Chemically enhanced wastewater treatment

Chemical wastewater treatment methods deserve more attention recently due to easy operation, quick startup, and relatively better efficiencies. The aim of this study is to achieve an enhancement in the removal efficiencies of the chemical treatment methods and to make the chemical treatment more convenient for the municipal wastewater treatment. During the studies, the treatment performances of lime, kaolin, dolomitic lime and ferric chloride were studied. Besides mixed chemicals, namely lime and sodium hydroxide and lime and magnesium hydroxide were also experienced as coagulants in chemical treatment. In addition, the effect of sedimentation mechanism on treatment performance has been investigated and the treatment performance of each stage was determined separately. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) has been used as control and performance indicator parameter. Besides COD, pH, Turbidity, Color, Suspended Solids, Phosphate Phosphorus, Total Nitrogen, Sludge Volume Index and Fecal Coliform parameters were also measured for the samples. Consequently, experimental results conducted for lime, dolomitic lime, lime & sodium hydroxide and lime & magnesium hydroxide encourage the use of these materials for chemical treatment of municipal wastewater purpose. Additionally chemical treatment methods are found as an adequate treatment option for municipal wastewater treatment and should be taken into consideration as an alternative treatment method.