Water Treatment Plant - Let's Water Passes,Not Trash

The various source of Water are : 1. Above the surface : Rain 2. Surface water Reservoirs, rivers, streams,ponds, tanks and lakes. 3. Ground Water Shallow wells, deep wells and springs. Types Of Impurities are:

Constituent Turbidity Hardness

Effect Of Impurities

Way of Treatment

Coagulation, settling, Deposits in water lines, process and filtration equipment, Demineralization; Calcium and magnesium Scaling in heat exchange internal boiler water salts, expressed as CaCO3 equipment, boilers,pipe lines treatment Bicarbonate (HCO3-), carbonate (CO32-), and hydroxide(OH-), expressed as CaCO3 Carryover of solids with steam; embrittlementof boiler steel, a source of corrosion in condensate lines

Alkalinity

Acid treatment

Carbon Dioxide

CO2 Hydrogen ion concentration defined as: 1 pH = log [H+] Cl -

corrosion in water lines, particularly steam and condensate lines

aeration, deaeration, neutralization with alkalies

PH

pH varies according to acidic pH can be increased by or alkaline solids in water; alkalies and decreased most natural waters have a pH by acids of 6.0-8.0 Demineralization, Increases corrosive character of Reverse osmosis, water electrodialysis, evaporation Causes corrosion in boilers under certain conditions scaling in boilers and cooling water systems, turbine blade deposits demineralization, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, evaporation Absorption by highly basic anion exchange resins reverse osmosis aeration; coagulation and filtration Source of deposits in water lines, boilers. corrosion of water lines, heat exchange equipment, boilers, return lines, cation exchange Deaeration , corrosion inhibitors

Chloride

Sodium

Na

Silica

SiO2

Iron

Fe2+ (ferrous) Fe3+ (ferric) O2 none none

Oxygen Dissolved Solids Suspended Solids

Deposits in heat exchange Filtration preceded by equipment, boilers, water lines, coagulation and settling etc.

Types Of Water Treatment Plant : 1. Pre Treatment Plant 2. Post Treatment Plant Pre Treatment Plant The Various Steps Involved are: Screening Raw Water Storage

Aeration Chlorination Coagulation & Flocculation Sedimentation Clarification Filtaration Screening Water from the river is first allowed to pass through Coarse Screen (D = 25mm). The steel bar forming the screen are normally quite substantial (about 25 mm dia.) and are spaced about 100 mm apart. The velocity of water through the screen openings should not exceed 0.5 m/s Fine screens are also normally fitted immediately after the coarse screens, the orifices of which are generally of the order of 6 mm.

Raw Water Storage The storage provided is for 7- 15 days of the average water demand. This is sufficient of to reduce pathogenic bacteria, suspended solids and river algae, while at the same time not long enough to encourage other organism to develop. Chlorination Chlorine is injected into the raw water soon after it enters the plant. There is a Chlorine dosage of 2.5 mg/l while feeding raw water to plant. This destroys the high bacterial count, but also oxidises and precipitates iron and manganise, kills algae, reduce color and slime formation are generally assists settlement. Chlorine hydrolyses in water to form hypochlorous acid and the hypochlorite ion. Cl2 + H2O HOCl + HCl This reaction occurs readily at pH >3.0 Further, HOCl H+ + OClThis reaction is favoured by high pH. The prime oxidising agent is HOCl and to a much lower degree OCl- ion. Hence as pH increases, the effectiveness of chlorine decreases.

Chlorine Demand is the difference between the amount of Chlorine applied to a water and the free residual chlorine that remains after a certain contact time.

Aeration

It is a cheap and valuable means of controlling taste, odor and corrosion. Aeration is the process by which compressed air is forced through a liquid or substance, normally from the bottom of a tank, in order to reach a certain level of dissolved oxygen concentration. Gases are absorbed or liberated from water until equilibrium is reached between the natural content of each gas in the atmosphere and its content in the water.

Coagulation Chemical such as alum is added which produces positive charges to neutralize the negative charges on the particles. Then the particles can stick together, forming larger particles which are more easily removed. Coagulation is the process of destabilisation by charge neutralisation. Finely divided particles suspended in surface water repel each other because their surfaces are predominantly negatively charged. Once neutralised, particles no longer repel each other and can be

brought together. This is achieved by adding inorganic salts of aluminium or iron which neutralise the charge on the turbidity particle. e.g. Alum, Al2(SO4)3 + 6 H2O = Coagulation Flocculation This is the process whereby smaller particles (inorganic and organic), water-stable soil

aggregates, or flocsaggregate to form larger particles (flocs) in a flowing medium. The formation of flocs is a complicated process that is driven by a combination of mechanisms, physical (e.g., turbulence), chemical (e.g., ionic concentration), and biological (bacterial populations and extracellular polymeric material).

Ferric and aluminium salts when added in water forms insoluble hydroxides, which come out as floppy flocs, whose surface carry positive charge. This positive charge flocs attaches itself with the negative charge particles in water.

Al(pH 6-7) and Iron Hydroxide (pH 5-6) acting as good floc.

Coagulation and flocculation are aided and enhanced by Coagulant / Flocculant aids like polyelectrolytes.These are long chain polymer molecules with higher charge density. They help form largerfloc which settles faster. Unlike inorganic coagulants they do not decrease the pH of the treated water nor increase the TDS. Al2(SO4)3 + 6 H2O Al(OH)3 + 3 H2SO4 Sedimentation This refers to the physical removal from suspension or settling that occurs once the particles are coagulated and flocculated. Clarification The Three processes happening in a clarification equipment are : - Rapid mix for coagulation - Moderate mixing for flocculation and - Floc and water separation. The most common design is the upflow clarifier where the water flows up while the floc settles. The two types are : - Sludge blanket type and - Solids contact type Both utilise part of the settled floc to enhance sedimentation. Filtaration Gravity and pressure filters Multimedia filters Gravel as support media and sand / anthracite as filter media. Underdrain System For the support of gravel bed. Assures the uniform collection of filtered water and the uniform distribution of the backwash water. Control devices The Rate of Flow (ROF) and the Loss of Head (LOH) meters ensures the efficient operation of the filters. DM Plant Dissolved solids present in water are removed in DM plant by ION exchange process and for this ION exchange resins are used. Ion Exchange Resin - ION Exchange resins are Synthetic polymers.

Ion exchange resin are manufactured in bead form (0.3 mm or 1.2 mm size) optimum size 0.6 mm. Smaller size would restrict the flow and higher size, retention time would not be sufficient for proper exchange. Resin Beads are insoluble in water. Functional groups are then attached to each of the benzene rings to make it chemically active. Depending upon the functional group attached to resin Matrix, it behaves as Cation exchange resin or Anion exchange resin. Cation Exchange Resin - Cation exchange resins are nothing but acid and can be represented as: R H+, where R is resin matrix completely insoluble in water and only H+ is mobile in water. Types of Cation Exchange Resin Strong acid cation exchange resins (SAC) : When the functional group attached to resin matrix is strong acid group.SAC can split all salts and its performance is not influenced by pH of water. Operational exchange capacity and regeneration efficiency of SAC is less than WAC.

Weak acid cation exchange resins (WAC) : When the attached functional group is of weak acid, it is called WAC resin. WAC can only split weak electrolyte (carbonate and bicarbonate) only. It performs better with high pH water and with lower pH water its performance decreases. When pH < 4, actually regeneration takes place.

Degassifier After the cation exchanger the effluent is acid and all the bicarbonate present in water is converted to CO2. This CO2 can be removed in Degasser very cheaply.

Anion Exchange Resin - Anion exchange resins can be simply represented as R+ OH and is nothing but an alkali / base. OH is only mobile in water. Types of Anion Exchange Resin Strong Base Anion exchange resins (SBA) : Functional group is strong base, it's performance is not influenced by water pH & it exchanges with both strong & weak acid. Weak Base Anion exchange resins (WBA) : Functional group is weak base , it Perform better at low pH. As pH > 11 regeneration takes place.

If water after pre treatment passes through a cation exchanger, all the cations are exchanged with H+ of cation exchange resins.pH drops around 3.5 and water becomes soft.

The above water is then passed through anion exchanger, all anions are exchanged with OH of SBA resins and equivalent amount of water is produced. All the acids are converted to H2O.

Selectivity of Ions Resins have a preferences for exchange and it depends on charge and size of the ion. For cation: Ca++ > Mg++ > Na+ > H+ For anions: HSO4 > NO3 > Cl > SiO32 Sodium Slip When water containing Ca, Mg, Na ions is passed through cation exchanger bed, Ca ions are retained in the 1st layer then Mg and in the last layer Na ions are retained. Ion exchange reactions are all reversible.The reaction in the bottom part of the bed is with sodium salt ( say NaCl)

Effluent coming out from cation exchanger is not 100% acid but contain a little amount of Sodium salt.Increased bed depth reduces this amount of slip but never be reduced to zero. Mixed Bed Units

The water passing through cation and then through anion exchanger, it is passed through mixed bed unit , resulting final effluent of very good quality water.

Regeneration of Cation Exchanger: Regeneration of the cation exchanger is done when the sodium leakage increases to certain pre set value. The following steps involved in regeneration : 1. Backwash This is done by up flow of water with air scouring. Purpose of backwash is to loose the bed and remove accumulated suspended solids, dirt, resin fines, fragments etc. 2. Acid injection This is required at specified concentration. Contact time is normally 30 min. Two types of acids are used (a) sulphuric acid (b) hydrochloric acid. Regeneration of Anion Exchanger: \ The following steps involved in regeneration : 1. Backwash This is done to loose the bed and remove resin fines and fragments. Normal backwash rate is 2-4 g pm/sq.ft. for 10 minutes. 2. 4% caustic at 4-8 Ibs/cubic ft. resin is injected for a contact time of about 1 hr.and regenerant temperature is (50C). Regeneration of Mixed Bed : MB is normally regenerated when the effluent conductivity is more than present value of silica is more than 0.02ppm. The following steps involved in regeneration : 1. Air Scrubbing Water is drained to top of the resin bed and air scrubbing is done for 10 min. 2. Back Washing Unit is filled with water and back washing is done at 4-9 g pm/sq. ft.; then the resin is allowed to settle for 10 minutes which separates the anion and cation resin. Mixed Bed Outlet Water Quality Conductivity: 0.2 0.3 micro S/cm pH : 6.8 7.2 SiO2 : < 0.02 ppm