Case Study on

Water Purification
Techniques
Submitted By Tanvi
M.Tech (H.D-S&T) 1
Roll No. - 1548232
 Contents
1. Introduction
2. Water Purification
3. Need for Water Filtration
4. Impurities Present in Water
5. Traditional Water Purification Techniques
6. Modern Water Filtration Techniques.
7. Table of Comparison
8. Conclusion
9. References
2
 Introduction
Water is necessary in every walk of life.

Water is used in daily routine activities like bathing,

washing, cooking, and mainly for drinking.

Human beings cannot survive without water for more

than three or four days.
3
 Water Purification
Water purification is the process used for the removal
of the contaminants from water such as suspended
particles, organic matter, toxic metals etc.

Through water purification we can remove the

impurities such as particulate sands, organic matter,
parasites, minerals such as magnesium, silica and toxic
metals such as arsenic, lead etc.

4
Impurities Present In
Water
Major impurities present in Water

Sand and dust

Micro-organisms
Chemicals

5
 Calcium(Ca2+),
Inorganic Salts Magnesium(Mg
2+)
Dissolved
Humic and
fulvic acid,
Organic Matter
pesticides,
detergents

Clay, Peat
Colloidal
acids

Impurities Suspended Inorganic sand Particals

Industrial,
Organic Domestic by-
products

Micro- Bacteria,
organisms Algae, Virues
Living Matter
Macro- Fish, shrimps,
organisms worms
6
7
 Need of Water Filtration
Water can contain dirt, minerals, chemicals and other
impurities that endanger your health, especially when they
include microscopic organisms and bacteria that can cause
serious illness.
It also helps in purging the all unwanted chemicals and
toxins from the water which might be added by the waste of
factories and mines.
There are many chemicals which produces alpha radiations
and leads to cancer and many skin or digestive tract
irritation.
The water treatment facilities help in removing the heavy metals
like mercury, arsenic or lead from water which are very difficult 8
to detect and can cause long-term neurological impairments.
Traditional Water
Filtration
Techniques
9
Filtration through
Winnowing Sieve
This method is used to remove the impurities like dry
leaves, coarse particles, stalks etc.

The water is allowed to pass through the winnowing

sieve in order to filter out the impurities.

It is incapable of removing fine impurities from the raw

water.

10
Filtration through Cloth
Impurities like coarse mud particles, dust particles,
plant debris can be filtered from the raw water by using
this filtration method.
Raw water is allowed to pass through thin cotton cloth
and filtration of particles take place to a small extent.

11
Filtration through Clay
Vessels
This method is suitable to purify turbid water.

In this, raw water is kept in a big clay jar. After few

minutes water will pour out from the pores provided by
the walls of the jar. Then the water coming out from the
walls of the jar is being collected in a vessel by placing
the vessel below the jar.

12
Drawbacks of Clay Filtration

Typically bacteria, protozoa, and microbial cysts are

removed but the filters are not effective against viruses
since they are small enough to pass through to the other
"clean" side of the filter.

13
Filtration using Parts of
Plants

14
Filtering through Fruits
Peelings
The small strips of these fruit peelings are soaked in the
rubbing alcohol and drying them.

The peelings then placed in contaminated water for

many hours, then many toxic substances will be
absorbed by it such as pesticides, commercial dyes and
heavy metals.

Then the peel removed from the water, now the water is
suitable for human consumption.
15
Filtering through Fruits
Peelings

16
Filtration through Coconut and Rice

The suspended solids like dirt and metals present in the

water will be filtered out using the fibres from shredded
coconut husks.

After this filtration the water is passed through the

burnt rice husks so that the remaining debris can also
be removed.

The purity of the water is increasing by the repetition

of the steps.
17
Filtration through Plant
Xylem
The xylem of the plants can also be treated as the
portable plant water filter.

After peeling the branch of white pine, plastic tubing is

attached on the top.

In this tubing the water is poured and would pass

through the porous xylem whose fibre is connected to
the plant. This xylem would sieve dirt, dye, and even
bacteria out of the water.
18
Filtration through Plant
Xylem

19
Filtration through Sun &
Citrus Method

20
Filtration through Sun & Citrus
Method
Solar disinfection with basically any citrus fruit is used to process
the water for purification.
Dip some lemon into a clear water container; keep that water into
the sun.
Proven reduction of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa in water.
Proven reduction of diarrheal disease incidence.
Simplicity of use and acceptability.
No cost if using recycled plastic bottles.
Recontamination is low because water is served and stored in the
small narrow necked bottles.
Through this method particularly the E.Coli bacteria has been
removed. 21
Drawbacks of Sun &
Citrus Method
Need to pre-treat water of higher turbidity with
flocculation and/or filtration.

Limited volume of water that can be treated all at once.

Length of time required to treat water.

Large supply of intact, clean, suitable plastic bottles

required.

22
Filtration through
Coriander
Grind the coriander and pass water through it.

We can make tea bags of crushed coriander which can

absorb the heavy metals.

It is as effective as charcoal filter.

23
Filtration with Aquatic
Plants
Yellow irises or water lilies removed carbon dioxide
from the water, it makes the water less acidic.

The plants grown in marshy areas are used to

clean laundry wastewater.

24
Moringa Seeds
Purification
We will make the powder of the seeds and put this
powder into the water.

These seed particles clump with debris and with other

impurities present in water and it will sink at the
bottom of the water.

These Moringa seeds are used to control the bacterial

levels in water.

25
Filtration through Jackfruit
Seeds
Crush the jackfruit seeds into powder. Mix this water
into the contaminated water and stir it.

Let it be settled down due to the gravitational force

without disturbing the container.

The impurities present in the water will also be settled

down with the powder of the jackfruit seeds.

26
Modern Water Filtration
Techniques

27
 Through Chemicals:

Chlorine is used as disinfectants. It is very effective in

the deactivation of pathogenic microorganisms.

Chlorine can usually be found bond to sodium (Na), or

in kitchen salt (sodium chloride; NaCl). Most chlorine
can be found dissolved in seas and salty lakes. Large
quantities of chlorine can be found in the ground as
rock salts or halite. 28
Transportation of Chlorine
Chlorine is a very corrosive and reactive in nature.

For its transportation, storage and usage we have to

take some safety precautions.

In Holland for example, there are some separate

chlorine trains for the transportation of chlorine.

29
Through Hydrogen
Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is used as a disinfectant for the
cleaning of water.

Hydrogen peroxide must be transported in

polyethylene, stainless steel or aluminium containers
because it is highly reactive in nature.

If hydrogen peroxide comes in contact with flammable

substances, such as wood, paper, oil or cotton
(cellulose), spontaneous ignition may occur.
30
Reverse Osmosis
In the water purification technique of reverse osmosis a
semi permeable membrane is used to remove ions,
molecules and other impurities from the drinking water.
It will remove many kinds of bacteria, dissolved and
suspended species from the water.
As a result one side of the membrane contains the
solute and on the other side of the membrane pure
solvent is collected.

31
Reverse Osmosis

32
Steps of RO Process
One sediment filter for trapping particles, rust and calcium
carbonate.
Optionally, a second sediment filter with smaller pores.
A reverse osmosis filter, which is a thin film composite
membrane.
One carbon filter which is used to trap organic chemicals
and chlorine, which will attack and degrade thin film
composite membrane, reverse osmosis membranes.
Optionally, second carbons filter to capture those chemicals
not removed by the reverse osmosis membrane.
Optionally an ultraviolet lamp for sterilizing any microbes
33
that may escape filtering by the reverse osmosis membrane.
Disadvantages of Reverse
Osmosis
It wastes some water in its reject stream which carries all
the concentrated impurities that was there in the water
originally. This means that when it purifies say 1 litre of
water, it drains away about four litres of water, in which
all the impurities are concentrated. This waste water is
known as the reject.

34
 By Ozone
The oxidizing properties of the ozone help in the
reduction of the concentration of iron, manganese,
sulphur. It also helps in the reduction of the taste and
odour problems of the water.

Ozone oxides the metals present in water such as iron,

manganese, and sulphur into metal oxides or elemental
sulphur.

These metal oxides are insoluble in nature and can be

removed by post-filtration. 35
Disadvantages of Ozone
The equipment and operational costs of ozonation process
is high.

The by-products of the ozonation processes are still being

evaluated and there is a possibility of carcinogenic by-
products.

Ozone is less soluble in water, therefore, special mixing

techniques are needed.

Potential fire hazards and toxicity issues associated with 36

ozone generation.
 Table of Comparison
S.No. Factors Traditional Techniques Modern Techniques

1. Water Loss Very Less Very High in reverse

osmosis process
2. Energy Intensive Very less energy intensive Highly energy intensive

3. Easy Handling Easy to handle Difficult to handle due to

inflammable, corrosive and
toxic nature of chemicals

4. Operational Cost Very less operational cost is required It is required in the form of
energy.
5. Maintenance Cost Less maintenance cost Maintenance cost is high

6. Storage Cost Less storage cost Storage cost is high due to 37

properties and nature of
the chemicals.
 Conclusion
Here we see some advantages and disadvantages of the
traditional and modern techniques of water purification.

We can see that in both the techniques there are some

drawbacks. We are not getting the water which is equal
to the Indian standards of drinking water.

So there is a need of developing a new model of water

purification by combining the traditional and the new
approaches of water purification.
38
 References
World Health Organization (2007) Combating Water Borne Diseases at
the Household Level, WHO Production Services, Geneva, Switzerland.
Vigneswaran, S. And Sundaravadivel , M. (2004) , Traditional and
Household Water Purification Methods of Rural Communities in
Developing Countries , Wastewater Recycle, Reuse and Reclamation-
Vol. 2
Ruey-Shin Juang (2003), Adsorption of Heavy Metals from Water using
Banana and Orange Peels, Water Science and Technology, Vol.47 No. 1
pp-185-190
Jocelyne K Mwabi , Bhekie B Mamba and Maggy NB Momba,
Removal of waterborne bacteria from surface water and groundwater
by cost-effective household water treatment systems (HWTS): A
sustainable solution for improving water quality in rural communities of
Africa, Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Science,
39
Tshwane University of Technology