Why You Must Consider Quality Of Effluent In Your Effluent Treatment Plant Design

When you design your effluent treatment plant youplant. These are the color of the effluent, the solids
must make sure you take into account somein it, its temperature and odor. The presence of
important factors relating to the characteristics ofsuspended solids indicate poor quality of effluent that
the effluent. In this article, I am going to tell youwill be difficult to treat.
what these factors are.The solid particles can consist of grease, floating
The effluent characteristics that you must considerdebris or oil slicks thereby indicating the absence of
while designing your treatment plant are the flow ofany form of pre-treatment of the effluent.
the effluent, along with biological, chemical andThese suspended solids also increase the turbidity of
physical properties that can affect the quality ofthe effluent from industry. They also add to the
effluent.quantity of silt that gets deposited in the treatment
You can decide on how large your effluent treatmentplant. You have to remove them either through
plant should be depending on the estimated inflowfiltration or via settling in sedimentation tanks.
into the plant which is typically estimated in cubicAnother important factor you need to take into
meters per day almost the world over. It isaccount in the design of your effluent plant is the
necessary for you to get the right estimates oftemperature of the effluent. An unfavorable
variations in the inflow in order to get the hydraulictemperature can impair the necessary biological and
computations right. This is also necessary to helpchemical processes.
determine correctly the size of conveying pipes andIt can also affect the solubility of important gases like
channels.oxygen. A higher temperature of the effluent
You must also incorporate in your design thesupports various reactions and also promotes the
estimated increase in the inflow of effluent in thesolubility of oxygen in the effluent.
foreseeable future. Or, at least, the Plant should beBut if the effluent temperature hovers around 35
built scalably.degrees C, the microbiological activity can either slow
There could be seasonal variations in the size ofdown or become inactive. Sometimes, building the
inflow. For instance, there could be larger inflowsPlant below the ground, or incorporating anaerobic
during the day than in the night. Again, the inflow isdigestion could help maintain a higher temperature.
likely to be greater during the rainy season. YouPresence of significant proportion of inorganic
would need to stabilize such inflow and make itchemicals, heavy metals, toxins, etc. will require
constant or near constant so as to protect thespecial treatment processes.
functioning of treatment processes downstream.The scarcity of water is another important factor to
You can achieve this through the use of equalizationbe considered; if it is scarce or there's a danger of
tanks or ponds. Equalization ponds offer anotherwater becoming scarce in future, or if underground
additional benefit. The toxic substances in thewater or soil runs the risk of being polluted, better
effluent can affect the processes that treat thetreatment techniques should be considered.
effluent. This effect can be reduced by diluting theTwo other factors you must consider are the odor
toxic effluent by mixing it in equalization ponds withand color of the effluent; these may indicate the
effluent that has lesser toxic composition.absence of any kind of pretreatment of the effluent
The Plant should be able to stand shock loads duringprior to discharge into the sewerage network.
festival seasons, like Christmas-New Year, RamzanIf the effluent wastewater is of low quality, it will
etc., and other vacations.require a greater degree of treatment and increase
You also need to take into account some physicalcomplexities in design.
characteristics of the effluent, while designing your