What Is Wastewater Treatment?

By Author: K V Gopalkrishnan
Total Articles: 25
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Wastewater treatment is a process that turns wastewater into bilge water that can be safely returned to the environment. Typically, wastewater is produced by daily activities like bathing, toilet use, and washing, as well as runoff rainwater. It hosts contaminants like chemicals, bacteria, and toxins. Wastewater treatment decreases the contamination level to facilitate the safe delivery of the water back to the surrounding locations.

Wastewater treatment presents multiple benefits. To start, it reduces water pollution which helps to maintain a clean environment. The treated water can be used in cooling devices in factories and industries, and for irrigation purposes. In addition, wastewater treatment aids to halt the outbreak of waterborne diseases and thereby ensures better health among people.

Wastewater treatment is an important environmental conservation procedure that needs to be adopted globally. Mostly, this process is performed for water disposed from homes and offices. Refineries, industrial, and manufacturing plants utilize onsite industrial wastewater treatment systems to clean their dirty water. ...
... This is essential because it is dangerous to discharge untreated wastewater into the lakes, oceans, rivers, and the environment.

What are Industrial Wastewater Treatment Systems?
Industrial wastewater treatment systems convert used streams into effluent water that can be re-utilized or discharged safely to a city treatment facility or the environment. Appropriate industrial wastewater treatment aids the plant to avoid endangering human health, the environment, and the factory’s products, processes, and equipment. Plus, the facility can avoid penalties and legal action by treating the wastewater before disposing of it.

The complexity of industrial wastewater treatment systems depends on the composition of the waste stream and the compliance rules that the plant needs to meet. The contaminants in industrial wastewater differ greatly depending on the process and may include synthetic chemicals, TDS, TSS, metals, pathogens, phosphates, nitrates, and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).

How they Function
Industrial wastewater treatment varies significantly in different installations and depends on factors such as flow reuse plans, stream constituents, and discharge regulations. However, the following are common technologies that are utilized in most treatment systems:

Clarification
This is the initial step in wastewater treatment, and it removes suspended solids, silica, and precipitate metals from the stream. The process utilizes methods such as chemical addition, flocculation, coagulation, sedimentation, and filtration. These techniques help to remove by-products and fine particulates as well as to recover valuable materials like silver.

Disinfection
The disinfection procedure removes pathogens like fungi, viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms from the wastewater so it can be safely sent back to the environment. Thus, it helps to prevent the outbreak of diseases in society.

Softening
The softening process includes lime softening to decrease sulfate or mineral content. It involves the use of lime soda or lime to increase the stream’s pH, which removes the mineral constituents from the solution. Some treatment methods also use membrane or IX softening.

Special Procedures
Specialized processes are utilized to treat distinctive wastewater problems like removal of specific organics or metals, or to decrease TDS for recycling. These procedures depend on the complexity and variations of each industrial facility.

Distribution
After the wastewater is treated, it is directed for reuse in the facility or discharged into the local sewer or environment after complying with municipal regulations.

About A.T.E. Group
A.T.E. Group provides high quality and efficient industrial wastewater treatment systems and services. Contact us directly for more details about our products and install them effectively in your plant or facility.