Search
Close this search box.

Wastewater Process

Waste water processing fluidhandlingpro

Wastewater can be defined as water that is not clean because it has already been used. Wastewater treatment is the process of Wastewater processing employs vital technologies such as pumps, mixers, and filtration systems to treat contaminated water effectively. These technologies facilitate physical, chemical, and biological processes, essential for removing pollutants. Pumps move wastewater through treatment stages, mixers aid in chemical reactions, and filtration systems remove solids.

Wastewater refers to all effluent (= sewage or liquid waste that is discharged into water bodies either from direct sources or from treatment plants) from household, commercial establishments and institutions, hospitals, industries and so on. It also includes stormwater and urban runoff, agricultural, horticultural and aquaculture effluent.

Wastewater comes from domestic, industrial, commercial or agricultural activities. The composition of wastewater varies widely depending on the source.

Wastewater comes from:

  • Homes – human and household wastes from toilets, sinks, baths, and drains.
  • Commercial wastewater comes from non-domestic sources, for example:
  • Industry, Schools, and Businesses – chemicals and other wastes from factories, food-service operations, airports, shopping centers. This wastewater may contain hazardous materials and requires special treatment or disposal.

Wastewater is guided down the drains and into the sewers that run under the roads. These sewers carry the wastewater to the treatment plants or sewage treatment works.

Industrial wastewater treatment

Industrial wastewater treatment is the processes used for treating wastewater that is produced by industries as an unwanted by-product.

Wastewater being handled

After treatment, the treated industrial wastewater may be reused or released to a sanitary sewer or to surface water in the environment.

Many industries produce wastewater. Recent innovations have led to the minimization of wastewater production.  A current trend is to recycle treated wastewater within production processes.

Almost all industries produce some form of wastewater. Here are some wastewater-heavy industries:

  • Pulp and Paper
  • Wood processing
  • Power Plants
  • Battery manufacturing
  • Mines and Quarries
  • Oil and Gas
  • Chemicals Industry
  • Iron and Steel
  • Food Industry

Water as a valuable resource is a challenge that the entire world is facing currently, and potable water shortage may lead to poor health and living standards for the entire world population. Wastewater management covers the aspects of design, building and operation of plants for water treatment and supply, sewerage, wastewater treatment and disposal, and solid waste treatment and disposal.

Wastewater has a lot of impact on the natural world and it is important to treat it effectively. By treating wastewater, you don’t just save the creatures thriving on it, but also protect the planet as a whole.

Filters for wastewater

Wastewater treatment facilities produce wastes that contain many potential contaminants.

Reclaimed wastewater is usually clean enough to be used for irrigation, but usually contains higher concentrations of dissolved solids than the source water.

Also, chlorine-disinfected reclaimed water can contain significant trace amounts of disinfection by-products.

There are two wastewater treatment plants:

1. Chemical or physical treatment plant

Physical waste treatment plants use chemical reactions as well as physical processes to treat wastewater. 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.

2. Biological wastewater treatment plant

Biological waste treatment plants use biological matter and bacteria to break down waste matter. Biological treatment systems are ideal for treating wastewater from households and business premises.

Preliminary treatment

Preliminary treatment is the removal of coarse solids and other large materials often found in raw wastewater.

Primary treatment

Primary treatment is the removal of settleable organic and inorganic solids by sedimentation, and the removal of materials that will float (scum) by skimming.

Secondary treatment

Secondary treatment is the further treatment of the effluent from primary treatment to remove the residual organics and suspended solids. Secondary (or biological) treatment uses microbes to consume dissolved organic matter that escapes primary treatment, converting it to carbon dioxide, water and energy for microbe growth and reproduction.

Advanced treatment

Advanced wastewater treatment is employed when specific wastewater constituents which cannot be removed by secondary treatment must be removed. To eliminate specific contaminations to meet regulatory requirements, many plants must resort to special treatment, e.g., the Fenton process to remove non-biodegradable COD.

Disinfection

After the primary treatment stage, the secondary treatment process and advanced treatment process, there are still some diseases causing organisms in the remaining treated wastewater. To eliminate them, the wastewater must be disinfected in tanks that contain a mixture of chlorine and sodium hypochlorite.

Sludge Treatment

The sludge that is produced and collected during the primary and secondary treatment processes requires concentration and thickening to enable further processing.

Industrial sites for light, general and heavy industry build the economy and provide substantial employment opportunities.  Industrial waste management practices may pose a significant risk to sensitive water resources.

Appropriate site location, provision of services, wastewater plant design and best operational management practices are needed to minimize this risk. In summary, the wastewater treatment process is one of the most important environmental conservation processes that should be encouraged worldwide.

Subscribe to our E-newsletters

Get the extensive coverage for fluid handling professionals who buy, maintain, manage or operate equipment, delivered to your inbox (it’s free!).

By signing up for our list, you agree to our Terms & Conditions.

Articles about Wastewater Process

    Our latest E-mail campaigns for Wastewater Process

  • Market Focus: Water & Wastewater – February 15, 2024 download
  • Market Focus: Water & Wastewater – August 10, 2023 download
  • Market Focus: Water & Wastewater – May 18, 2023 download
  • Market Focus: Water & Wastewater – February 16, 2023 download

Experts for Wastewater Process

Eric Heilveil is a 30-year plus veteran in the process instrumentation marketplace. He started out his career working for Emerson Electric and later moved on to work with his current employer Siemens Process Instrumentation Flow Division. Throughout his career in industrial flow measurement he has held positions as a field service manager, a field sales manager, application engineer, product line manager, sales and product trainer, among other roles. Eric has worked extensively in the semiconductor, biotech, water and wastewater, food and beverage, automotive, oil and gas, and chemical industries. His current position with Siemens is as a Product Marketing Manager for flow products. Eric holds a dual MBA in marketing and finance. Based in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, throughout his career Eric has been responsible for business development and marketing of the Coriolis, clamp-on ultrasonic, magnetic flow and vortex flow products. He has been expertly selling, managing, consulting, designing, training, marketing and writing about flow measurement and control products that serve industry for his entire career.
Read more
Casey Williamson is Head of Business Development Microelectronics Global Industries for Georg Fischer. For the last 25 years, he has provided support for the semiconductor and photovoltaic sub-segments; through the years, he has been instru­mental in defining fab construction requirements as they apply to piping systems for the conveyance of high-purity liquids, process cooling, and chemical waste streams as well as analytical control systems to optimize the operations of UPW and waste systems.
Read more
Hello, my name is Lee Sandry and I am a Sector Training Manager at Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions. My role primarily involves training sales colleagues to provide customers the best fluid handling solutions in industrial sectors, including water treatment, mining, chemical and construction applications. Being from Cornwall and surrounded by the mining industry, with a father who worked underground, my local environment was always about engineering and mineral processing. My apprenticeship when I left school was with the large mining machinery manufacturer, which has led me onto greater things. My background at Watson-Marlow started in 1996 when I was involved in the production of hundreds of parts that go into the manufacture of our pumps. This was followed with becoming a Technical Support Engineer, working directly with colleagues and customers globally. Site visits and constant customer-facing support at Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, gave me the opportunity to experience many aspects of installation and operation of our peristaltic and sinusoidal pumps range. My aim is to enable sales teams around the world to provide robust solutions for demanding pumping applications, helping customers improve the efficiency and safety of their manufacturing process. Choosing the right pump can overcome problems that cause other pump types to fail. With no rotors to wear, or seals and glands to flush, peristaltic hose pumps handle abrasive fluids without the maintenance costs of other pumps. Whilst the extremely low shear and high suction sinusoidal pumps reduce product damage and cut waste in high viscosity fluid transfer duties.
Read more
Martin Hangaard Andersen, Technical Supervisor with Landia a/s has 20 years of experience with mixing technology, pumps and pumping systems. Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in Technology Management and Marine Engineering and he has worked extensively with projects involving waste water management, food industries and biogas production. The past 20 years Martin has worked as Technical Supervisor at Danish Pump and Mixing company Landia a/s, consulting customers and colleagues on a wide range of technical solutions. Whether it is handling and preparing food industry by-products for recycling or updating sludge processing for biogas production in sewage treatment plants – Martin is the expert, providing in-depth advice, sustainable solutions as well as highly specialized products for handling demanding liquids and industrial waste products. He takes great pride in providing reliable, high-quality and long-lasting technical solutions, tailormade to match individual customer needs. Throughout his years of experience Martin has gained vast knowledge and expertise in his field and product development has been a natural part of his job description, resulting in durable and effective solutions such as Landia GasMix. A unique method for treating and mixing sludge for optimal anaerobic digestion used in sewage treatment plants in Denmark and worldwide.
Read more
Dave is Vice President of Sales at Hawk Measurement (HAWK) and has more than 40 years of experience in the process instrumentation industry. Dave started working as an outside sales engineer in 1979 for his father’s company, AO Grumney. While there, he learned the importance of value added selling and superior customer support. He later became a manufacturer’s rep for various companies such as Siemens, Miltonic’s, AMETEK and many others. Several years later, Dave started his own company, Delta Instrumentation, a manufacturers’ rep agency which serves the process instrumentation and automation industries. In 1989 Dave started FLO-CORP, a US manufacturing company of flow, level and monitoring instrumentation. Through manufacturing his own line of process instrumentation, he found it allowed him to gain more control over origin of product, quality and lead times. In 2019, FLO-CORP merged companies with Hawk Measurement, the world leader in level, positioning, asset monitoring and flow measurement technology that provides cutting-edge equipment and complete solutions to the global industrial market. Throughout his wide range of experiences as sales engineer, sales rep, president, owner and CEO, the position he currently holds at Hawk Measurement as VP of Sales, allows him to do what he loves. Dave has always had a passion for meeting new people, building relationships and helping customers solve problems. His values align with HAWK’s as they are committed to providing best-in-class products, services and technologies that will have unsurpassed value to their customers.
Read more
Gerard joined Panametrics in 2008 as a Flow Product Specialist for the Europe, Middle East and Africa Regions and is now the Global Flow Commercial Development Leader. He started his career in 1990 in the process industry after receiving his MSc. Before joining Panametrics, Gerard had several technical and commercial roles with several industries. Subject Matter Expertise – Flow, field instrumentation and process industries
Read more
Natalie Waldecker, Portfolio Manager Food and Pharma, knows the challenges of the demanding industries inside out. With her broad application knowledge, she is at home on topics such as hygiene design, certificates and cleanability. As product manager for pressure measurement technology, she is also responsible for one of the most important measuring principles for the industry. Natalie gathers her knowledge as close to the application as possible. Preferably directly at the customer’s site, experiencing “real world” practice. She has thus gotten thoroughly acquainted with international customer requirements and knows the ins and outs of the market. With this background, she is able to not only explain technical relationships in an understandable way, but also offer valuable tips and convincing solutions. In the 12 years she has been with VEGA, she has steadily improved her expertise which makes her the right person to contact for new product ideas and tailored customer solutions.
Read more

Promoted video

Upcoming events

Events