Preliminary treatment
Upon arrival via the sewer system, the wastewater is sent through a bar screen, which removes large solid objects such as sticks and rags.
Leaving the bar screen, the wastewater flow is slowed down entering the grit tank, to allow sand, gravel and other heavy material that was small enough not to be caught by the bar screen to settle to the bottom. All the collected debris from the grit tank and bar screen is disposed of at a sanitary landfill.
Pre-Treatment of Industrial Wastewaters
Secondary treatment
biological treatment process that removes dissolved organic material from wastewater. The partially treated wastewater from the settling tank flows by gravity into an aeration tank.
mixing of water to solids containing that use oxygen to consume the remaining organic matter in the wastewater as their food supply (use of air bubble for mixing and oxygen supply)
liquid mixture (i.e., solids with micro-organisms and water) is sent to the final clarifier.
In clarifier, solids settle out to the bottom where some of the material is sent to the solids handling process and some is recycled back to replenish the population of micro-organisms in the aeration tank to treat incoming wastewater.
Final treatment
Treated water is disinfected and then it is sent out for wastewater reuse activities or for discharging in river/streams. mostly chlorination and/or ultra violet irradiation is used for disinfection purposes.
Solids processing
The primary solids from the primary settling tank and the secondary solids from the clarifier are sent to a digester.
Micro-organisms use the organic material present in the solids as a food source and convert it to by-products such as methane gas and water.
Digestion results in a 90% reduction in pathogens and the production of a wet soil-like material called “biosolids” that contain 95-97% water.
In order to remove some of this water, mechanical equipment such as filter presses or centrifuges are used to squeeze water from the biosolids to reduce the volume prior to being sent to landfill, incinerated or beneficially used as a fertilizer or soil amendment.