EFFICIENCY OF A RADIAL PRIMARY CLARIFIER FOR MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER

The prime method to combat water pollution, and a means to improve the quality of wastewater, is the wastewater treatment process, which is now widely used. The common method of mechanical (primary) treatment is (conventional) sedimentation at rest. Decanters (also called sedimentation tanks or clarifiers) are an integral part of every wastewater treatment plant. The present work aims to determine the performance of a radial primary clarifier in an urban wastewater treatment plant in Romania for the year 2020. The determinations were carried out for one winter month (January) and one summer month (July), and for the other calendar months the average inlet and outlet concentrations of the clarifier were determined. For each day of January and July, the concentrations of impurities (mg/L) in the wastewater at the inlet of the decanter (ci) and in the clarified water at the outlet of the decanter were recorded, based on which the separation efficiency of decanter could be determined. To improve the primary settling efficiency, the use of coagulating agents (iron and aluminium solutions) is recommended.