TERM PAPER- CEL 795
EFFECTIVENESS OF VARIOUS WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES IN
REMOVING AMMONIA FROM YAMUNA WATER IN DELHI
Group Members
Vineet Kumar
: 2014 CEV 2851
Subhash Chandra Verma : 2014 CEV 2781
Umesh Kumar
: 2014 CEV 2095
Under the guidance of Dr. Arun Kumar, IIT, Delhi
Background
• To study some of the prevalent methods for ammonia remediation from
surface waters, and to indicate which among them is best suited for water
treatment plants in Delhi.
• Presence of heavy concentration of ammonia in Yamuna water is a serious
problem for Delhi water treatment plants as this frequently forces these
WTPs to stop their production or remain shut down [15, 16, 17, 24] till
ammonia levels get reduced to permissible limits of 0.5 ppm [16].
• Excess ammonia in drinking water could lead to difficult and complicated
chlorination process, because ammonia would react with chlorine to form
disinfection by-product, which could damage human nervous system, are
carcinogenic in nature, and deteriorate taste and odour of water [4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 25].
• It, therefore, becomes imperative to take steps to remove ammonia from
the water before disinfection so as to supply safe potable water to the
consumers.
Method used
Processes studied for effective removal of ammonia
upto permissible levels from the surface waters :
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•
•
•
•
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Moving-Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) [19, 20]
Hollow-fiber membrane contactors [14]
Modified clinoptilolite zeolite [21]
Biological Aerated Filter (BAF) [4]
Adsorption onto natural zeolite [1]
Trickling filter [5]
Hybrid membrane process [22]
Biosorbents [2]
Findings
• Process using Modified Clinoptilolite zeolite found to be best suited for
Yamuna waters. This process is stable, suits automation, quality control,
easy maintenance, and has very high ammonia removal efficiency
(98.46%) with economy of operation.
• Process using Biosorbents has high ammonia removal efficiency (97 to
100%) from polluted waters. Can be adopted for ammonia removal
from the industries discharging untreated effluent into the river
Yamuna.
• Moving-Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) and Hollow-fiber membrane
contactors, have high ammonia removal efficiency (98.2% & >99%
resp.), however, these need to be studied further for their economical
viability and ease of operation.
• Biological Aerated Filter (BAF) process has comparatively low ammonia
removal rate (84.10%), though this process can be adopted for
simultaneous removal of ammonia and manganese, with manganese
removal rate of 86.1%.
…..contd……
Findings
• The process of Trickling filter again has comparatively low ammonia
removal rate (82%), though this process can be adopted for simultaneous
removal of ammonia, iron and manganese from potable water.
• The process of adsorption onto natural zeolite has low ammonia removal
rate (69%), though this process can be adopted for simultaneous removal
of ammonia and humic acid, having best performance at pH 7, which
overcomes the necessity of pH manipulation for maximizing the
adsorption, making the treatment process more cost-effective.
None of the research papers reviewed by us broadly and thoroughly
discusses the cost (of material or process as a whole) per litre production of
potable water. As such, this aspect remains to be explored in order that
economically viable solutions, along with ease of operation and
maintenance, can be worked out for effective ammonia remediation at
conventional water treatment as well as small industrial units/communities
discharging their untreated effluents/waste into the river Yamuna.
Issues and directions for future research
• Pilot studies for all the processes reviewed may
be carried out for Yamuna waters under various
influent and operation conditions in order to
find out the optimal ammonia removal
rate/efficiency, for the applicability of these
processes to real water treatment.
• Cost of material as well as application cost of
processes for effective ammonia remediation
need to be studied further.
References
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1159– 1169.
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