South Africa is a water scarce country. The expansion of the industrial, mining, and agricultural sectors to meet the needs of South Africa’s growing population requires more water. There is therefore an urgent need to develop effective wastewater treatment processes in order to recover and reuse water. This dissertation presents the treatment of an acidic wastewater stream from a platinum refinery which at present is being disposed of by contract with a waste disposal company. The major concern in treating the acid effluent stream is the high concentration of sodium ions (18 200 mg/l) and chloride ions (104 900 mg/l). The precipitation process is used to treat wastewater, but ultimately it generates more secondary waste as a sludge. The other process that is used to treat wastewater is reverse osmosis (RO). RO is usually preferred in the last stage of the treatment because the process is more expensive as membranes need to be replaced regularly. The approach used in this research focuses on evaporating liquid, consequently concentrating the remaining solution until the ions in the solution crystallize. The liquid produced is recycled back into the platinum plant for reuse, and the remaining salt crystals are collected as the useful product. The proposed water treatment process produces dilute hydrochloric acid as the condensate and a crystallized sodium chloride rich residue. The refinery is currently disposing of around 20 000 l/day of wastewater to landfills. The proposed treatment process can recover half of the volume of the wastewater stream to the refinery, helping reduce the fresh water consumption of the process by 10 000 l/day. Furthermore, this will reduce the volume of wastewater going to disposal by a half, namely only 10 000 l/day will need to be disposed of. The amount of Cl that can be recovered is variable and depends on the quantity of chloride in the wastewater. In the two samples processed the recovery was between a 2,5 w% and 10,7 wt% aqueous HCl solution. This corresponds to a saving of between 250 to 1000 kg/day of HCl. As the concentration of the recovered solution is variable, the recycling process would need to monitor the composition of the recycled stream and make up the acid concentration to some fixed value for reuse in the prices. The production of a dilute hydrochloric acid stream should be particularly attractive to the platinum refinery as the operation of the refinery requires hydrochloric acid as a feed. Thus, by recycling the wastewater, the refinery would reduce the volume of wastewater to be disposed of thereby reducing the cost of disposal of the waste while simultaneously reducing the cost of buying fresh hydrochloric acid. The proposed recovery of liquid and recycling it back to the refinery, will also reduce the environmental impact of the refinery, and very importantly in a water scarce country, reduce the freshwater consumption of the process. / Physics / M. Sc. (Physics)

This thesis deals with Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) and its aplication for textile wastewaters treatment and reuse. AOP is a modern technology which currently recieves increased attention due to it´s high efficiency in removing resistant and hardly-degradable pollution. Thesis consists of search and practical part. Search part is created by three chapters. First chapter describe briefly wastewater reuse. The second chapter deals with Advanced oxidation processes. AOP principle, AOP division and descriotion is included with the strong focus on the ozonation technology. The third chapter presents the textile industry and its wastewaters. The practical part of this thesis consists of two chapters. Chapter 5 describes testing of textile wastewaters decoloration by ozonation in the selected textile copany and its results. This results are used in chapter 6. Chapter 6 is the study of textile industry treatment and reuse in the selected textile company. This study contains the design of two options for wastewater treatment and reuse in the textile processes.

Förändrade förhållanden följer de allt mer påtagliga klimatförändringarna. Stora delar av samhällen är beroende av tillgång på rent vatten vilket tvingar länder till klimatanpassning. I Sverige lider många regioner av vattenbrist medan andra har tillgång en större mängd vatten. I, bland andra, Skåne väntas stora temperaturhöjningar vilket medför mer avdunstning och torrare förutsättningar. Klimatförändringarna förväntas öka trycket samhället ställer på de tillgängliga vattenresurserna. Malmö Burlöv Golfklubb (Malmö Burlöv Gk) belägen i västra Skåne är en av många som kommer påverkas av de torrare förutsättningar samt ökade mängder av näringsämnen som göder vattendragen. Deras nuvarande vattenkälla för bevattning, Sege å, saknar tillfredsställande vattenkvalitet och därmed söker golfklubben efter andra alternativ.  Syftet med examensarbetet är att identifiera och jämföra lämpligheten för tre alternativa vattenkällor för bevattning av golfbanan hos Malmö Burlöv Golfklubb jämfört en referens. Lämpligheten att användas som källa för bevattning utreds genom multikriterieanalys (MKA), med verktyget Water Investments for Sustainability Enhancement and Reliability (WISER). Via extern litteratur identifierades tre alternativa bevattningssystem samt ett referenssystem. Systemen vilka inkluderades i analysen var återvunnet avloppsvatten, dagvatten, dricksvatten samt bevattning med grundvatten (referens). Litteraturen över tidigare forskning visar att systemen används runt om i världen med olika framgång. I länder såsom Australien, USA och delar av mellanöstern används återvunnet avloppsvatten för bevattning av vindruvor vilket avlastar samhällets vattenresurser. I Indien har höga koncentrationer av olika skadliga ämnen uppmätts i områden där avloppsvatten, vilket endast genomgått en enkel reningsprocess alternativt ingen rening, används för bevattning. Studien betonar vikten av avancerad rening av det inkommande vattnet innan det används.  Ett flertal studier visar att en alternativ bevattning (icke-dricksvatten) ofta anses mer acceptabelt bland allmänheten. I en del av Kanadas parkområden används dagvatten för bevattning vilket visat ha en positiv effekt på människors uppfattning kring användande av alternativa vattenkällor. Studier visar även att användarna kräver en viss distans mellan vatten, från den alternativa vattenkällan, och individ. Alternativa system har därför implementerats för ändamål där exponeringen är låg, till exempel vid bevattning, vilket har visats vara gynnsamt.  I examensarbetet jämfördes de tre identifierade alternativen med referenssystemet utifrån 22 kriterier vilka inkluderar teknisk, social, ekonomisk samt miljömässig analys. Samtliga kriterier inkluderade i analysen är presenterade av verktyget WISER. Utifrån tidigare studier, rapporter samt antaganden gjordes en bedömning av alternativens prestation för varje enskilt kriterium. Resultatet som erhölls, via viktning som genomförts av kund- och marknadsansvarig på Malmö Burlöv Gk, visar att systemet som brukar dagvatten för bevattning kan anses mest lämpligt utifrån förutsättningarna för den studerade golfklubben. Systemet är det enda som erhåller ett positivt slutligt index och erhåller endast lägsta poäng för två av 22 kriterier medan det erhåller poäng vilken indikerar en likgiltig, tillfredsställande samt mycket tillfredsställande prestation för 19 av 22 kriterier. Utifrån resultatet ges därför rekommendationen att dagvatten för bevattning är det mest lämpliga alternativet för Malmö Burlöv Gk men att justeringar av systemet behöver genomföras innan implementering.  Känslighetsanalysen visar dock att resultatet begränsas av golfklubbens ekonomiska tillgångar vilket innebär att systemet som brukar återvunnet avloppsvatten kan rekommenderas för implementering om golfklubben kan beviljas bidrag. Övriga system kan inte uteslutas vara lämpliga alternativ då en MKA och WISER endast ger en indikation vilket system som är att föredra relativt de andra alternativen och inte hur alternativen presterar jämfört riktlinjer, standarder och regler. / Climate change has become a world known phenomenon. Parts of societies are dependent on the availability of clean water which puts a greater pressure on nations to adapt to the changing climate. Many regions in Sweden, Scania amongst others, is affected by water scarcity and therefore, societies are predicted to put a greater pressure on water sources used throughout the communities. A golf course located in western part of Scania, Malmö Burlöv Golf club (Malmö Burlöv Gk), will be one of many that will be impacted by the droughts and the increase of fertilizers in watercourses. Their current water source, the water course Sege å, used for irrigation has an inadequate water quality which has caused Malmö Burlöv Gk to seek other options.  The aim of the master thesis is therefore to identify and compare the suitability for irrigation purpose of three alternative water sources at Malmö Burlöv Gk. The comparison was made in Water Investments for Sustainability Enhancement and Reliability (WISER) which is a new multi-criteria analysis (MCA) tool. Three alternatives were identified by reading literature and previous studies. The three systems included in the analysis were recycled wastewater from Sjölunda wastewater treatment plant, stormwater and drinking water. Previous studies indicated that similar systems, for example recycled wastewater, were used in many different parts of the world, with different levels of success. In Australia, the US, and parts of the middle east the use of wastewater for irrigation of grapes allowed clean water to be reallocated for other purposes. However, in India, where untreated wastewater was most used high concentrations of harmful substances could be found in the crops and ground where the water was used.  In the master thesis the three alternatives were compared to a reference system, irrigation with groundwater, based on 22 criteria which were chosen from WISER. The criteria were based on social, technical, environmental, and economic aspects. Each criterion received a grading based on the performance of the alternative, which was based on previous studies, reports, and assumptions. The results show that the stormwater system is the most suitable based on the conditions at the site as it obtains a positive score (or neutral) for 19 of the 22 analyzed criteria. In addition, the sensitivity analysis show that the results are heavily dependent on the golf clubs’ economical assets. Therefore, a recommendation to implement stormwater system with a few adjustments or, if grants can be found, the system for recycled wastewater is made.  Furthermore, the choice of methodology (MCA) will have an impact on the results where for example, scoring will affect the relative grading. In addition, an MCA and WISER can only decide which alternative will be considered more suitable compared to the rest of the alternatives and not if it is applicable at the site. The performance of the alternatives relative existing guidelines and laws must be investigated before implementing the chosen system. It is therefore important to recognize the rest of the alternatives as suitable before proven otherwise.

The crab processing industry of the Chesapeake Bay region has, until recently, been able to dispose of their processing wastewaters by discharging them, largely untreated, directly to the receiving waters along which their plants are located. With the upcoming implementation of new NPDES discharge limits, this practice will no longer be possible. This study investigated the potential of two different technologies for treating the processing wastewaters. Bench-scale anaerobic contact type reactors were studied for effectiveness in the removal of organics from the processor’s wastewaters, and a pilot-scale countercurrent air stripping tower was studied for ammonia removal. Two anaerobic reactors which were fed retort process wastewater at F/M ratios of 0.35 and 0.25 lb COD/1b MLVSS/day, were found to achieve organics removals (on a BOD₅ basis) of 88% and 94% respectively. Similarly, a second pair of anaerobic reactors were fed a mixed wastewater, representative of a mechanized processing plant’s total wastewater flow, at F/M ratios of 0.10 and 0.07 lb COD/1b MLVSS/day. These reactors were found to achieve organics removals (on a BOD₅ basis) of 79% and 83% respectively. All four of the reactors were eventually shut down after exhibiting signs of failure. These failures were attributed to possible sodium and ammonia toxicity problems. The effectiveness of the air stripping tower in the removal of ammonia from retort process wastewater was tested in relation to liquid flow rate, influent temperature, and influent pH. A maximum ammonia removal of 71% was observed when treating a waste, with an influent temperature of 580C and pH level of 12.2, at an air-to-water ratio of approximately 825 ft³/gal. Similarly, an ammonia removal rate of 67% was observed while treating a waste, with an influent temperature of 650°C and pH level of 11.0, at an air-to-water ratio of approximately 412 ft³/gal. / Master of Science

Increased demands on water supplies caused by population expansion, saltwater intrusion, and drought have led to water shortages which may be addressed by use of recycled water as recycled water products. Study I investigated recycled water production in Florida and California during 2009 to detect gaps in distribution and identify areas for expansion. Gaps were detected along the panhandle and Miami, Florida, as well as the northern and southwestern regions in California. Study II examined gaps in distribution, identified temporal change, and located areas for expansion for Florida in 2009 and 2015. Production increased in the northern and southern regions of Florida but decreased in Southwest Florida. Recycled water is an essential component water management a broader adoption of recycled water will increase water conservation in water-stressed coastal communities by allocating recycled water for purposes that once used potable freshwater.

From the Proceedings of the 1974 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 19-20, 1974, Flagstaff, Arizona / A proposed desalting plant is an engineering solution to the effects of a problem which could have been avoided and even now could be reduced on the farm. Water costing $125 per acre-foot will be delivered to Mexico to grow wheat, cotton, garden crops, alfalfa and safflower, of which the average value added per acre-foot was estimated at $80 for cotton and garden crops and $14 for wheat, alfalfa and safflower. The U.S. government, instead of building the desalting complex, could accomplish its purpose just as well by paying each farmer in the Yuma area, in return for the farmers reducing their drainage flow by whatever method they see fit, $114 per acre per year for the next 50 years. With proper management on the farm, the costs of managing salinity need not be high.

From the Proceedings of the 1974 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 19-20, 1974, Flagstaff, Arizona / A plan for the reuse of sewage effluent is proposed for the city of Tucson, Arizona. Several kinds of use would be possible, but utilization for irrigation of existing farmland in the Avra-Marana area seems particularly attractive for several reasons: (1) conveyance can be accomplished by gravity flow, (2) no tertiary treatment is required for the presently grown crops, (3) the nutrients in the effluent would be better used, and (4) effluent use would reduce the pumpage of high quality groundwater, conserving it for municipal or other uses. An exchange of wastewater for groundwater for use in the city system is seen as a good alternative to the present practice of the city purchasing farmland in Avra valley in order to acquire the groundwater for conveyance to the Tucson basin. Objectives to maximize the quantity and efficiency of wastewater use may not appear compatible with the profit maximization motive of the individual farmer, and suitable provisions will have to be written into wastewater sales agreements to assure coordination between user and supplier.

From the Proceedings of the 1974 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 19-20, 1974, Flagstaff, Arizona / In the lower reaches of the Colorado River, damages from the increase in salinity to U.S. water users are now estimated to be about 53 million dollars per year and will increase to about 124 million dollars per year by the year 2000 if no salinity control measures are taken. Physical, legal, economic, and institutional aspects of the salinity problem and proposed actions to mesh salinity control with a total water management plan for the basin are discussed. A scheme is presented for planning under the Colorado River water quality improvement program. Recent legislative action is also discussed which provides control plans to improve the water quality delivered to Mexico as well as upper basin water users. These efforts now under study will assure the continued, full utility of Colorado River water to U.S. users and Mexico. However, more extensive development of the basin's natural resources puts new emphasis on total resources management through improved water and land use planning to conserve a most precious western resource - water.

From the Proceedings of the 1974 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 19-20, 1974, Flagstaff, Arizona / An examination of potential water sources for power plant cooling in Arizona is presented along with information pertinent to Arizona's future water needs relative to electrical usage growth. It has been projected that Arizona's peak electrical power demands in 1980 and 1990 will exceed that of 1970 by some 5000 megawatts and 16000 megawatts of electricity respectively. At present, the bulk of the electrical energy generated in the western states originates at hydroelectric installations. Utilization of nuclear reactors for power generation requires a larger amount of cooling water than is required for a comparable fossil-fueled plant. It is suggested that the utilization of reclaimed wastewater for cooling purposes is a viable and attractive alternative to groundwater pumpage from both economic and ecological standpoints. Savings arise from conservation of fuel normally required for well pumps, costs of well construction are not required, quantities of fresh water should be released for consumption by alternate users, and a previously unused resource would be effectively recycled.

From the Proceedings of the 1975 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 11-12, 1975, Tempe, Arizona / A direct osmosis plant can reclaim twenty to thirty thousand acre feet of Wellton-Mohawk brackish drainage water using no more nitrogen fertilizer than is normally used in the Yuma, Coachella valley, Imperial Valley and the bordering Mexican areas. On a per-acre basis ammonium sulfate-driven direct osmosis can reclaim about one percent of the total irrigation requirement from 3000 ppm brackish water. In addition to the ammonium sulfate-driven direct osmosis efficiency, the by-product energy recovery of the manufacture of the fertilizer and the low technology inherent in direct osmosis processes make direct osmosis an appealing water reclaiming process.