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We never know the worth of water till the well is dry English Proverb
The availability of water, both in quantity and quality, is one of the prime factor in deciding the growth of towns and cities as well as industries. For chemical industries, the available water must be as near as possible to the factory site and should also be soft. Otherwise the manufacturing cost will increase.
i. Phase Curves
The phase diagram contains three curves, each indicating the equilibrium between two phases. Fusion/ Melting/ Freezing curve i,e Phase boundary line between Solid and Liquid phases show Melting Point/ Freezing Point.
Boiling curve/ vapour pressure curve of water i.e Phase boundary line between Liquid and Gaseous phases show Boiling Point/ liquefying point/ vapour pressure of water at that temperature.
Sublimation curve or vapour pressure curve of ice i.e phase boundary line between Solid and Gaseous phases show Sublimation Point/ Solidifying point/ vapour pressure of ice at that temperature.
i.e solid is melting & sublimating, liquid is boiling & freezing and
gas is liquefying and solidifying. This point is called Triple Point. For water this point is at 0.00075oC and 4.58 mm pressure.
Purpose
Boilers
specification
Hardness of water should be zero Soft and free from dissolved salts Should be noncorrosive and nonscale forming
Remarks
Untreated water may cause corrosion of boiler and scale formed Prevents the efficient heart transfer. Hard water produces unpleasant taste and it also requires more fuels. Corrosiveness cause damage to cooling lines & radiators while scale decrease cooling efficiency
2.
cooking
3.
coolant
4.
Beaverage
Should be free from Alkaline water neutralizes the fruit alkalinity acids which destroys or modified the taste.
5.
Dairies
Water should be colourless, tasteless, odourless and free from pathogens. Soft water In presence of hard water deliquescent sugar is formed which causes problem in crystallization. Turbidity in hard water causes uneven dying; hard water causes precipitation of basic dyes and decreases the solubility of acidic dyes. Organic matter imparts foul smell. Hard water consumes more soaps and detergents. Salts of iron and manganese impart undesirable colour to the fabric. It will destroy quality of paper pulp.
6.
7.
Water should be soft, free from turbidity, organic matter, colour, iron and manganese.
8.
laundry
Water should be soft and free from colour, iron and manganese Should not contain excess of lime and magnesia and should be free from iron salts.
9.
Paper mills
Soap action Soaps are generally sodium and potassium salts of higher fatty acids
like oleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid. When a sample of hard water is treated with soap it does not produce lather rather it forms insoluble white scum or precipitate which do not possess any cleansing action. This is because the Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions in water form insoluble salt of these fatty acids. 2 C17H35COONa + Ca2+
Soap (Sodium stearate) from hard water
(C17H35COO)2 Ca + 2Na+
Insoluble Calcium stearate
2 C17H35COONa + Mg2+
Soap (Sodium stearate) from hard water
(C17H35COO)2 Mg + 2Na+
Insoluble Magnesium stearate
Lather is not produced until the cations causing the precipitation of soap are completely removed and hence the need for a large quantity of soap to produce lather with hard water. Therefore hardness may be defined as soap consuming/wasting capacity of water. The present days detergent used in laundry work, contains a long hydrocarbon alkene of the type CnH2n where n is between 12 and 20. The alkene is first sulphonated with oleum and then converted into sodium salt. This sodium salt is the detergent. C15H30O + H2SO4 C15H31SO4H
C15H31SO4H + NaOH
C15H31SO4Na + H2O
They are better than soap as they are not affected by hardness in water.
Types of Hardness
i) ii) A. On the basis of sustain ability hardness is of two types Temporary hardness. Permanent hardness.
i) ii)
B. On the basis of alkaline character hardness is of two types Alkaline hardness Non-alkaline hardness
(i) Temporary hardness: Temporary hardness of water is due to the presence of bicarbonates of calcium, magnesium and other heavy metals and carbonate of iron. Temporary hardness is removed by mere boiling of water, which converts bicarbonates into insoluble carbonates or hydroxides which are deposited as crust at the bottom of the vessel. It needs only physical treatment.
Ca(HCO3)2 Calcium Bicarbonate
T
CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 Calcium carbonate (Insoluble) Mg(OH)2 + 2CO2 Magnesium hydroxide (Insoluble)
ii)
Permanent hardness: Permanent hardness is due to the presence of chlorides and sulphates of calcium magnesium, iron and other heavy metals. Permanent hardness cant be removed by boiling and need chemical treatment.
i)
Alkaline hardness
Alkaline hardness is defined as the hardness due to Alkaline anions as bicarbonates, carbonates and hydroxides of the hardness producing cations.
Non-alkaline hardness is due to non-alkaline anions like Cl- and SO42- of hardness producing cations. The non alkaline hardness is obtained by substracting the alkaline hardness from the total hardness.
Ca(HCO3)2 Mg(HCO3)2 FeCO3 Ca(OH)2 CaCl2 MgCl2 FeCl2 FeCl3 CaSO4 MgSO4 FeSO4 Fe2(SO4)3
Temporary Hardness
Alkaline Hardness
Total Hardness
Permanent Hardness
Non-Alkaline Hardness
Units of Hardness: Hardness usually measured in terms of CaCO3 due to its round figure molecular weight i.e 100 a.m.u and its abudance in hard water after treatment. a) Parts Per Million (ppm): Number of parts by weight of CaCO3 equivalent hardness present per million (106) parts by weight of H2O.
Hence X ppm = X part CaCO3 equivalent hardness in 106 parts of H2O
b) Milligrams Per Liter: Number of milligrams of CaCO3 equivalent hardness present per liter of H2O is known as mg/liter hardness.
Hence X mg/liter = X mg CaCO3 equivalent hardness per liter of H2O
d = m/v = 1 gm/cm3 for water so m = v for water 1 Kg H2O = 1 L of H2O 103 x 103 mg = 1 Kg H2O 106 mg = 1 L of H2O X mg/liter = X mg of CaCO3 equivalent per 106 mg of water X mg/liter = X parts of CaCO3 equivalent per 106 parts of water X mg/liter = X ppm
c) Degree French: Number of parts by weight of CaCO3 equivalent hardness present per lakh (105) parts of water is called degree French. It is denoted by Fr. X oFr = X Parts of CaCO3 equivalent hardness per 105 parts of H2O d) Degree Clarks: Number of parts by weight of CaCO3 equivalent hardness present per 70,000 parts of water or It may also be defined as the number of grams of CaCO3 equivalent hardness present per gallon or in 10 lb of water. It is denoted by oCl.
Relation Between Various Units X ppm = X parts CaCO3 equi hardness per106 parts of H2O X mg/L = X ppm X oFr = X parts CaCO3 equi hardness per105 parts of H2O X oCl = X parts CaCO3 equi hardness per 70,000 parts of H2O From above equations the inter-relation of various units can be written as 106 ppm = 106 mg/L = 105 oFr = 70,000 oCl 1 ppm = 1 mg/L = 0.1 oFr = 0.07 oCl 1 oCl = 14.3 ppm (approximately) = 1.43 oFr (approximately) 1 oFr = 10 ppm = 0.7 oCl
2. Alkalinity:
Alkalinity of water may be defined as its capacity to neutralize acids.
The alkalinity of water may be attributed to the presence of OH- ions CO3 -2 ions HCO3 - ions
The determination is based on the following reactions (i) OH- + H+ H2O P (ii) CO3-2 + H+ HCO3M (iii) HCO3- + H+ H2O + CO2
The titration of water sample against a standard acid up to phenolphthalein end point (P) marks the completion of reactions (i) and (ii) only. The amount of acid used upto phenolphthalein end point thus corresponds to neutralization of whole OH- and one half of the normal carbonate present. While the titration of water sample against the standard acid upto methyl orange end point (M) marks the completion of reactions (i), (ii) and (iii). Therefore the additional acid used after phenolphthalein end point corresponds to one half of normal carbonate and all the bicarbonate present. The total amount of acid used represents the total alkalinity (due to OH-, CO3-2 and HCO3-). Therefore, P = OH- + CO3-2 M = OH- + CO3-2 + HCO3-
The possible combination of ions causing alkalinity in water are: OH- only CO3-2 only HCO3- only OH- and CO3-2 only CO3-2 and HCO3- only The possibility of OH- and HCO3- together is not possible since they combine together to form CO3-2 and H2O OH- + HCO3CO3-2 + H2O Similarly, all the three (OH-, CO3-2 and HCO3-) can not exist together.
Case-I : When only OH- is present in water P = OH- + CO32, M = OH- + CO32- + HCO3P = OH, M = OHP=M Case-II : When only CO32- is present in water P = OH- + CO32, M = OH- + CO32- + HCO3P = CO32, M = CO32P=M M = 2P Case-III : When only HCO3- is present in water P = OH- + CO32, M = OH- + CO32- + HCO3P= 0 , M = HCO3-
Case-IV : When only OH- & CO32- are present in water (i). P = OH- + CO32, M = OH- + CO32- + HCO3P = OH- + CO32, M = OH- + CO32P = OH- + OH- + CO32P = OH- + (OH- + CO32-) P = OH- + M P = M + OHP > M
(ii). P = M + OHP = (M + OH-) 2P = M + OHOH- = 2P M (iii). P = OH- + CO32-
, , ,
Water absorbs more heat for a given temperature rises than any other common inorganic substance and expands 1600 times as it evaporates to form steam at atmospheric pressure. The steam is capable of carrying large quantities of heat. If hard water is directly fed into the boilers it may lead to the following problems: (I) Scale and sludge formation. (II) Boiler corrosion. (III) Caustic embrittlement. (IV) Priming and foaming.
water. As the water evaporates continuously, the concentration of dissolved salts increases, finally the solution becomes saturated. The point at which ionic product exceeds the solubility product, they are thrown out as precipitates. A) Scale: Scales are the hard deposits firmly sticking on the inner wall of the boiler and cant be removed easily by scrapping.
B) Sludge: If the precipitate formed is soft, loose and floats in boiler water it is called sludge.
Ca(HCO3)2
Calcium carbonate scale is soft and can be easily removed by wire brush. In high pressure boilers CaCO3 is soluble because it undergoes hydrolysis to form calcium hydroxide and carbon dioxide. CaCO3 + H2O Ca(OH)2 + CO2
On continuous heating CaSO4 present in hard water also gets precipitated as hard scale. (A sulphate deposit is much harder and denser than a carbonate deposit because the crystals are smaller and cemented together more tightly). A sulphate deposit is brittle, does not pulverize easily, and does not show any effervescence when dropped into acid. If silica is present in small amount in water it may form calcium silicate (CaSiO3) and magnesium silicate (MgSiO3) scales which adhere very firmly to the inner walls of the boiler. Scales are generally removed by chemical reactions.
A high silica deposit is very hard, resembling porcelain. The crystals of silica are extremely small, forming a very dense and impervious scale. This scale is extremely brittle and very difficult to pulverize. It is not soluble in hydrochloric acid and is usually very light colored. Iron deposits, either due to corrosion or iron contamination in the water, are very dark coloured. Iron deposits in boilers are most often magnetic. They are soluble in hot acid giving a dark brown colored solution. Iron oxide scales consist of ferric and ferrous compounds such as iron silicates, ferrous phosphate Fe3(PO4)2, sodium ferrophosphate (NaFePO4) and iron oxides (Fe2O3, Fe3O4).
Danger of explosion: On overheating thick scales crack due to uneven expansion. Water comes suddenly in contact with overheated metal and large quantity of steam is formed instantaneously leads to development of very high pressure which may cause explosion of boiler.
- Internal treatment
External treatment:
In this process water is externally treated before feeding it into the boiler and hence the name external treatment. The various external treatment methods are:
Internal treatment:
The treatment of raw water inside the boiler is known as internal treatment. This is also known as internal conditioning or sequestration. In internal treatment suitable chemicals are added to the boiler water either To precipitate the scale forming impurities in the form of Sludges which can be removed by blow down operation or To convert them into compounds which will stay in dissolved form in water.
The phosphates employed are NaH2PO4, Na2HPO4 and Na3PO4. The precipitate formed is then removed by blow down operation.
hot water than in cold water are responsible for the formation of
Sludges and hence are generally formed at comparatively colder parts/portions of the boilers. They get collected at places where the rate of flow is slow. Sludge can easily be removed with a wire brush. They may lead to chocking of pipes. Sludges are usually sparingly soluble compound while scales are highly insoluble compounds.
Excessive sludge may cause chocking of pipe in the region where there is less water circulation.
Frequently blow down operation Using soft water Coagulation and dispersion are two general approaches When the total amount of sludge is high (as the result of high feedwater hardness) it is better to coagulate the sludge to form large flocculent particles. When the amount of sludge is not high (low feed water hardness) it is preferable to use a higher percentage of phosphates in the treatment. The materials used for conditioning sludge include various organic materials of the tannin, lignin or alginate classes.
4OH2Fe2+ + 4OH2Fe(OH)2
at cathode
4Fe(OH)2 + 2H2O + O2
4Fe(OH)3
Fe2O3.XH2O (Rust)
Removal:
(a) O2 is removed by adding oxygen scavengers like Na2SO3, hydrazine etc.
2Na2SO3 + O2 Sodium Sulfite N 2H 4 + O2 (b) 2Na2SO4 Sodium Sulfate N2 + 2H2O
Prevention:
Caustic embrittlement can be prevented by:
Using sodium phosphate as softening agent instead of sodium carbonate (soda) in external treatment. By adding sodium sulphate or sodium phosphate to boiler water which clogs the hair cracks opening, reducing the chance of caustic embrittlement. Tannin or lignin addition to boiler water which blocks the hair cracks preventing the infilteration of caustic soda. All these substances fill hairline cracks in boiler to avoid caustic embrittlement.
Priming is mainly attributed to the presence of Suspended impurities and to some extent to dissolve some impurities in water. Sudden boiling (bumping). High steam velocity. Faulty boiler design.
Foaming:
The formation of persistent bubbles in boiler which do not break easily is known as foaming.
Foaming is generally caused by the presence of oils and alkalis in water. Clay or organic matter in raw water, oil and grease in condensed make up water and finely divided particles of sludge may also cause foaming. Foaming also increase priming.
Foaming can be minimized by Removal of foaming agent like oil, grease from boiler water. Addition of castor oil and antifoaming chemicals like 2-Octanol, sulfonated oils, Organic phosphate, silicon fluids etc.
(i) Natural Zeolites: They are amorphous and non-porous in nature. They are derived from green sands by washing, heating and treating with NaOH. The exchange value of green sand is 7000 to 9000 gm of hardness per m3 of zeolite. e.g. Natrolite Na2O.Al2O3.4SiO2.2H2O (ii) Synthetic Zeolites: They are porous and gel structured synthetic zeolites are prepared by heating together solutions of Sodium silicate, aluminium sulphate and sodium aluminate. China clay, feldspar and soda ash. The most common artificial zeolite is the permutit. The permutit is white in colour and its chemical formula is 2SiO2Al2O3.Na2O. The exchange value of permutit is 35000 to 41000 gm of hardness per m3 of zeolite.
A. Principle:
Zeolites can be simply represented as Na2Z where Z represents insoluble radical frame work. They hold sodium ion loosely. When hard water is passed through a bed of Zeolite, the hardness causing ions are retained by zeolite as CaZ and MgZ. Therefore water becomes free from the main hardness producing cations but gets more concentrated with respect to sodium salts and eventually zeolite gets exhausted. Ca(HCO3)2 + Na2Z Mg(HCO3)2 + Na2Z MgCl2 + Na2Z CaCl2 + Na2Z CaSO4 + Na2Z MgSO4 + Na2Z CaZ + 2NaHCO3 MgZ + 2NaHCO3 MgZ + 2NaCl CaZ + 2NaCl CaZ + Na2SO4 MgZ + Na2SO4
B. Regeneration
During softening, Zeolites exchange its sodium ions with magnesium and calcium ions and after some time they are completely converted into calcium and magnesium zeolites and the zeolite bed cease to soften water, i.e gets exhausted The process by which the exhausted zeolite is reclaimed by treating it with 10% brine solution is known as regeneration CaZ MgZ + + 2NaCl 2NaCl
Brine solution
exhausted Zeolie
Process:
Hard water is percolated (filtered/passthrough) at a definite rate through
Limitations:
If water is turbid, it will cause the clogging of pores of zeolite bed, thereby making it inactive. Acid radicals are not removed by this process. Such waters used in boilers causes highly alkaline condition which leads to Caustic embrittlement Boiler corrosion.
NaHCO3
CO2 + H2O
NaOH + CO2
H2CO3 (Carbonic acid)
If large quantities of Fe+2 and Mn+2 are present in water the zeolite bed is converted into iron and manganese zeolites which cant be regenerated. Zeolite process gives good results only with cold water in terms of hardness removal.
2. Lime-soda process
Principle: Lime-soda process is based upon the precipitation of soluble calcium and Magnesium salts by addition of calculated amount of lime and soda. Function of lime: The lime used in this process may be quick lime or hydrated lime. Calcium ion is precipitated as calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and magnesium as magnesium hydroxide [Mg(OH)2] which then filtered off. At room temperature precipitates formed are very fine and they do not settle down easily, causing difficulty in filtration. Hence a
The following reactions take place during this process: 1) Lime removes any free acid present: 2HCl + Ca(OH)2 H2SO4 + Ca(OH)2 Al2(SO4)3 + 3Ca(OH)2 FeSO4 + Ca(OH)2 2Fe(OH)2 + H2O + O2 CO2 + Ca(OH)2 Ca(HCO3)2 + Ca(OH)2 CaCl2 + 2H2O CaSO4 + 2H2O 2Al(OH)3 + 3CaSO4 Fe(OH)2 + CaSO4 2Fe(OH)3 CaCO3 + H2O 2CaCO3 + 2H2O
3) Lime dissolves carbon dioxide as calcium carbonate: 4) Lime precipitates bicarbonate of calcium as calcium carbonate: 5) Lime precipitates magnesium salts as hydroxides:
Mg(HCO3)2 + 2Ca(OH)2
MgCl2(or MgSO4) + Ca(OH)2
6)
Lime converts bicarbonate ions (like NaHCO3, KHCO3, etc) into carbonates: 2NaHCO3 + Ca(OH)2 Na2CO3 + CaCO3 + 2H2O
7) Soda coverts all soluble calcium permanent hardness: Na2CO3 + CaCl2 CaCO3 + 2NaCl
Na2CO3 + CaSO4 CaCO3 + Na2SO4
Function of soda:
The added ingredient soda ash reacts with calcium permanent hardness including calcium hardness introduced during the reaction of lime with HCl (equations in point vii above). Bicarbonate ions (NaHCO3, KHCO3), if present in the hard water, produced carbonate ions (as Na2CO3 or K2CO3) during their reaction with lime and this may be imagined to be equivalent to production of Na2CO3. Hence, the amount of carbonate ions thus produced from bicarbonate ions are to be subtracted from the total requirement of soda for softening.
Lime-soda process are of two types: Cold lime-soda process. Hot lime-soda process.
Economical. cost effective. Lesser amount of coagulants are required. Iron and manganese could be removed. Minerals are also removed Reduce corrosion tendency. The alkaline nature of water reduces the amount of pathogenic bacteria. Suitable for turbid and acidic water.
3.
The process used for removal of all dissolved salts from water is referred to
as deionization
Deionization requires the flow of water through two ion exchange materials in order to effect the removal of all salt content. The terms demineralization and deionization are used somewhat interchangeably by the industry. While the term demineralization is generally better understood, deionization is especially apt. The word soft water means it does not have hardness producing Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions but it may contain other ions like Na+, Cl-, K+ etc. Alternatively, demineralized water does not have any ion including hardness producing ones. Thus, it should be noted that every soft water is not de-mineralized water; whereas every demineralized water is soft water
Polished/Intrinsic water
The extremely pure water used for washing in the manufacturing of delicate electronic equipments like TV tubes, calculators, watches, transistors etc is known as polished water or intrinsic water which is usually obtained by passing water through several ion exchange resin columns.
Resins containing carboxylic (-COOH) or sulphonic acid (-SO3H) functional groups are able to replace their H+ ions with other cations, which comes in their contact whereas those containing basic amino (-NH2OH) or substituted amino (quaternary ammonium
salts) functional group are able to replace their anions with other
anions, which comes in their contact.
Cations exchange resins are mainly styrene-divinyl benzene copolymers, which on sulphonation or caboxylation become capable to exchange their hydrogen ions with the cations in the water. For example, AmberliteIR 120, Dowex-50, Nalcite-HCR. These can be represented as R-H+. Their exchange reactions with cations (for example, Ca2+, Mg2+) are shown below: 2R-H+ + Ca2+ R22-Ca2+ + 2H+
2R-H+ + Mg2+
R22-Mg2+ + 2H+
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
CH2
CH2
SO3-H+ M+ M
++
SO3-H+ M+ M+ M++
SO3-H+ M++ M
+
SO3 H M++
M+
M+
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
CH2
CH2
CH2
CH2
SO3 M M+ M
++
SO3-M+ M+ H+ ++ M
H+
M+
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
NMe2 OH X2 X CH2
-
X-
NMe2 OH X-
NMe2+OH X
2-
X-
X-
2-
NMe2 OH X
-
X2 -
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
CH
CH2
NMe2+X X2 X
-
NMe2+X X
-
OH -
OH 2X
+ NMe2+ Me2N X2 X2 OH - OH X X
The process:
The raw water is passed first through the cation exchange material to remove the Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions just as in the normal softening process. The metallic ions in the water get attached to the ion exchange material, which releases its hydrogen ions on a chemically equivalent basis. At this point the deionization process is just half complete. While the positive metallic ions have been removed, the water now contains positive hydrogen ion and the anions originally in the raw water. The partially treated water then is passed through a second unit containing an anion exchange material normally consists of replaceable hydroxyl anions and fixed irreplaceable cations. Now the negative ions in solution (the anions) are absorbed into the anion exchange material and hydroxyl anions are released in their place. All that emerges from such two-unit system is ion-free water.
Regeneration:
The ion exchange capability of these resins towards the exchange of ions from the water is based upon their ion exchange potential. These resins are said to be exhausted when ion exchange potential is lost/decreased. These exhausted Cation exchange resins can be regenerated by passing a solution of dil.HCl or dil. H2SO4 through the Cation exchange column. The renewal is represented as: R22-Ca2+ + 2H+ Ca2+ + 2R-H+ The column is washed with de-ionized water and washing (contains Ca2+ Mg2+ and Cl- or SO42- ions) is passed to a sink or drain. The exhausted anion exchange column can be regenerated by passing a solution of dil. NaOH, the regeneration can be represented as: R22+SO42- + 2OH2R+OH- + SO42-
1) Electro-dialysis
It is a process by which oppositely charged ions (Na+ and Cl- ) are pulled out of the salt water by passing direct current using electrodes and ion selective natural or synthetic membranes. When current is passed sodium ions start moving towards cathode whereas chloride ions move towards anode through the ion selective membranes [which allows only one kind of ion with specific charge to pass through it, for example, As a result of movement of Na+ and Cl- ions, the concentration of brine decreases in the central compartment. Desalinated (pure) water in the central compartment is removed from time to time and replaced with fresh seawater and the process continues. The advantage of electro-dialysis is that the cost of the plant installation is economical.
2) Reverse Osmosis
When a semipermeable membrane separates two solutions of different concentrations, the flow of solvent takes place from dilute solution to concentrated solution and the process is called osmosis. However, on application of a hydrostatic pressure in excess of osmotic pressure, the solvent flow can be reversed, that is, the flow of solvent takes place from concentrated solution to dilute solution and the process is called as reverse osmosis. So, in Reverse Osmosis (RO) process, the pure solvent (water) is separated from its contaminants (in case of brackish water contaminant is NaCl). In this process the pressure (20-100 atm ) is applied to seawater (higher conc.) to force pure water (lower conc.) out through semipermeable membrane. The most commonly used polymeric RO membranes are made from cellulose acetate or Polymethamethaacrylate or polyamides.
The advantages of reverse osmosis include: It significantly reduces salt, most other inorganic material present in the water, and some organic compounds. It usually removes microscopic parasites (including viruses), but any defect in the membrane would allow these organisms to flow undetected into the filtered water. The process is less expensive to operate and maintain.
Potable Water
In point of Entry (POE) water treatment, the following steps are taken for purification of the water before domestic supply: (i) Screens: The untreated water is passed through screens having large number of holes of different sizes to retain the floating material in the water. (ii) Pre-chlorination: Pre-chlorination is utilized mainly in situations where the inflow is taken from a surface waste source such as a river, lake, or reservoir. (iii) Sedimentations with coagulation and flocculation: Sedimentation is a process in which the water is allowed to stand undisturbed in big tanks for 2-6 hours. During sedimentation most of the suspended particles settle down at the bottom of the tank due to force of gravity. Coagulants are added before sedimentation to remove impurities like fine clay particles or colloidal matter.
b) Sodium Aluminate (NaAlO2) is used as coagulant when the water undergoing treatment have pH less than 7 (no alkalinity). It gives best results in the pH range of 5.5-7.0. NaAlO2 + 2H2O Al(OH)3 + NaOH The sodium hydroxide formed reacts with magnesium salts present in the water to form magnesium hydroxide flocculants as given below.
c)
Ferrous sulphate [FeSO4.7H2O] is commonly used as flocculant above pH 8.5. The chemical reactions involved are given below
Fe(OH)2 + MgCO3 + CO2 + H2SO4
(coagulant)
4Fe(OH)2 + O2 + 2H2O (coagulant)
(Flocculant ppt.)
4Fe(OH)3 (heavy Flocculant ppt.)
Fe(OH)3 is a heavy flocculant which quickly settles down during sedimentation process.
(iv)
Filtration: Slow filtration through a fine sand filter to remove any remaining small particles, microorganisms, bacteria etc.
(v)
Aeration: of water to oxidize small quantities of organic material to carbon dioxide and water. The BOD (biological oxygen demand) value is the amount of oxygen required, with the assistance of bacteria, to oxidize the oxidizable organic materials present in 1 liter of water to carbon dioxide and water.
The COD value (chemical oxygen demand) indicates how much oxygen, measured in mg/L is required to oxidize most of the organic material in 1 liter of dirty water by oxidizing agent. This test method oxidized more organic material than the BOD test and therefore the COD value is always higher than the BOD value. Despite this, measurement of the COD value is often preferred because the results can be obtained more quickly. (vi) Disinfection: Disinfection with either ozone or chlorine to render the remaining bacteria harmless and to reduce the growth of algae in water pipes. 3-6 mg of chlorine per liter are added to the water with which it reacts to form hypochlorous acid, which is a more efficient disinfectant than the hypochlorous anion.
A. Chlorination
Water for drinking purposes, the potable water, is treated to make it acceptable and free from harmful bacteria. This is most often accomplished by adding chlorine to the water, which forms the strong oxidizing hypochlorous acid, HOCl. Cl2 + H2O HOCl + H+ + ClHOCl H+ + OClDepending on pH and products formed, the effective residual concentration of chlorine [free available chlorine (FAC)], HOCl or OCl(hypochlorite ion) is 0.1 0.2 mg/l. Higher concentrations of chlorine (or products of chlorination) tend to give water a definite taste. The hypochlorous acid produced by the reaction of chlorine with water is responsible for the death of microorganisms and bacteria, etc. present in water.
When chlorine reacts with organic material its concentration is reduced and trihalomethanes (THMs) are formed which are carcinogenic.
Chlorine provides poor cryptosporidium and Giardia control. Both of these disease cause gastrointestinal problems, which in severe instances can cause death.
B. Ozonation
A mixture of ozone and air can be bubbled through water to oxidize impurities. Ozone is toxic, and can be detected by its odour at about 0.01 ppm whereas its total limit value (TLV) is 0.1 ppm. Unlike chlorine, ozone does not produce known carcinogens as a byproduct of its water treatment and, therefore, is gaining increased use for domestic as well as industrial water supplies. Chlorination must follow ozonation in public water supply because ozone decomposes rapidly, and chlorine residual may be carried throughout a distribution system. For domestic water purifiers, ozone is often combined with activated carbon filtration to achieve a more complete water treatment.
must be changed. Fiber filters are often used as pre-filters to reduce the
suspended contaminants that could clog carbon or RO filters. The main drawback of fiber filters is that these can not remove contaminants that are dissolved in the water, like chlorine, lead, mercury, trihalomethanes or other
organic compounds.
(b) Adsorption by activated carbon Granular activated carbon (GAC): In this types of filter, water flows through a bed of activated carbon granules which trap some particulate matter and remove organic contaminants causing undesirable taste and odour.
exposed to Ultra-violet (UV) light. UV light effectively destroys bacteria and viruses. However, how well the UV system work depends on the energy dose that the organism absorbs. If the energy dose is not high enough, the organisms genetic material may only be damaged rather than disrupted.
The advantages of using UV include: (i) it does not produce any toxic or significant nontoxic by products during the process. (iii) it leaves no smell or taste in the treated water. (iv) It requires very little contact time (seconds versus minutes for chemical disinfection). (v) It improves the taste of water because microorganisms are destroyed. (vi) Many pathogenic microorganisms are killed or rendered inactive by UV radiations. (vii) It does not affect minerals in water.