a type of chemical analysis in which the concentration or quantity of some sample is determined by adding to the measured sample an exactly known quantity of another substance with which the desired constituent reacts in a definite, known proportion. The process is usually carried out by gradually adding a standard solution (i.e., a solution of known concentration), from a burette. The addition is stopped when the end point is reached, which is indicated by a suitable indicator. As the concentration of the reagent is known, the number of moles of reagent can be calculated (since Molarity = moles / volume(L)). Then, from the chemical equation involving the two substances, the number of moles present in the reactant can be found. Finally, by dividing the number of moles of reactant by its volume, the concentration is calculated.

S.L.O 23.3.2 Explain the methods of treatment for water purification;

(filtration, sewage treatment, Zeolite process, Reverse Osmosis)

Filtration:
Filtration is a physical operation which is used for the separation of solids from fluids (liquids or gases) by interposing a medium through which only the fluid can pass. Oversize solids in the fluid are retained, but the separation is not complete, because fine particles can pass through. Filtration, as a physical operation is very important in chemistry for the separation of materials of different chemical composition. A solvent is chosen which dissolves one component, while not dissolving the other. By dissolving the mixture in the chosen solvent, one component will go into the solution and pass through the filter, while the other will be retained. This is one of the most important techniques used by chemists to purify compounds.

There are two important types of filters:

The slow sand filter: In this water passes first through about 36 inches of sand, then through a layer of gravel, before entering the underdrain. The sand removes particles from the water through adsorption and straining. These filters are very reliable, however, one disadvantage is that water passes through the slow sand filter very slowly

The rapid sand filter: The influent flows down through the sand and support gravel and is captured by the underdrain. However, the influent water in a rapid sand filter is already relatively clear due to coagulation and sedimentation, so rapid sand filters operate much more quickly than slow sand filters. Rapid sand filters contain a filter control system, which regulates flow rates of water through the filter.

Sewage Treatment:
Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff (effluents) and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. Its objective is to produce a waste stream (or treated effluent) and a solid waste or sludge suitable for discharge or reuse back into the environment.

There are three treatment stages of sewage: Primary treatment:

In the primary sedimentation stage, sewage flows through large tanks called "primary sedimentation tanks". The tanks are large enough that sludge can settle and floating material such as grease and oils can rise to the surface and be skimmed off. The waste goes through a series of filters to get rid of all solid pieces. This stuff all goes to the landfill. Now sewage is separated into sludge and liquid waste.

Secondary treatment:

Secondary treatment is designed to substantially degrade the biological content of the sewage. It usually uses bacteria to consume the available nutrients and organic compounds. Inorganic salts, carbon dioxide and water are left behind. The sludge is pumped into concrete digesters where bacteria digest the sludge and produce methane. The sludge is drained of any remaining water. The dry sludge can then be sold to farmers who use it as soil fertilizer.

 Tertiary Treatment:
Tertiary treatment removes all the rest of the material junk still left in the remaining water, to restore it to a more natural state. Nitrates and phosphates are usually the most dangerous chemicals left in the water. Algae and rotifers (aquatic organisms) are used to absorb these chemicals. The water is sterilized and then released back into oceans or streams so that they dont get polluted.

Zeolite Process:
Zeolites are microporous crystalline solids with well-defined structures. Generally they contain silicon, aluminium and oxygen in their framework and cations, water and/or other molecules within their pores.

For each oxygen that is not shared in the AlO4 and SiO4 tetrahedral groups, a negative charge is left on the group. These negative charges are balanced by trapping alkali metal and alkaline earth metal ions. This way, they are useful for ionexchange method of purification of water.

Hard and Soft water:

Water can be classified as hard or soft by its mineral content (mainly calcium and magnesium ions). Significant amounts of these minerals indicate that the water is hard, and little or no presence of these minerals mean that water is soft. To prepare a zeolite for water treatment, they are soaked in concentrated NaCl solution. The cavities trap as many sodium ions as they can accommodate. After the treatment, the zeolite is designated as Nazeolite. When hard water flows through the Na-zeolite, calcium and magnesium ions will be trapped by the Na-zeolite. For every Ca2+ or Mg2+ trapped, two Na+ ions are released. The treated water contains a rather high concentration of Na+ ions, but low concentrations of Mg2+ and Ca2+. Thus, zeolite ion exchange converts hard water into soft water.

Reverse Osmosis:
To understand reverse osmosis, we first need to know what osmosis is. Osmosis is technically described as the movement of water molecules from an area of high water potential to an area of low water potential across a semi-permeable membrane. In reverse osmosis, the idea is to use the membrane to act like an extremely fine filter to create drinkable water from salty (or otherwise contaminated) water. The salty water is put on one side of the membrane and pressure is applied to stop, and then reverse, the osmotic process.

It works by using pressure to force a solution through a membrane, retaining the solute on one side and allowing the pure solvent to pass to the other side. This is the reverse of the normal osmosis process. Reverse osmosis is often used in commercial and residential water filtration. It is also one of the methods used to desalinate seawater. Sometimes reverse osmosis is used to purify liquids in which water is an undesirable impurity (e.g., ethanol).

Advantages and disadvantages of Reverse Osmosis system:

Advantages: The water that is filtered through reverse osmosis does not contain any dissolved minerals and chemical contamination as they are all left behind the semi-permeable membrane. Disadvantages: Reverse osmosis units use a lot of water because they have low back pressure. As a result, they recover only 5 to 15 percent of the water entering the system. The remainder is discharged as waste water. Because waste water carries with it the rejected contaminants, methods to recover this water are not practical in terms of money. Large scale industrial/municipal systems have a production efficiency of closer to 48% because they can generate the high pressure needed for RO filtration. But this high pressure can be very expensive.

Thank You For Your Time!

Made By Unaiza Siraj EM-4