THEORY

Wastewater is water come from human activities which are any combination of domestic,
industrial, commercial or agricultural activities. It is no longer needed or is no longer suitable
for use. Wastewater treatment is the process of converting wastewater into bilge water that can
be discharged back into the environment. It’s formed by a number of activities including
bathing, washing, using the toilet, and rainwater runoff. Wastewater is full of contaminants
including bacteria, chemicals and other toxins. Its treatment aims at reducing the contaminants
to acceptable levels to make the water safe for discharge back into the environment.

There are two wastewater treatment plants namely chemical or physical treatment plant, and
biological wastewater treatment plant. Biological waste treatment plants use biological matter
and bacteria to break down waste matter. Physical waste treatment plants use chemical
reactions as well as physical processes to treat wastewater. Biological treatment systems are
ideal for treating wastewater from households and business premises. Physical wastewater
treatment plants are mostly used to treat wastewater from industries, factories and
manufacturing firms. This is because most of the wastewater from these industries contains
chemicals and other toxins that can largely harm the environment.

Following is the step by step process involved in the wastewater treatment in Malaysia.

Waste Water Treatment Process Explanations

Wastewater collection
This is the first step where the collection systems
are put in the place by home owners or municipal
administration. The water is collected and
directed in a treatment plant by the way of an
underground drainage system.

Odor control Odor control forms an integral part of the

wastewater treatment in Malaysia. In order to
make sure that the areas are free from smell, the
process of odor treatment are started at the
treatment plant.
Screening Screening involves the removal of all the large
objects like diapers, nappies, rags, broken bottles,
etc. so that these objects do not intrude with the
functioning of the machines.

Primary treatment This process is all about the separation of

macrobiotic solid matter from the wastewater and
the same is done by the way of pouring the
wastewater into bigger tasks so that the solid
matter settles at the surface of the tanks.

Secondary treatment The secondary treatment includes the addition of

seed sludge into the wastewater to make sure that
is broken down. Air is pumped into the aeration
tanks that mixes wastewater with the seed sludge.
The wastewater is made pass through the larger
tanks for 3-6 hours.

Bio-solids handlings The solid matter which settles out post the both
stages of treatment is then directed towards the
digesters. These digesters are heated at a room
temperature. The wastes are treated for a month
where they undergo the process of anaerobic
digestion.

Tertiary treatment This stage is very similar to the one which is used
by drinking water treatment plants that clean the
raw water for drinking purposes. The stage
removes up to 99 percent of impurities from the
wastewater. Thus, the water so produced is
effluent water which is close to the drinking water
quality.
 Disinfection The water still comprises of some organisms
which may cause diseases when drunk. Thus, the
process of disinfection is carried out for 20-25
minutes to disinfect the water.

Sludge treatment The sludge so produced and collected in the two

process is then put into thickening tanks that
permits it to settle down and later separates in
from the water. The remaining water is collected
and taken back to the aeration tanks for concerned
treatment.

Bizcon(2010), Step by step process of wastewater treatment in Malaysia,

http://www.mnzbc.com.my/company-blog/121-step-by-step-process-of-wastewater-
treatment-in-malaysia.html
APPLICATION
The wastewater sample we got from the sewage at Kampus Unicity Alam is called domestic
wastewater. It’s came from the apartments and produced due to human activities from the
kitchen, shower, wash basin, toilet and laundry.

Municipal wastewater treatment is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and
household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It suitable for domestic and industrial wastewater.
It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical, and
biological contaminants. Its objective is to ensure that all household sewage is properly treated
to make it safe, clean and suitable for releasing back into the environment.
Primary Stage

This is the first stage of wastewater treatment that removes about 40-60% of the suspended
solids. It involves screening to remove large objects such as sticks, stones and rubbish which
can cause damage to tank inlets. It employs grit chamber which slows down the flow of
wastewater to allow grit to fall out naturally to the bottom of the tank where it can be removed.
Sedimentation tank in this stage removes sinking and floating contaminants. The partially
treated wastewater from the primary tanks then flows to the secondary treatment system.
Secondary Stage

This is the stage where the biological (aerobic/anaerobic) treatment of waste water from the
primary stage begins and it removes up to 90% of organic matter. It uses activated sludge
process which use dissolved oxygen to promote growth of biological floc that substantially
removes organic matter. Bacteria-containing “activated sludge” is continually re-circulated
back to the aeration tank to increase the rate of organic decomposition. Bacteria attack the
dissolved and finely divided suspended solids which are not removed by primary
sedimentation. The water is then taken to settling tanks where the sludge again settles, leaving
the water 90 to 95 % free of pollutants.
Tertiary Stage

When the effluent from secondary treatment is unacceptable, a third level of treatment called
tertiary or advanced treatment, can be employed. Its purpose is to provide final treatment stage
to raise the effluent quality to the desired level. When the wastewater reaches tertiary stage, it
still contain suspended matter and fine particles and are removed in this stage. The water at this
stage is almost free from harmful substances and chemicals and which can be reused, recycled
or released back into the environment. This stage is also called as disinfection stage and UV is
an ideal disinfectant for wastewater since it does not alter the water quality.

Akruthi Enviro Solutions (2019), Domestic Waste Water Treatment, retrieved from
http://neoakruthi.com/blog/domestic-wastewater-treatment.html