Lesson 12 - Utilities Part 2 End of Unit SAQ
This lesson allows you to test yourself on the material covered in the Utilities Part 2 unit and determine the level to which you have met the learning outcomes.
Suggested Response - Q1
*** You are building a new brewery and you have the following information:
-
The water source is ground water.
-
The iron level from the source water is extremely high.
-
There are a lot of fine suspended particles in the water, as well as some volatile organic compounds.
-
The pH is slightly low at 6.4.
-
The water contains some microbiological contamination.
What water treatment technologies would you recommend in order to provide process (service) water?
Response:
Firstly, given that the water has microbiological contamination it would be important to sterilise the water as soon as possible in the process. This could be done with chlorine dioxide.
The suspended particles should be removed next so that they don’t block downstream processes. This can be done with flocculation and sedimentation. The addition of a coagulant will aid this. Aeration of the water will help by removing the volatile organic compounds, oxidising the iron, and increasing the pH.
Given the high iron content and the risk of some carryover of particles, a sand filter would be well suited for the pre-treatment of the water.
After sand filtration, a number of options could be considered. These could include either ion exchangers or membrane filters. Given that this is process water, the requirement is less stringent than for product water and thus even ultrafiltration may be sufficient.