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Wastewater treatment plant (wwtp) also

called wastewater treatment works can mean one


of the following:
Sewage treatment treatment and disposal of
human waste.
Industrial wastewater treatment the treatment of
wet wastes from manufacturing industry and
commerce including mining, quarrying and heavy
industries.
Agricultural wastewater treatment treatment and
disposal of liquid animal waste, pesticide residues
etc. from agriculture.

Sewage 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 an environmentally safe fluid waste
stream (or treated effluent) and a solid waste (or
treated sludge) suitable for disposal or reuse
(usually as farmfertilizer). Using advanced
technology it is now possible to re-use sewage
effluent for drinking water, although Singapore is
the only country to implement such technology on
a production scale in its production of NEWater.

Sewage can be treated close to where it is created, a decentralised system (in septic
tanks, biofilters or aerobic treatment systems), or be collected and transported by a
network of pipes and pump stations to a municipal treatment plant, a centralised
system (see sewerage and pipes and infrastructure). Sewage collection and treatment is
typically subject to local, state and federal regulations and standards. Industrial sources
of sewage often require specialized treatment processes (see Industrial wastewater
treatment).
Sewage treatment generally involves three stages, called primary, secondary and
tertiary treatment.
Primary treatment consists of temporarily holding the sewage in a quiescent basin where
heavy solids can settle to the bottom while oil, grease and lighter solids float to the
surface. The settled and floating materials are removed and the remaining liquid may be
discharged or subjected to secondary treatment.
Secondary treatment removes dissolved and suspended biological matter. Secondary
treatment is typically performed by indigenous, water-borne micro-organisms in a
managed habitat. Secondary treatment may require a separation process to remove the
micro-organisms from the treated water prior to discharge or tertiary treatment.
Tertiary treatment is sometimes defined as anything more than primary and secondary
treatment in order to allow rejection into a highly sensitive or fragile ecosystem
(estuaries, low-flow rivers, coral reefs,...). Treated water is sometimes disinfected
chemically or physically (for example, by lagoons and microfiltration) prior to discharge
into a stream, river, bay, lagoon orwetland, or it can be used for the irrigation of a golf
course, green way or park. If it is sufficiently clean, it can also be used for groundwater
recharge or agricultural purposes.

Industrial wastewater treatment covers the


mechanisms and processes used to treat waters
that have been contaminated in some way
by anthropogenic industrial or commercial
activities prior to its release into the environment
or its re-use.
Most industries produce some wet waste although
recent trends in the developed world have been to
minimise such production or recycle such waste
within the production process. However, many
industries remain dependent on processes that
produce wastewaters.

Brine treatment

Brine treatment involves removing dissolved salt ions from the waste
stream. industrial brine treatment may contain unique combinations of
dissolved ions, such as hardness ions or other metals, necessitating
specific processes and equipment.
Brine treatment systems are typically optimized to either reduce the
volume of the final discharge for more economic disposal (as disposal
costs are often based on volume) or maximize the recovery of fresh water
or salts. Brine treatment systems may also be optimized to reduce
electricity consumption, chemical usage, or physical footprint.
Brine treatment is commonly encountered when treating cooling tower
blowdown, produced water from steam assisted gravity drainage(SAGD),
produced water, acid mine or acid rock drainage, reverse osmosis
reject, chlor-alkali wastewater, pulp and paper mill effluentetc
Brine treatment technologies may include: membrane filtration processes,
such as reverse osmosis; ion exchange processes such
as electrodialysis or weak acid cation exchange: or evaporation processes,
such as brine concentrators and crystallizers,employing mechanical
vapour recompression and steam.
Reverse osmosis may not be viable for brine treatment, due to the
potential for fouling caused by hardness salts or organic contaminants, or
damage to the reverse osmosis membranes fromhydrocar

Evaporation processes are the most widespread for brine treatment as


they enable the highest degree of concentration, as high as solid salt. They
also produce the highest purity effluent, even distillate-quality.
Evaporation processes are also more tolerant of organics, hydrocarbons,
or hardness salts. However, energy consumption is high and corrosion
may be an issue as the prime mover is concentrated salt water. As a result,
evaporation systems typically employ titanium or duplex stainless steel
materials.

OIL AND GREASE REMOVAL:


The wastewaters from large-scale industries such as oil
refineries, petrochemical plants, chemical plants, and natural gas
processing plants commonly contain gross amounts of oil and
suspended solids. Those industries use a device known as anAPI oilwater separator which is designed to separate the oil and suspended
solids from their wastewater effluents. The name is derived from the
fact that such separators are designed according to standards
published by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Recommended Sewage Treatment Plants for Apartments


Sewage Treatment plant system can be opened or fully
sealed. Some apartments adopt partially sealed system. One
of main disadvantage of opened or partially sealed system is
sewage is broken down by bacteria and during this process
methane is released into campus or at ground floor level.
The gas released from sewage chamber due to biological
processing (by bacteria) will contain methane. Methane is
highly combustible and toxic.
Sewage Treatment Plant with opened or partially closed is
not recommended for apartment or densely populated
areas. In this system smell can be sensed for miles. This
system is only useful for large sewage treatments. For small
residential units a completely sealed package unit is
recommended. Sewage compartments with methane gas
should be located away from car parking or area that can
cause ignition or spark. Any ignition or spark can easily
catch fire in sewage compartments with methane gas.

For apartments or for small residential units, automated system is


recommended as this will reduce maintenance cost. Disadvantage
of manually operated system is, there are chances of human error
of dry running the pumps or not starting pumps in time. This can
result in machinery breakdown or overflow of sludge. Automated
system helps to prevent breakdown or over flow and association
can save more than Rs 15000 per month on maintenance cost.
Manually operating system is cheaper to install comparing to
automated system but cost of maintenance is higher when
comparing with automated system. The system release methane.
This is supposed to be in sealed chambers and then released at a
point few meters above the tallest point of the building. This
should be taken care while designing sewage treatment plant for
apartments or high-rise. In Metropolitan cities and urban areas,
sewage treatment plant or mini sewage treatment plant is
mandatory for getting a new water connection. Please contribute
your knowledge on installing or setting up sewage treatment
plant. If your apartment complex has sewage treatment plants,
feel free to share your ideas in maintaining Sewage Treatment
Plants.

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