FLOTATION

Flotation involves separation of solids from the water phase by

attaching the solids to fine air bubbles to decrease the density
of the particles so that they float instead of sinking. The rising
solids are called the "float". The float is skimmed off the
surface and further processed in the sludge train.

Flotation is a separation process based on the use of very fine

gas bubbles that attach themselves to the solid particles in
suspension to make them buoyant and drive them toward the
free surface of the liquid.
Air is the only flotation agent used in wastewater treatment.
Flotation is especially useful to separate very small particles or
light particles with low settling velocities. In such cases more
complete and rapid separation can be obtained with flotation
than with sedimentation.
Types of Flotation Separations
Flotation requires the generation of small bubbles which can
be produced by:

 dispersing air into the wastewater

applying a vacuum to the wastewater
dissolving air into pressurized wastewater and then
releasing the pressure
dissolving chemicals into waste water
Dispersed Air Flotation
Air bubbles are formed by mechanically dispersing air injected
under rotating impellers or sparged by diffusers. The bubbles
formed under these conditions are typically too coarse for fine
solid removal. Hence this method is not commonly
encountered. Some scum forming waste can be removed by air
dispersion flotation.
Vacuum Flotation
Air is first dispersed into the wastewater to achieve saturation
conditions
Partial vacuum is then applied to the wastewater. This results
in the generation of small air bubbles that attach themselves
to the solid particles and make them rise. Typically, a
cylindrical tank maintained under vacuum and continuously
fed with wastewater is used for this purpose.
In this case the suspension is saturated with air at 1 atm then
a vacuum is applied to create relative supersaturation. This
results in bubble formation. Because there is a maximum of 1
atm pressure difference there is a severe limitation on the
amount of air available
for flotation. This limits the applicability of this process.

Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)

Air is dissolved in pressurized wastewater (40 - 95 psia, i.e.,
275 - 650 kPa) by adding air to the pump suction point. The
air-wastewater mixture is admitted to a retention tank having
a residence time or a few minutes to allow the air to dissolve.
The wastewater passes through a pressure reducing valve and
then enters a flotation unit where small bubbles (30 - 120 mm)
are generated within the bulk of the wastewater.
In the flotation unit the solid particles are carried by the
bubbles toward the surface of the water where they are
skimmed off by a skimming mechanism. The clarified water
passes under a baffle (which prevents the floating solids from
being discharged with the effluent water) and is discharged by
passing over a weir.
Chemical Additive Flotation Process
Chemical additives that promote the attachment or
entrapment of air bubbles to solid particles or flocs can be
effectively used to enhance flotation.
Flotation additives include:
- Aluminum and ferric salts
- Activated silica
- Organic polymers

Sulfur oxides (SOx)

Sulfur oxides (SOx) are compounds of sulfur and oxygen
molecules. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is the pre- dominant form

found in the lower atmosphere. It is a colorless gas that can be

detected by taste and smell in the range of 1,000 to 3,000
micrograms per cubic meter (g/m3). At concentrations of
10,000 g/m3, it has a pungent, unpleasant odor. Sulfur
dioxide dissolves readily in water present in the atmosphere to
form sulfurous acid (H2SO3). About30% of the sulfur dioxide
in the atmosphere is converted to sulfate aerosol (acid
aerosol), which is removed through wet or dry deposition
processes. Sulfur trioxide (SO3), another oxide of sulfur, is
either emitted directly into the atmosphere or produced from
sulfur dioxide and is rapidly converted to sulfuric acid
(H2SO4).
Techniques for controlling SOx
Wet scrubber
Spray drying
Wet sulfuric acid process
Wet scrubber
The term wet scrubber describes a variety of devices that
remove pollutants from a furnace flue gas or from other gas
streams. In a wet scrubber, the polluted gas stream is brought
into contact with the scrubbing liquid, by spraying it with the
liquid, by forcing it through a pool of liquid, or by some other
contact method, so as to remove the pollutants.

Wet scrubbers that remove gaseous pollutants are referred to

as absorbers. Good gas-to-liquid contact is essential to obtain
high removal efficiencies in absorbers. A number of wet
scrubber designs are used to remove gaseous pollutants, with
the packed tower and the plate tower being the most common.
Spray drying
Spray drying is a method of producing a dry powder from a
liquid or slurry by rapidly drying with a hot gas. This is the
preferred method of drying of many thermally-sensitive
materials such as foods and pharmaceuticals. A consistent
particle size distribution is a reason for spray drying some
industrial products such as catalysts. Air is the heated drying
medium; however, if the liquid is a flammable solvent such
as ethanol or the product is oxygen-sensitive then nitrogen is
used.
All spray dryers use some type of atomizer or spray nozzle to
disperse the liquid or slurry into a controlled drop size spray.
The most common of these are rotary disks and single-fluid
high pressure swirl nozzles. Alternatively, for some
applications two-fluid or ultrasonic nozzles are used.
Depending on the process needs, drop sizes from 10 to
500 m can be achieved with the appropriate choices. The
most common applications are in the 100 to 200 m diameter
range. The dry powder is often free-flowing.

Wet sulfuric acid process

The wet sulfuric acid process (WSA process) is one of the key
gas desulfurization processes on the market today. Since the
Danish catalyst company Haldor Topsoe introduced and

patented this technology in the late 1980s, it has been

recognised as an efficient process for recovering sulfur from
various process gasses in the form of commercial
qualitysulfuric acid (H2SO4), with simultaneous production of
high pressure steam. The WSA process is applied in all
industries where removal of sulfur is an issue.

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are a very interesting and important
family of air polluting chemical compounds. This bulletin
explains why NOx are important air pollutants and how NOx
are formed and react in the atmosphere. This bulletin also
discusses the principles on which all NOx control and
pollution prevention technologies are based; available NOx
technologies for various combustion sources; and performance
and cost of NOx technologies.
Method 1. Reducing Temperature -- Reducing combustion
temperature means avoiding the stoichiometric ratio (the exact
ratio of chemicals that enter into reaction). Essentially, this
technique dilutes calories with an excess of fuel, air, flue gas,
or steam. Combustion controls use different forms of this
technique and are different for fuels with high and low
nitrogen content.
Method 2. Reducing Residence Time -- Reducing residence
time at high combustion temperatures can be done by ignition
or injection timing with internal combustion engines. It can
also be done in boilers by restricting the flame to a short
region in which the combustion air becomes flue gas. This is

immediately followed by injection of fuel, steam, more

combustion air, or recirculating flue gas. This short residence
time at peak temperature keeps the vast majority of nitrogen
from becoming ionized. This bears no relationship to total
residence time of a flue gas in a boiler.
Method 3. Chemical Reduction of NOx This technique
provides a chemically reducing (i.e., reversal of oxidization)
substance to remove oxygen from nitrogen oxides. Examples
include Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) which uses
ammonia, Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) which use
ammonia or urea, and Fuel Reburning (FR).
Method 4. Oxidation of NOx -- This technique intentionally
raises the valence of the nitrogen ion to allow water to absorb
it (i.e., it is based on the greater solubility of NOx at higher
valence). This is accomplished either by using a catalyst,
injecting hydrogen peroxide, creating ozone within the air flow,
or injecting ozone into the air flow. Non-thermal plasma, when
used without a reducing agent, can be used to oxidize NOx. A
scrubber must be added to the process to absorb N2O5
emissions to the atmosphere. Any resultant nitric acid can be
either neutralized by the scrubber liquid and then sold
(usually as a calcium or ammonia salt), or collected as nitric
acid to sell to customers.
Method 5. Removal of nitrogen from combustion -- This is
accomplished by removing nitrogen as a reactant either by: (1)
using oxygen instead of air in the combustion process; or (2)
using ultra-low nitrogen content fuel to form less fuel NOx.
Eliminating nitrogen by using oxygen tends to produce a
rather intense flame that must be subsequently and suitably
diluted.

Although Method 2 can lower the temperature quickly to avoid

forming excessive NOx, it cannot eliminate nitrogen oxides
totally if air is the quench medium.
Method 6. Sorption, both adsorption and absorption -Treatment of flue gas by injection of sorbents (such as
ammonia, powdered limestone, aluminum oxide, or carbon)
can remove NOx and other pollutants (principally sulfur).
There have been successful efforts to make sorption products
a marketable commodity. This kind of treatment has been
applied in the combustion chamber, flue, and baghouse. This
method uses either adsorption or absorption followed by
filtration and/or electrostatic precipitation to remove the
sorbent.