CE1400

ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY ENGINEERING

Lecture-10 &11

WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Dr. Prateek Khatri

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
National Institute of Technology Rourkela
Water Classification
and
Treatment Systems
Water Classification by Source
• Potable water is most conveniently classified as to its source, that is,
groundwater or surface water.
• Drinking-water wells can be shallow (less than 15 m) or deep (greater than 15
m).
• Although, in general, the deeper the well, the greater the level of protection
from contamination, deep wells only provide protection when the wells are
properly designed and operated so that surface contamination is prevented.
• Surface water includes rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.
Treatment Systems

Water treatment facilities in developed countries are typically

(1) Coagulation plants

(2) Softening plants, and

(3) Limited treatment plants

 Chemical Addition: In coagulation, a coagulant chemical, most commonly
aluminum sulfate (alum) or ferric chloride, is added to the raw water as it enters the
treatment plant. These chemicals are chosen for their ability to neutralize the
electrical charges on suspended particles and colloids in the water.
 Rapid Mixing: to promote the formation of floc.
 Flocculation: Gentle mixing. This allows the floc particles to grow in size as they
collide and adhere to each other.
 Sedimentation: After flocculation, the water enters sedimentation basins where the
flow velocity is reduced significantly. This allows the heavier floc particles to settle to
the bottom under the influence of gravity. Clarified water is collected from the top,
while settled solids (sludge) are removed from the bottom.
 Filtration: Water is passed through sand, gravel, or other filtration media to remove
any remaining fine particles.
 Disinfection: Chlorination, ozonation, or UV treatment to kill or inactivate any
remaining microorganisms.

Coagulation plants
Softening plants
 Softening plants are typically used to treat groundwater that has a high
hardness (predominantly calcium and magnesium ions).
 It often involves chemical addition and reaction, sedimentation, recarbonation
to reduce the pH, followed by filtration and disinfection.

Limited treatment plants

 Limited treatment plants generally have a high-quality water source, typically
groundwater, it is not likely to be “contaminated” with surface water infiltration and,
therefore, is little risk of the presence of pathogens
 As a result, limited treatment may be all that is required
Water Softening
 Softening is the chemical processes in which hardness causing
ions ( Ca 2+, Mg2+) are removed from water either completely or
partially.
 Softening may be a chivied by chemical precipitation using
the
 Lime addition
 Lime-Soda Ash method
 Ion exchange.
 In the chemical precipitation method the objective is to
produce CaCO3 and Mg(OH)2 :
Ca2+ + CO32-  2CaCO3(s)
Mg2+ + 2OH-  Mg(OH)2(s)
These two reactions are achieved by the addition of Lime
[Ca(OH)2] and Soda ash [Na2CO3] as will be shown.
Softening

 CO2 does not contribute to the hardness, but it reacts with the
lime, and therefore uses up some lime before the lime can start
removing the hardness.
Softening

 When water has minimal magnesium hardness, only calcium

needs to be removed.
 Only enough lime and soda ash are added to water to raise pH to
between 10.3 and 10.6, and calcium hardness will be removed
from the water.
Chemistry of Lime- Soda Ash Softening

Softening reactions
 Neutralization of carbonic acid
[To raise the pH we need to neutralize any acid in the water]
CO2 + Ca(OH)2  CaCO3(s) + H2O

 Precipitation of CH due to calcium:

[To raise the pH to 10.3 all the HCO3- is converted to CO32-]
Ca2+ + 2HCO3- + Ca(OH)2  2CaCO3(s) + 2H2O

 Precipitation of CH due to magnesium

[To raise the pH to 11 add more lime]
Mg2+ + 2HCO3- + Ca(OH)2  Mg2+ + CO2-+ CaCO3(s)+ 2H2O
Mg2+ + CO32- + Ca(OH)2  Mg(OH)2(s)+ CaCO3(s)
 Chemistry of Lime- Soda Ash Softening
Softening reactions
 Removal of NCH due to calcium
Ca2+ + SO4-2 + Na2CO3  CaCO3(s) + 2Na+ + SO4-2
Ca2+ + 2Cl-1 + Na2CO3  CaCO3(s) + 2Na+ + 2Cl-1
 Removal of NCH due to magnesium
Mg2+ + Ca(OH)2  MgOH2(s)+ Ca2+
Ca2+ + Na2CO3  CaCO3(s) + 2Na+
Softening process limitations:
 Lime-Soda softening cannot produce a water completely free of hardness
because of the solubility of CaCO3 and Mg(OH)2, limitations of mixing and
reaction time.
 Thus, the minimum calcium hardness that can be achieved is 30 mg/L as
CaCO3, the minimum Magnesium hardness that can be achieved is 10 mg/L as
CaCO3, this gives a minimum hardness of 40 mg/L as CaCO3.
 However, normally the water is treated to give a hardness in the range of 75 to
120 mg/L as CaCO3.
 An excess lime beyond the stoichiometric amount is usually added to remove
Mg 2+ hardness.
 The minimum excess lime is usually 20 mg/L as CaCO3 , maximum excess
lime is 62.5 mg/L as CaCO3 (1.25 meq/L).
 Mg2+ in excess of 40 mg/L as CaCO3 is not desired as it forms scale in water
heaters.
 Mg2+ is expensive to remove, so we only remove Mg2+ in excess of 40 mg/L as
CaCO3.
Chemicals requirements:

 Lime is added at the ratio of 1:1 for each carbonate hardness

compound except for Mg(HCO3) the ratio is 2:1 [i.e. 2 lime for
each 1 Mg(HCO3)].
 Lime is also added at the ratio of 1:1 for each Magnesium NCH
compound such as MgSO4
 Soda ash is added at the ratio of 1:1 for each Magnesium or
Calcium NCH compound such as MgSO4 , and CaSO4.
 CO2 need 1:1 ratio with the excess lime added, and 1:1 ratio
with CaCO3 remaining after softening, 2:1 ratio with Mg(OH)2
remaining after softening.
 The units of the chemicals are either in meq/L or mg/L CaCO3
Process variation in Lime Soda-Ash softening
There are three basic schemes for water softening:
- Excess lime treatment
-Selective Calcium removal
-Split treatment
1) Excess lime treatment:
 Carbonate hardness associated with Ca2+ can be effectively
removed to the practical limit of CaCO3 (30 mg/L as CaCO3)
by adding the stoichiometric addition of lime.
 Precipitation of hardness (CH or NCH) associated with Mg2+ as
Mg(OH)2 needs in addition to the stoichiometric addition of
lime to an excess lime of 62.5 mg/L as CaCO3), without it
Mg(OH)2 will not precipitate. In fact this excess lime raise the
pH to 11.
 Excess lime treatment reduces the total hardness to 40 mg/L
as CaCO3 ( i.e., 30 mg/L CaCO3 and 10 mg/L Mg(OH)2 as
CaCO3)
 The excess lime treatment is usually achieved in a two stage
system as shown in the Figure
Schematic diagram of a two stage excess lime softening water treatment plant

• The first stage removes the following:

- CH hardness associated with Ca2+
-CH and NCH associated with Mg2+
- Recarbonation reduces pH from 11 to 10.3
• The Second stage removes the following:
-NCH hardness associated with Ca 2+ that is originally existing in water
-NCH hardness associated with Ca 2+ that was created from the first stage.
-Recarbonation reduces pH from 10.3 to the range 8.5-9.5
2) Selective Calcium removal
 For waters having Mg2+ hardness less or equal to 40 mg/L
CaCO3, only Ca2+ hardness needs to be removed.

 To remove only Ca2+, we add stoichiometric amounts of lime

needed to remove Ca2+, and do not add excess lime. In this
way no Mg2+ removal occurs.
 Soda Ash may be needed if NCH associated with Ca2+ is to
be removed.
 That’s way this treatment is called selective.
 This treatment is achieved in a single stage system
Schematic diagram of a single stage softening water treatment plant
Split Treatment
 Split treatment consist of treating portion of the raw water by excess lime
treatment and then neutralizing the excess lime by the bicarbonate naturally
existing in the untreated bypass flow

 The first stage is operated to soften the water to the practical limits of 10 mg
Mg+2/L as CaCO3 , and 30 mg Ca2+/L as CaCO3.

 A fraction of the raw water is bypassed

 Magnesium concentration in the bypass will be the same as in the raw water.

 The finished water should have a final of 40 mg Mg+2/L as CaCO3 as desired

by domestic water users and industries.
 Schematic diagram of a split system softening water treatment plant

pH =11 pH =10.3

Some advantages of Split Treatment

 Reduces the chemical dosage of lime and CO2.
 No need for first stage recarbonation
 Reduce the capital cost of the first stage since only a portion of the water is treated and
consequently the tanks are smaller.
 Allows us to leave a Mg2+ concentrations above the practical value of 10 mg Mg+2/L as
CaCO3 usually we are forced to achieve in the conventional excess lime treatment.
-The Fraction Bypassed is calculated as :

Mgf  Mgi
X
Mgr - Mgi

Where, Mgf = final magnesium concentration, mg/L CaCO3

Mgi = magnesium concentration from the first stage, mg/L CaCO3
= raw water magnesium concentration, mg/L CaCO3
Mgr
References
1. https://npcb.nagaland.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/water-standards.pdf
2. https://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/indian-standard-drinking-water-bis-
specifications-10500-1991
Thank you
Coagulation plants
 Coagulation plants are typically used to treat surface water and remove
color, turbidity, taste and odors, and bacteria.
 The goal of coagulation is to change the surface charge on the particles
so they can stick together to form larger particles that will settle by
gravity.
 Most plants use coagulation, flocculation, followed by sedimentation
and then filtration and disinfection.
 However, higher quality (low turbidity and color) surface waters can
be treated using direct filtration, in which case, sedimentation is
omitted.