Brief Summary
Namaste everyone! This lecture series will cover physico-chemical processes for treating water and wastewater. We'll discuss the environmental crisis, industrial pollution, and the importance of water treatment. The course will cover water quality parameters, pre-treatment, physical treatment, membrane technologies, advanced oxidation processes, and wastewater treatment in various industries. You'll gain technical knowledge for sustainable water management and understand pollution control laws.
- Environmental crisis and industrial pollution are major concerns.
- Physico-chemical processes are crucial for treating industrial wastewater.
- The course will cover various treatment technologies and their applications.
Introduction: Environmental Crisis and the Need for Physico-Chemical Processes
The lecture begins by addressing the environmental crisis intensified by industrialization, leading to water and air contamination. Industrialization requires land, water, and resources, causing deforestation and altering land and air characteristics. Rapid population growth leads to increased urban slums and solid waste generation, including hazardous materials. The use of energy sources contributes to CO2 emissions and global warming, while refrigerants deplete the ozone layer. The course will focus on tackling water scarcity and pollution, ensuring safe drinking, irrigation, and industrial water, and preventing contaminated water from polluting aquatic bodies.
Industrial Pollution: Concerns and Treatment Strategies
Industrial pollution, especially from chemical process industries, demands immediate attention due to its unique composition compared to municipal wastewater. Industrial wastewater varies widely in acidity, alkalinity, and pollution load, requiring tailored treatment methods. Mixing industrial and municipal waste for conventional treatment is often inadequate. Understanding wastewater characteristics and treatment methods is crucial for developing effective treatment trains. Traditional methods like lagoons and oxidation ditches often fail to remove specific industrial pollutants, necessitating physico-chemical methods to remove or recover chemical ingredients from industries like electroplating, Chlor-alkali, and paper and pulp. Reusing water within industrial processes is also emphasized to reduce water demand and wastewater discharge.
Causes of Industrial Pollution and Major Polluting Sectors
The primary causes of industrial pollution in chemical process industries include outdated technologies, unplanned industrial clusters, and a large number of small-scale industries resistant to investing in pollution control. Poor implementation of pollution control laws exacerbates the problem. Major polluting industrial sectors include cement, thermal power plants, iron and steel, fertilizers, zinc smelters, oil refineries, pulp and paper, and dye industries. These industries generate high quantities of wastewater with unique characteristics and pollution loads, necessitating a basic understanding of physico-chemical processes for proper treatment and discharge according to government norms.
Environmental Engineering: Definition and Scope
Environmental engineering is defined as protecting the environment from human activities, safeguarding human populations from adverse environmental factors, and improving environmental quality for human health and well-being. It's an interdisciplinary branch closely related to chemical and civil engineering, incorporating elements of chemistry, physics, biology, hydrology, meteorology, atmospheric science, environmental chemistry, microbiology, and ecology. The importance of environmental engineering is increasing in society.
Key Definitions: Environment, Pollutant, and Water Pollution
The environment encompasses water, air, land, and the relationships between them, including human beings, living creatures, plants, microorganisms, and property. An environmental pollutant is any solid, liquid, or gaseous substance present in a concentration that is injurious to the environment. Concentration and time are key parameters in defining environmental pollutants. Water pollution is the presence of impurities in quantities that impair water use for drinking, irrigation, bathing, industrial use, fishing, or recreation. The designated purpose of water use is crucial in determining acceptable impurity concentrations.
Water and Wastewater Treatment: Necessity and Definitions
Treatment of water and wastewater is required because water obtained from aquatic bodies for drinking or industrial purposes may not be suitable in its raw state. Water treatment is the process of treating water before it is used, while wastewater treatment is the process of treating water after it has been used, before it is discharged. This course will focus on physico-chemical processes for wastewater treatment, which are often used when biological treatment is insufficient or unnecessary.
Course Content: Physico-Chemical Processes for Wastewater Treatment
The course will cover physico-chemical processes for wastewater treatment, starting with an introduction to water pollution and control, including water quality parameters, analysis methods, environmental and health effects, pollution control norms, and government standards. Subsequent sections will cover pre-treatment and physical treatment (flow equalization, aeration, coagulation, flocculation, settling, sedimentation, filtration), water and wastewater treatment by adsorption and ion exchange, membrane-based technologies (microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis), advanced oxidation processes (Fenton processes, catalytic treatment, photo-catalysis, sono- and electro-chemical treatment), and wastewater treatment in chemical and allied industries, including common effluent treatment plants (CETPs).
Benefits of Attending the Course
Attending this course will help you understand environmental challenges, particularly water issues, and the expectations for pollution control within industries. You'll gain knowledge of new and tougher environmental laws and acts enforced in India and globally. The course provides technical knowledge for sustainable water management and strategies for obtaining drinking water. You'll understand water quality parameters, wastewater sources, physico-chemical process technologies, and how to apply them in industries. The course also covers water recycling and reuse, and how to design better effluent treatment plants using physico-chemical processes.
