Water Pollution Control Technologies.

Water pollution may be defined as the contamination of streams, lakes, seas,

underground water or oceans by substances, which are harmful for living beings.
Industrialisation and population explosion are two important factors for water
pollution.
Waste water generated by household activity, industries or garbage landfills is called sewage
which is classified as the municipal water pollution. Sewage contains solid matters in the
form of suspended colloidal and dissolved organic matter, detergent, mineral matter, nutrients
and gases. Sewage is one of the major causes of water borne diseases and therefore the
treatment of sewage is one of the important tasks. For a long time treatment of municipal
waste in the form of sewage involved mainly of the removal of suspended solids, oxygen
demanding materials and harmful bacteria. Now the disposal of the solid residue from
sewage has been improved by applying municipal treatment processes.
The treatment of this waste water is carried out in the following three stages:
(i) Primary treatment
(ii) Secondary treatment, and
(iii) Tertiary treatment

Primary Treatment:
When the waste water is to be dumped off into a river or flowing
steam, the treatment is carried out by sedimentation, coagulation and filtration. This is
known as primary treatment. If the water is required for drinking purposes, it has to
undergo further treatment called secondary and tertiary treatments. The following steps
are performed to do primary treatment of water:
(i) Sedimentation:
This step is carried out in large tanks specially built for this purpose
in sewage treatment plant. The polluted water is allowed to settle so that silt, clay
and other matter settle to be bottom and water is slowly allowed to move out. Fine
particles do not settle and are thus required to be removed in the next step .
(ii) Coagulation:
Fine particles and colloidal suspension are combined into large particles
by a process called coagulation. This step is carried out by the addition of special
chemicals called coagulants (flocculants) such as potash alum. The large particles
either settle to the bottom or are moved in the next step.
(iii) Filtration:
Suspended particles, flocculants, bacteria and other organisms are filtered
by passing the water through a bed of sand or finely divided coal or through some
fibrous materials. The total impurities collected in these steps are called sludge. It
is used as a valuable fertilizer. On composting (i.e. the action of anaerobic bacteria),
it releases sludge gas. It consists mainly of methane gas which is used for cooking
purposes.
Secondary or Biological Treatment:
The water after primary treatment is not fit for
drinking purposes and has to undergo further treatment. This is done through secondary
or biological treatment. A commonly used method is to allow polluted water to spread over
a large bed of stones and gravel so that the growth of different microorganisms needing
nutrients and oxygen is encouraged. Over a period of time a fast moving food chain is set
up. For example, bacteria consume organic matter from the polluted water; protozoa live
on bacteria. Every form of life including algae and fungi help in the cleaning up process.
This is called secondary treatment of water. It involves the following processes.
(i) Softening :
By this treatment undesirable cations of calcium and magnesium are
removed from hard waters. Either water is treated with lime and soda ash to
precipitate Ca2+ ions as carbonates or it is passed through cation exchangers. This
makes water soft.

Aeration:
In this process, soft water is exposed to air by forcing air through it to add
oxygen to water. This encourages bacterial decomposition of organic matter into
harmless products such as carbon dioxide and water. The addition of oxygen reduces
carbon dioxide. sulphide etc.. The water is as yet not fit for drinking purposes. The
pathogenic and other microorganisms need to be killed. This is done in the next
treatment.
Tertiary Treatment :
The tertiary treatment is actually disinfecting water. Chlorine is
the most commonly used disinfectant used for killing bacteria. However, chlorine also
reacts with traces of organic matter present in water and forms undesirable chlorinated
hydrocarbons (toxic and potentially carcinogenic). It is therefore desirable to reduce the
organic matter in water before passing chlorine gas. Other methods of disinfection such
as ultraviolet radiation, ozone gas treatment or reverse osmosis are preferred over chlorine
treatment. But these methods are more expensive. Fig.34.3 gives a clear picture of the
process of sewage treatment in total.
Air Pollution control Technologies
Air Pollution
Air pollution may be defined as any atmospheric condition in which substances are present at
concentrations high enough above their normal ambient levels to produce a measurable effect on
man, animals, vegetation, or materials.
Substances mean any natural or anthropogenic (man-made) chemical compounds capable of
being airborne. They may exist in the atmosphere as gases, liquid drops, or solid particles.

(A) Source Correction Methods:

Those methods which have minimum air pollution potential can be selected to accomplish air-
pollution control at source itself.
These source correction methods are:
(i) Substitution of raw materials:
If the use of a particular raw material results in air pollution, then it should be substituted by
another purer grade raw material which reduces the formation of pollutants.

(ii) Process Modification:

The existing process may be changed by using modified techniques to control emission at
source.

(iii) Modification of Existing Equipment:

Air pollution can be considerably minimized by making suitable modifications in the existing

equipment.
(b) Pollution Control Equipment:
Sometimes pollution control at source is not possible by preventing the emission of

pollutants. Then it becomes necessary to install pollution control equipment to remove

the gaseous pollutants from the main gas stream.

The pollutants are present in high concentration at the source and as their distance from the
source increases they become diluted by diffusing with environmental air.
(1) Gravitational Settling Chamber:
This device consists of huge rectangular chambers. The gas stream polluted with particulates is

allowed to enter from one end. The horizontal velocity of the gas stream is kept low (less than
0.3 m/s) in order to give sufficient time for the particles to settle by gravity.

(2) Cyclone Separators (Reverse flow Cyclone):

A simple cyclone separator consists of a cylinder with a conical base. A tangential inlet

discharging near the top and an outlet for discharging the particulates is present at the base of the
cone.

(3) Fabric Filters (Baghouse Filters):

A typical filter is a tubular bag which is closed at the upper end and has a hopper attached at the

lower end to collect the particles when they are dislodged from the fabric. Many such bags are
hung in a bag house.

(c) Diffusion of Pollutants in Air:

Dilution of the contaminants in the atmosphere is another approach to the control of air pollution.

If the pollution source releases only a small quantity of the contaminants then pollution is not

noticeable as these pollutants easily diffuse into the atmosphere but if the quantity of air

contaminants is beyond the limited capacity of the environment to absorb the contaminants then
pollution is caused.

(d) Vegetation:
Plants contribute towards controlling air-pollution by utilizing carbon dioxide and releasing

oxygen in the process of photosynthesis.This purifies the air (removal of gaseous pollutant
CO2) for the respiration of men and animals.
(e) Zoning:
This method of controlling air pollution can be adopted at the planning stages of the city. Zoning

advocates setting aside of separate areas for industries so that they are far removed from the
residential areas. The heavy industries should not be located too close to each other.

Some Other control air pollution technologies:

Settling Chambers:

Settling chambers use the force of gravity to remove solid particles.

The gas stream enters a chamber where the velocity of the gas is reduced.

Cyclones:

The general principle of inertia separation is that the particulate-laden gas is forced to
change direction.
The walls of the cyclone narrow toward the bottom of the unit, allowing the particles to
be collected in a hopper.
The cleaner air leaves the cyclone through the top of the chamber, flowing upward in a
spiral vortex, formed within a downward moving spiral.

Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs):

An ESP is a particle control device that uses electrical forces to move the particles out of
the flowing gas stream and onto collector plates.
The ESP places electrical charges on the particles, causing them to be attracted to
oppositely charged metal plates located in the precipitator.
The particles are removed from the plates by "rapping" and collected in a hopper located
below the unit.