Water Pollution

Institute of Engineering (IOE)

Pulchowk
Introduction

• River clogged with debris and trash due to uncontrolled industrialization

• Thick mats of algae along the shores of Lake and dead fish floating on its
surface
• Visible manifestations of pollution led to Clean Water Act of 1972 with
jurisdiction over water quality in rivers, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands, and
the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, which regulates tap water quality
• Problems remain in US as non-point source pollution has been difficult to
regulate and control. However, point source pollution has seen huge
improvements
• In other parts, 1.1 billion people lacked access to safe drinking water, and
2.6 billion lacked access to improved sanitation (in 2002).
• This leads high tragic rate of morbidity and mortality
Water Pollutants

• Water withdrawn, used for some purpose and then returned will be
polluted in one way or another
• Agricultural – pesticides, fertilizers, and salts
• Municipal – human sewage, pharmaceuticals, surfactants
• Power plants – elevated temperature water
• Industries – chemical pollutants and organic wastes
• Naturally – Arsenic, antimony, and fluoride from natural mineral
deposits
• Mercury in water is from air after coal combustion
Status of Surface Water Quality
Wastewater contaminants
• Physical characteristics
• TS, TSS, VS, VSS, TDS, Turbidity, Odor, Color etc.
• Inorganic chemical characteristics
• NH4+, NO3-, PO43-, alkalinity, chloride, metals, various gases etc.
• Organic chemical characteristics
• BOD, COD, TOC etc.
• Biological characteristics
• Coliform organisms, specific microorganisms, toxicity etc.
Water Pollutants

• Pathogens
• Oxygen Demanding Wastes
• Nutrients
• Salts (TDS)
• Thermal Pollution
• Heavy Metals
• Pesticides
• Volatile Organic Chemicals
• Emerging Contaminants
Organic versus Inorganic
• The second most basic characteristic is the distinction made between
organics and inorganics.
• Organics: Any material that will be oxidized to CO2, H2O by oxygen
(air); Combusted → Volatilize

• Inorganics: Any material not combusted (volatilized) → Non-

volatilized.
• Normally determined by heating (550C) in air (oxygen).
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Solids

• Total solids- the matter that remains as residue upon evaporation and drying at 103 to 105 °C
• Dissolved solids: solids present in a sample which are not retained on a filter
• Suspended solids: solids present in a sample which are retained on a filter.
• Volatile solds: solids which volatilize or ignite when heated to 550 °C. These solids are
interpreted as the organic fraction of the solids
• Fixed solids: those solids which remain after ignition at 550 °C. They are classified as the
mineral or non-organic fraction.
• Settleable solids: solids in suspension that will settle under quiescent conditions in a
reasonable amount of time
Note: The most important factors concerning the strength of sewage are BOD5 and volatile
suspended solids. Most design is based upon these two parameters.

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Nitrogen in wastewater
Human Secretion as urea Dominant N-species in raw wastewater:
CON2H4, C4H9N3O2, C5H4N4O3, R1R2NH2,
Part of particulate organics as amine groups on NH4+, NO2-, NO3-, NO2, NO, N2O, N2
proteins and DNA, nitrogroups on sugars
All species converted to Ammonia during hydrolysis Org-N + H2O → NH3/NH4+
of urea and proteins = Ammonification
Oxidized by aerobic autotrophic chemolitotrophs, NH4+ + O2 + CO2 → C5H7NO2 + NO2-
Nitrifying bacteria, in the process of Nitrification. NO2- + O2 + CO2 → C5H7NO2 + NO3-

Nitrification proceede via the intermediate nitrite and

involves two groups of bacteria.
NO3- + org-C → C5H7NO2 + N2 + CO2
Reduced by facultative anaerobic heterotrophs to
nitrogen gas via a series of nitrogen oxide species =
Denitrification NO3- → NO2- → NO → N2O → N2
Biochemical Oxygen Demand

Organic matter + O2 -------------> CO2 + H2O + New cells + Stable products (NO3,
Microorganisms

PO4, SO4,…)

Microorganisms
Organic matter -------------> CO2 + H2O + New cells + Unstable products (H2S, NH3,
CH4,…)
BOD and COD
• Biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand (mg/L)
• Add organic compound to a water source. What will happen?
• The microorganisms in the water body will eat the organic compound
• Their cellular respiration will increase
• They will consume dissolved oxygen
• They will reproduce
• The new microorganisms will consume organic compound and demand dissolved
oxygen

• BOD is the demand for oxygen- caused by an organic material being broken down by
microbes
• COD is the measure of the oxygen equivalent of the organic material in wastewater that can be
oxidized chemically (using dichromate in an acid solution).
• COD is always higher than BOD. Why?
Theoretical COD
Propionate:

• The oxygen consumed by any

C3H6O2 + a O2 → 3 CO2 + 3 H2O
compound may be theoretically
estimated assuming full oxidation of the
electron donor to CO2/HCO3-, H2O, H+ a = 3.5 mole O2/mole S
and NH3/NH4+. = 1.51 g O2/g S
• The theoretically estimated oxygen
demand is also called ThCOD
(theoretical chemical oxygen demand).
• The general formula for C,H,O,N CnHaObNc + d O2 → n CO2 + (a/2 – 3c/2) H2O + c NH3
containing compounds is:
• ThCOD is always given as mass units: a b 3 c
d = n+ − −
𝑔𝑂2 4 2 4
32 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑂
ThCOD = d. 2
𝑀𝑊 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒
,
Chemical principles for ThCOD

• All Carbon is converted to CO2 (full oxidation)

• All excess hydrogen forms H2O (full oxidation)
• All inorganic species (apart from reduced S) keep their degree of reduction (no e-
transferred)
• Use protons (H+) for balancing charge
• Example: C12H19O6N4P
C12H19O6N4P + 12 O2 → 12 CO2 + 4NH3 + H3PO4 + 2 H2O

ThCOD = 1.1 g/g

Usefulness of COD
• COD is an easy way of measuring organic
substrate concentration in undefined mixes.
• COD represents the theoretical oxygen The primary
demand for full oxidation. chemical
• COD represents the primary saprobiation characteristic
potential posed by effluents. used in
• COD is a useful indication of the heterotrophic
growth potential of substrates. wastewater
• COD is a conserved parameter during calculations,
reactions, and through that simplifies especially by
stoichiometric calculations.
engineers for
• COD relates to the biological oxygen demand
through the yield. design!
BOD5

• Biochemical oxygen demand is a measure of the

biodegradable organics in the waste. The
subscript «5» indicates a typical length of the
test in days. 5, 7 and 28 days are common.
• About 70 % of ultimate oxygen uptake occurs
during a 5-day BOD test. The figure varies with
the composition of the waste. The test has about
a 10 % margin of error.
• Nitrogen oxidation also occurs (Nitrification).
• Oxygen concentration should not drop below 2-
3 mg/L.

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BOD curve

BODt= UBOD(1 – e -kt)

Or
BODt= UBOD(1 – e -Kt)

k=2.303.K
Ultimate BOD
• Ultimate Oxygen Demand (UBOD) is the maximum oxygen required
to completely consume all of the organic waste: it takes time to use
up the «food».

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Measuring BOD in lab
• Initial DO of water (I) is measured
• Water is put into an air-tight container
• Why should the container be air-tight
• Water incubates in the dark at a fixed temp
• Seeding (adding microbes) might be necessary, in such case DO lost due to
the seed water has to be considered.
• Final DO of water (F) is measured
• BOD = I – F
• Dilution is ofter used when BOD would otherwise remove all the available
DO
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐵𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
Dilution (D) = 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
BOD = (I-F)*D

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BOD analysis considerations
• A 3 or 5 day lab analysis may not reveal the true strength of waste
• If «ultimate» BOD is desired, much longer analysis may be needed
• Rate constants vary widely depending on source of waste
• Low rate constant may mask the true effects of a waste with high UBOD
• Same BOD5, different UBOD
• Same UBOD, different BOD5

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In class exercises
1. Modeling of BOD reaction: Show that the BOD exerted up to time t is
given by BODt = UBOD (1 – e–kt)
2. If the BOD of a municipal wastewater at the end of 8 days is 180.9 mg/L
and the ultimate BOD is 212.0 mg/L,what is the rate constant (k) ?
3. Determine the 1-d BOD and ultimate first-stage BOD for a wastewater
whose 5-d, 20 °C BOD is 200 mg/L. What would have been the 5-d BOD
if the test had been conducted at 25 °C? The reaction constant k (base e) =
0.23 day-1 and θ = 1.047.
4. Determine the theoretical BOD and COD for the compound C5H7NO2.
Assume the value of the BOD first-order reaction rate constant (k) is 0.23
day-1.
5. What is the COD of Toulene (C6H5CH3)?

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Answers
• 2: 0.24 per day
• 3: UBOD = 293 mg/L, BOD 1 = 60.1 mg/L and BOD5 at 25 °C = 224
mg/L.
• 4: COD = 1.42 mg O2/ mg C5H7NO2; BOD = 0.97 mg BOD/ mg
C5H7NO2
• 5: COD = 3.13 g O2/g Toulene

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Wastewater Treatment
Introduction
• What is the Wastewater
Treatment?
• What is the Biological
Wastewater Treatment?

Central Wastewater Treatment Plant,

Nashville, TN, USA
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Wastewater Treatment
Objectives
• Transformation of dissolved and particulate biodegradable
constituents into acceptable end products.
• Capture and incorporation of suspended and non-settleable colloidal
solids into a biological bloc or biofilm.
• Transformation and nutrients removal (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus)
• Removal of specific trace organic constituents and compounds (in
specific cases).

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Biological Wastewater Treatment
Role of microorganisms

For cells to function properly, they must have a source of

energy and carbon for the synthesis of new cellular material.
The cell must also have certain inorganic elements (N and P),
and other trace elements such as S, K, Ca, and Mg.

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Types of microorganisms
• The two most common sources of carbon are:
• Carbon dioxide – used by autotrophs
• Organic matter – used by heterotrophs

• Energy is also needed in the synthesis of new cellular material. This

energy is obtained by autotrophs and heterotrophs in different ways.

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Types of Microorganisms:
Microbial Energy Source

• Autotrophs
• Photosynthesis (solar energy)
• Inorganic oxidation-reduction reactions such as the oxidation of ammonia
• Example: Nitrobacter

• Heterotrophs
• Aerobic oxidation of organic matter
• Fermentation of organic matter
• Example: E. Coli

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Types of Microorganisms
Oxygen requirements

• Utilization of Oxygen
• Aerobic – utilize free molecular oxygen
C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O
(This reaction gives off 686,000 calories per mole of heat energy.)
• Anaerobic – void of free or ‘bound’ oxygen
C6H12O6 → Lactate + 52,000 calories/mole

Note: In aerobic conditions, more energy is produced, and therefore, more cells,
per unit BOD removed. So the stabilization of waste is more efficiently
accomplished by an aerobic oxidation process.

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Anoxic vs. Anaerobic
• Anoxic: no free oxygen, but oxidized compounds (e.g., nitrate) are
present.
• Anaerobic: no free oxygen, no oxidized compounds

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Microbial Growth
Bacteria metabolism
Aerobic, heterotrophic Aerobic, autotrophic Anaerobic, heterotrophic

NOTE: Heterotrophic bacteria metabolize BOD and try to grow in the biological process. They decompose
carbonaceous and nitrogenous substances.

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Microbial Growth
Carbon and Energy Sources
+ Nutrients
Principal:
- N, S, P, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Na and Cl
Minor:
- Zn, Mn, Mo, Se, Co, Cu, and Ni

- Autotrophs
Physical requirements: - Heterotrophs
- temperature,
- pH,
- osmotic pressure.

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Substrate partitioning and cellular yield
Bacterial growth involves two basic reactions:
• One for energy production and fe0 + fs0 = 1
• One for cellular synthesis

The electron donor provides electrons to the electron

acceptor for energy production.

Combination of half-reaction for synthesis (Rs) and

the acceptor half-reaction (Ra).
Nitrogen source (N): NH4+, NO2-, NO3-, N2
Cell mass: C 5H 7 O 2 N
Electron acceptor: O2, NO3-, Fe3+, SO42-, CO2

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Microbial Growth Classification

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Biological Wastewater Treatment
Role of microorganisms

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Important Microorganisms in WWTP
• Algae
• Blue green – fix N2 from the atmosphere, some produce toxic substances and
taste and odor producing materials.
• Yellow green, grass green and yellow brown
• In stabilization ponds, supply O2 for bacteria to oxidize organic material
• In aerobic algae ponds, absorb nutrients such as N and P
• Protozoa – scavengers that utilize bacteria, considered as secondary feeders in
activated sludge process
• Ameboid – not very useful in waste treatment
• Flagellated – have whip-like devices for motion, called free swimmers
• Ciliated – their large population presence in an activated sludge system
indicates a good process

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Important Microorganisms in WWTP
• Fungi
• Problem organisms, multicellular heterotrophs
• Grow over a wide range of pH range (2.6 to 10.0)
• Filamentous organisms causing «sludge bulking».
• Rotifers
• Aerobic heterotrophs effective in consuming dispersed and flocculated
bacteria and small particles of organic matter
• Their presence in an affluent indicates a highly efficient aerobic biological
purification process

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Growth and Environmental Effects of Bacteria
• Temperature
• pH
• Toxic compounds
• Salinity/Osmolarity
• Oxygen availability
• Pressure

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Temperature

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Bacteria and Nutrients
• Nutrients must be sufficient to allow BOD to be
metabolized.
BOD:N:P →150:4.7:1 (150:5:1)
Normally, domestic sewage will contain excess N and P

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Biological Wastewater Treatment
Common biochemical operations

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Biological Wastewater Treatment
Attached growth
• Fluidized bed biological reactor
• Rotating biological contactor
• Trickling filter
• Packed bed
• Integrated fixed film activated sludge systems

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Biological Wastewater Treatment
Suspended growth
• Activated sludge
• Biological nutrient removal
• Aerobic digestion
• High-rate anaerobic processes
• Anaerobic digestion
• Fermenter
• Lagoon

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Reactor types

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Reactor arrangements

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Nepal’s Drinking Water Quality Standards

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