Environmental Technology: Wastewater Treatment

The problem of wastewater treatment. Wastewater flowrates and constituent loadings. Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of wastewaters. Sewage networks. Legislation and treatment levels. Pretreatment (screens, grit chambers, grease removal, flow stabilization). Primary sedimentation and flotation. Fundamentals of microbiology and microbial kinetics. Secondary treatment. The activated sludge process. Alternative secondary suspended growth systems. Biofilm systems. Trickling filters and biodiscs. Nutrient removal (nitrification, denitrification, biological phosphorus removal). Modelling of activated sludge systems. Natural systems for wastewater treatment. Sludge (biosolids) management. Disinfection. Physical and chemical processes for wastewater treatment. Membrane bioreactors. Industrial wastewater streams. Disposal - reuse of treated effluents.

Objectives

After completing this course a student should be able to: 1.understand the characterization of a wastewater stream in terms of contained constituents (qualitative and quantitative). 2.have a greater fundamental understanding of the mechanisms involved in both physicochemical and most important in biological processes for the removal of specific constituents 3.understand, select and design the fundamental methods for the management of the biosolids resulting from the treatment of wastewater Competences At the end of the course the student will have further developed the following skills/competences: 1.ability to identify and measure the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of wastewater streams 2.ability to design the sewage network for the collection of wastewater streams from their sources 3.ability to select, analyze and design the most appropriate wastewater treatment processes to achieve preset disposal criteria and limits 4.ability to select, analyze and design the most appropriate processes for treatment of the biosolids resulting from wastewater treatment 5.ability to design the facilities for disposal or reuse of treated water and biosolids

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course. However, students should have basic knowledge of mass and energy balances, unit operations and biochemical processes.

Syllabus

The problem of wastewater treatment. Wastewater flowrates and constituent loadings. Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of wastewaters. Sewage networks. Legislation and treatment levels. Pretreatment (screens, grit chambers, grease removal, flow stabilization). Primary sedimentation and flotation. Fundamentals of microbiology and microbial kinetics. Secondary treatment. The activated sludge process. Alternative secondary suspended growth systems. Biofilm systems. Trickling filters and biodiscs. Nutrient removal (nitrification, denitrification, biological phosphorus removal). Modelling of activated sludge systems. Natural systems for wastewater treatment. Sludge (biosolids) management. Disinfection. Physical and chemical processes for wastewater treatment. Membrane bioreactors. Industrial wastewater streams. Disposal - reuse of treated effluents.