Wastewater Treatment Process Lab

Project Goal: Design a process that treats three different types of wastewater for a chemical engineering integration lab at the University of Arizona.

This design will be used in labs to teach UA undergraduate students about wastewater treatment processes.

Wastewater treatment removes contaminants from wastewater through physical, chemical and biological processes and converts the water into an effluent, which is safely returned to the environment. The centralized U.S. waste treatment industry handles about 75% of the commercial wastewater and industrial process byproducts.

This lab treatment system is expected to purify wastewater found in three industries: mining, agriculture and semiconductor. Each type of waste goes through a designated path that includes treatment processes such as reverse osmosis, coagulation/flocculation, filtration and membrane bioreactor technology. The product must comply with EPA and local regulations for potable water.