Industrial Water Treatment Course

Lesson 1 • Industrial Water System Overview

Maps the major industrial water system categories: cooling, boiler, process, and wastewater. Establishes context for treatment strategies covered in later sections.

Lesson 2 • Key Water Quality Parameters

Introduces turbidity, silica, iron, manganese, and microbial indicators. Each parameter links directly to specific treatment challenges addressed throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • Water Sources and Quality Variability

Examines surface water, groundwater, and municipal supply characteristics. Understanding source variability is essential for selecting appropriate pretreatment steps.

Lesson 1 • Scaling and Corrosion Chemistry

Analyses Langelier Saturation Index, Ryznar Index, and electrochemical corrosion. These indices guide inhibitor dosing strategies introduced in section 5.

Lesson 2 • Oxidation and Reduction in Treatment

Covers redox reactions used to remove iron, manganese, and contaminants. Connects oxidant selection to downstream filtration and disinfection steps.

Lesson 3 • Coagulation and Flocculation Chemistry

Explains charge neutralisation, sweep floc, and polymer bridging mechanisms. Provides the chemical basis for physical separation processes in section 3.

Lesson 4 • Solubility and Precipitation Reactions

Explains solubility product constants and conditions triggering precipitation. Directly supports understanding of scale formation and chemical softening processes.

Lesson 1 • Membrane Filtration Technologies

Introduces microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis. Membrane selection depends on target contaminant size and system recovery goals.

Lesson 2 • Granular Media Filtration

Explains single-media, dual-media, and multimedia filter design and operation. Filtration removes suspended solids before membrane or ion exchange systems.

Lesson 3 • Degasification and Aeration

Explains packed tower, spray, and vacuum degasifiers for CO2, H2S, and O2 removal. Gas removal prevents corrosion and improves downstream treatment efficiency.

Lesson 4 • Screening and Sedimentation

Covers bar screens, fine screens, and gravity settling principles. These are the first physical barriers in most industrial water treatment trains.

Lesson 1 • Demineralisation System Configurations

Covers two-bed, mixed-bed, and continuous electrodeionization (CEDI) demineraliser designs. Configuration choice depends on required purity and operational cost targets.

Lesson 2 • Ion Exchange System Troubleshooting

Diagnoses resin fouling, channelling, organic contamination, and regeneration failures. Systematic troubleshooting minimises downtime and extends resin service life.

Lesson 3 • Selective Ion Removal Processes

Introduces nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, and heavy metal selective resins. Selective removal addresses specific contaminants without full demineralisation.

Lesson 4 • Ion Exchange Resin Fundamentals

Covers strong and weak acid cation and anion resin types and their selectivity. Resin selection determines achievable effluent quality and regeneration requirements.

Lesson 1 • Biological Fouling Control

Addresses planktonic and sessile bacteria, algae, and biofilm control strategies. Biological fouling reduces heat transfer and creates conditions for under-deposit corrosion.

Lesson 2 • Corrosion Control in Cooling Water

Explains anodic and cathodic inhibitors, passivation films, and pH management. Corrosion control protects heat exchangers, towers, and piping from metal loss.

Lesson 3 • Cooling System Types and Dynamics

Compares once-through, open recirculating, and closed cooling system designs. System type determines concentration cycles, blowdown rates, and treatment programme selection.

Lesson 4 • Cooling Programme Monitoring and Control

Covers online analysers, corrosion coupons, deposit analysis, and programme audits. Continuous monitoring enables proactive adjustments before system performance degrades.

Lesson 1 • Boiler System Components and Operation

Describes feedwater heaters, deaerators, drums, and condensate return systems. Understanding system layout is prerequisite to applying treatment at the correct control points.

Lesson 2 • Internal Chemical Treatment Programmes

Covers phosphate, chelant, polymer, and oxygen scavenger programmes for boiler water. Internal treatment compensates for pretreatment limitations and maintains clean heat transfer surfaces.

Lesson 3 • Steam Purity and Carryover Control

Explains mechanical and vaporous carryover causes and control methods. Steam purity directly affects process quality and turbine or heat exchanger integrity.

Lesson 4 • Feedwater Quality Requirements

Defines hardness, oxygen, iron, silica, and conductivity limits by boiler pressure. Feedwater quality targets drive pretreatment system design covered in sections 3 and 4.

Lesson 1 • Biological Treatment Processes

Covers activated sludge, sequencing batch reactors, and moving bed biofilm reactors. Biological processes reduce BOD, COD, and nutrients to meet effluent standards.

Lesson 2 • Wastewater Characterisation and Regulations

Covers flow measurement, pollutant load calculation, and discharge permit requirements. Accurate characterisation is the foundation for selecting appropriate treatment technologies.

Lesson 3 • Sludge Management and Disposal

Covers thickening, dewatering, stabilisation, and disposal options for treatment sludge. Proper sludge management reduces disposal costs and ensures regulatory compliance.

Lesson 4 • Physical and Chemical Treatment

Explains equalisation, neutralisation, chemical precipitation, and dissolved air flotation. These unit operations remove suspended and dissolved pollutants before biological treatment.

Lesson 1 • Instrumentation and Process Control

Introduces online sensors, control loops, SCADA integration, and alarm management. Automated control reduces chemical waste, improves consistency, and enables remote monitoring.

Lesson 2 • Chemical Feed System Design

Covers metering pump selection, chemical storage, dilution, and injection point design. Reliable chemical feed is critical to maintaining treatment programme performance.

Lesson 3 • Performance Auditing and Optimisation

Explains KPI development, benchmarking, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement cycles. Systematic auditing identifies efficiency gaps and justifies capital investment decisions.

Lesson 4 • Treatment Train Design Principles

Applies mass balance, process sequencing, and redundancy planning to full system design. Integrates all unit operations from sections 3 through 7 into coherent treatment trains.