Industrial Water Treatment Process Technology

Parimal Pal

• Verlag: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Jahr: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780128103920
• Thema: Biological Sciences
• Thema: Microbiology

Industrial Water Treatment Process Technology begins with a brief overview of the challenges in water resource management, covering issues of plenty and scarcity-spatial variation, as well as water quality standards. In this book, the author includes a clear and rigorous exposition of the various water resource management approaches such as: separation and purification (end of discharge pipe), zero discharge approach (green process development), flow management approach, and preservation and control approach. This coverage is followed by deeper discussion of individual technologies and their applications.

• Covers water treatment approaches including: separation and purification—end of discharge pipe; zero discharge approach; flow management approach; and preservation and control approach
• Discusses water treatment process selection, trouble shooting, design, operation, and physico-chemical and treatment
• Discusses industry-specific water treatment processes

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of water quality and availability today. Water-quality standards are presented to help in the selection of suitable water-treatment technology. The relevant issues of temporal and spatial variations, problems in supply and distribution of safe and quality water, and possible approaches to water resource management are also discussed. Finally, the most common water-treatment technologies are introduced in this chapter.

Keywords

Safe potable water; access to safe water; Temporal and spatial variation of safe water; Water resource management; Treatment technologies

1.1 Introduction to the Issues of Access to Safe Drinking Water

Ensuring universal access to clean water is considered one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. While the planet earth has sufficient water for the world’s population, the water sources are not always available where they are needed or are unsafe. More than 40% of the world’s population faces water shortages. Furthermore, 97.5% of all water on Earth is salt water, leaving only 2.5% as fresh water, and nearly 70% of that fresh water is locked up in glaciers. The remaining water is present as soil moisture, or is found in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. Thus virtually only 1% of the planet’s fresh water is available for direct human consumption, and the world’s ever-growing population has put unprecedented pressure on this limited supply. In fact, 663 million people today do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people lack access to sanitation and toilet. By 2025, water withdrawal will increase by 50% in developing countries and by 18% in developed countries, suggesting that by that time, two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress. This withdrawal of water is predominantly from underground aquifers. Feeding the growing population will be a big challenge as one-third of the global food production today is in the areas of high water stress. Water scarcity affects all spheres of human life. One-third of the schools globally do not have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and the same number of hospitals in developing countries is deprived of safe water for health and sanitation. This water problem is largely due to the existence of very limited freshwater resources that are distributed very unevenly. Increasing water demand by an ever-growing population and continued water pollution by human activities is only aggravating water scarcity across the globe. Furthermore, a child dies every 90 seconds due to a water-related disease [1–4].

1.2 Worldwide Temporal and Spatial Variation of Water Resources

Worldwide variation in temporal and spatial distribution of water has aggravated the problem of water scarcity. The crisis has been further aggravated by lack of investment in water treatment, recovery, and reuse. People have mainly continued to tap existing natural water resources instead of recovering and reusing water through adoption of novel scientific and technological methods. This approach is used in the regions facing severe water scarcity such as the Middle East and the North African countries where oil refinery and petrochemical projects utilize very large amounts of water. But where an investment of just $1 provides a $4 economic return, it is economically and scientifically attractive and justified to go all out in implementing innovative water treatment projects promising full recovery and reuse of the precious resource of the earth [1]. The problems of temporal and spatial variation are likely to continue or even increase, according to the IPCC (Intergove...