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Developments in water quality research
Water Research Pergamon Press 1970. Vol. 4, pp. 771-772. Printed in Great Britain Q
BOOK REVIEWS Principles and Practices of Incineration. RICHARD C. COREY. Wiley, New York. Price 104s. Tins is a very welcome technical book which covers the requirements of local authority engineers and incineration engineers on the fundamentals of waste destruction by incineration. The book is divided into nine chapters each of which is written by specialists well known in their particular fields. The bibliographies given with each chapter show that the authors have covered many aspects of the subject. The book is not biased towards any particular system of incineration and the background and theory are so well treated that the engineer or student should be well equipped to make his own decisions on the design of plant he selects. With regard to operating economics for incinerators in general, the book does appear to be deficient in information. No blame is attached to the author for this omission, since there is a general shortage of such information on this topic. This is because modern designs of plant have only begun to come on stream in recent years and so complete operating cost analyses for such plants have either not yet been completed or divulged. Whilst costs may be discussed by suppliers of equipment, it is only long term operation which will give such valuable information. The book concludes with a valuable chapter on testing incinerator performance. Far too infrequently this kind of information is omitted in technical manuals. For control of operation a short section on control and instrumentation would have been useful, but fortunately, there is sufficient information given for the reader to decide for himself the essential control parameters of any incineration system. No doubt in a later edition the author will correct the error which appears on p. 12 for the theoretical draught requirements of a stack. This should read D, + 0-52 PH (1/To -- 1/T~). G. D. KELSEY
Developments in Water Quality Research. H. I. SHUVAL,General Editor. A n n Arbor-Humphrey Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, 1970. THIS book records the 20 papers that were prepared for a conference on problems of water resources management in semi arid countries such as Israel. When these resources are fully utilised--a situation nearly reached in Israel--re-use of wastewater becomes a necessity. Careful attention then has to be given to all the problems that immediately result, such as the additional treatment effluents produced by conventional methods may require; new standards for the assessment of higher requirements of purity; more stringent safeguards in order to assure public health requirements; and education of the public so as to ensure public acceptability. Perhaps the most interesting of the papers are those slanted towards Israel's problems of water supply although these could occur in any country where similar conditions arise. Odours and tastes in reservoir waters is the subject of investigation by H. Leventer and J. Eren; a blue-green alga named as Oscillatoria chalybea was found to give water an earthy musty taste and an odour. Chlorination, Rebhun, Fox and Sless found, partly controlled the odour. The detection and enumeration of viruses in wastewater requires the use of techniques capable of determining virus particles at very low concentrations. The technique that has enabled Israeli workers to carry out a count of enteroviruses in sewage, polluted wells and surface waters is described by H. Shuval. A n essential step in the method is to obtain a 200 fold concentration of the viruses on chemicals and a further concentration by transference of the viruses into a liquid phase by the addition of salt. The concentrate may then be preserved at a low temperature until its virus content could be determined at a suitably equipped laboratory. A build up of excessive concentrations of nitrate is the price that has to be paid for re-using sewage effluents. N. Gruener and H. I. Shuval review relationship between the infantile disease known as methemoglobinema and high nitrate content in the drinking water. Therefore, as a contribution towards reducing the nitrogen content of effluents, Melamed and Saliternick consider the volatilisation of ammonia from sewage effluents by raising the pH value. Losses of over 70 per cent occur in 2-4 days at values of 9"2 or over. 771
772
Book Reviews
Using a bit-assay method to determine the nutrient contribution of sewage effluent to a receiving water, G. Shelef and R. Halperin find that I per cent of sewage effluent adds a significant amount of nutrient to water. Since nitrogen is found to be the limiting growth factor under these conditions and sewage effluent contains approximately 5 mg l - : it follows that significant algal growth occurs with P concentrations of below 0.05 rng l - L In hydrogen sulphide diffusion studies from water J. Kendler and A. Donagi quote the odour threshold of H2S in air as 0-13 to 1 "0 ppm. However, individuals vary greatly in their susceptibility to odours so that it is preferable to regard the threshold value as 0-025 ppm, i.e. the minimum concentration at which it can be detected by smell. The suggestion that H2S measurements should be made more frequently near oxidation ponds is a good one. To the reviewer's knowledge HzS below nuisance levels frequently occurs in sewer atmospheres and around treatment plants. The best published work on H2S distribution between liquid and air, Effects of Polluting Dixcharges on the Thames Estuary,Water Pollution Research Technical Paper No. 11. H.M.S.O. 1964, appears to have escaped the authors' notice. The papers selected for consideration in this review fairly indicate the contents of the book and show that the particular problems of semi-arid countries in disposing of sewage have been well covered. S. H. JENKINS
Large Radiation Sources for Industrial Processes (Proceedings of a Symposium on the Utilization of Large Radiation Sources and Accelerators in Industrial Processing held by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Munich, 18-22 August 1969) Int. Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1969, 696 pp. Available from H.M. Stationery Office, London. Price £7 18s 4d. EVER since the controlled release of nuclear energy in nuclear fission reactors was achieved in the 1940s there have been proposals to use this energy in the treatment of waste waters and sludges. Radioactive sources composed of single radioisotopes, spent nuclear fuel rods, and even specially designed nuclear reactors, have all been considered at some time. More recently, with the development of powerful machines, such as linear accelerators, these also have been considered since they may be switched on and off at will. One of the papers presented at this Symposium (Compton, D. M. J., Black, Sandra J., Lieurance, F. L., and Whittemore, W. L. "Application of ionizing radiation to the treatment of waste waters and sewage sludge", 17 pp.) gives a good summary of the relevant literature by way of introduction to the authors' own work. Disinfection of waste waters by ionizing radiation is dismissed as being unlikely to be competitive with chlorination unless some marked increase in efficiency (such as the alleged synergistic effect between radiation and chlorine reported by Russian workers) can be achieved. Disinfection by sludge in areas where this is desirable is more likely eventually to prove economic. Radiation-induced oxidation of organic substances by dissolved oxygen is considered in some detail, the reduction in COD being compared with consumption of dissolved oxygen in many samples under various conditions of aeration. It was concluded that the procedure was "far from being economically competitive" with secondary or tertiary treatment. Effects on sludges are also considered, the effects looked for being changes in filterability, moisture content of filter cake, and rate of settling. There was an effect of radiation dose on filterability, but this could be duplicated by a small dose of ferric salt; there was no effect on moisture content. In some samples of activated sludge, irradiation (5 × l0 s rad) improved the settling characteristics, but in others the opposite effect was observed. These investigations are being continued. On the evidence presented by these authors it seems unlikely that in the foreseeable future radiation techniques will supplement more traditional methods for the treatment of waste waters and sludges. The remainder of this very substantial volume contains some 50 papers dealing with the uses of large sources of radiation mainly in organic synthesis and polymerization. Radiation dosimetry and engineering problems are also dealt with. Most of the papers are in English, though a few are in French or Russian. The discussions are appended. G. E. EDEN
BOOK REVIEWS Principles and Practices of Incineration. RICHARD C. COREY. Wiley, New York. Price 104s. Tins is a very welcome technical book which covers the requirements of local authority engineers and incineration engineers on the fundamentals of waste destruction by incineration. The book is divided into nine chapters each of which is written by specialists well known in their particular fields. The bibliographies given with each chapter show that the authors have covered many aspects of the subject. The book is not biased towards any particular system of incineration and the background and theory are so well treated that the engineer or student should be well equipped to make his own decisions on the design of plant he selects. With regard to operating economics for incinerators in general, the book does appear to be deficient in information. No blame is attached to the author for this omission, since there is a general shortage of such information on this topic. This is because modern designs of plant have only begun to come on stream in recent years and so complete operating cost analyses for such plants have either not yet been completed or divulged. Whilst costs may be discussed by suppliers of equipment, it is only long term operation which will give such valuable information. The book concludes with a valuable chapter on testing incinerator performance. Far too infrequently this kind of information is omitted in technical manuals. For control of operation a short section on control and instrumentation would have been useful, but fortunately, there is sufficient information given for the reader to decide for himself the essential control parameters of any incineration system. No doubt in a later edition the author will correct the error which appears on p. 12 for the theoretical draught requirements of a stack. This should read D, + 0-52 PH (1/To -- 1/T~). G. D. KELSEY
Developments in Water Quality Research. H. I. SHUVAL,General Editor. A n n Arbor-Humphrey Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, 1970. THIS book records the 20 papers that were prepared for a conference on problems of water resources management in semi arid countries such as Israel. When these resources are fully utilised--a situation nearly reached in Israel--re-use of wastewater becomes a necessity. Careful attention then has to be given to all the problems that immediately result, such as the additional treatment effluents produced by conventional methods may require; new standards for the assessment of higher requirements of purity; more stringent safeguards in order to assure public health requirements; and education of the public so as to ensure public acceptability. Perhaps the most interesting of the papers are those slanted towards Israel's problems of water supply although these could occur in any country where similar conditions arise. Odours and tastes in reservoir waters is the subject of investigation by H. Leventer and J. Eren; a blue-green alga named as Oscillatoria chalybea was found to give water an earthy musty taste and an odour. Chlorination, Rebhun, Fox and Sless found, partly controlled the odour. The detection and enumeration of viruses in wastewater requires the use of techniques capable of determining virus particles at very low concentrations. The technique that has enabled Israeli workers to carry out a count of enteroviruses in sewage, polluted wells and surface waters is described by H. Shuval. A n essential step in the method is to obtain a 200 fold concentration of the viruses on chemicals and a further concentration by transference of the viruses into a liquid phase by the addition of salt. The concentrate may then be preserved at a low temperature until its virus content could be determined at a suitably equipped laboratory. A build up of excessive concentrations of nitrate is the price that has to be paid for re-using sewage effluents. N. Gruener and H. I. Shuval review relationship between the infantile disease known as methemoglobinema and high nitrate content in the drinking water. Therefore, as a contribution towards reducing the nitrogen content of effluents, Melamed and Saliternick consider the volatilisation of ammonia from sewage effluents by raising the pH value. Losses of over 70 per cent occur in 2-4 days at values of 9"2 or over. 771
772
Book Reviews
Using a bit-assay method to determine the nutrient contribution of sewage effluent to a receiving water, G. Shelef and R. Halperin find that I per cent of sewage effluent adds a significant amount of nutrient to water. Since nitrogen is found to be the limiting growth factor under these conditions and sewage effluent contains approximately 5 mg l - : it follows that significant algal growth occurs with P concentrations of below 0.05 rng l - L In hydrogen sulphide diffusion studies from water J. Kendler and A. Donagi quote the odour threshold of H2S in air as 0-13 to 1 "0 ppm. However, individuals vary greatly in their susceptibility to odours so that it is preferable to regard the threshold value as 0-025 ppm, i.e. the minimum concentration at which it can be detected by smell. The suggestion that H2S measurements should be made more frequently near oxidation ponds is a good one. To the reviewer's knowledge HzS below nuisance levels frequently occurs in sewer atmospheres and around treatment plants. The best published work on H2S distribution between liquid and air, Effects of Polluting Dixcharges on the Thames Estuary,Water Pollution Research Technical Paper No. 11. H.M.S.O. 1964, appears to have escaped the authors' notice. The papers selected for consideration in this review fairly indicate the contents of the book and show that the particular problems of semi-arid countries in disposing of sewage have been well covered. S. H. JENKINS
Large Radiation Sources for Industrial Processes (Proceedings of a Symposium on the Utilization of Large Radiation Sources and Accelerators in Industrial Processing held by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Munich, 18-22 August 1969) Int. Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1969, 696 pp. Available from H.M. Stationery Office, London. Price £7 18s 4d. EVER since the controlled release of nuclear energy in nuclear fission reactors was achieved in the 1940s there have been proposals to use this energy in the treatment of waste waters and sludges. Radioactive sources composed of single radioisotopes, spent nuclear fuel rods, and even specially designed nuclear reactors, have all been considered at some time. More recently, with the development of powerful machines, such as linear accelerators, these also have been considered since they may be switched on and off at will. One of the papers presented at this Symposium (Compton, D. M. J., Black, Sandra J., Lieurance, F. L., and Whittemore, W. L. "Application of ionizing radiation to the treatment of waste waters and sewage sludge", 17 pp.) gives a good summary of the relevant literature by way of introduction to the authors' own work. Disinfection of waste waters by ionizing radiation is dismissed as being unlikely to be competitive with chlorination unless some marked increase in efficiency (such as the alleged synergistic effect between radiation and chlorine reported by Russian workers) can be achieved. Disinfection by sludge in areas where this is desirable is more likely eventually to prove economic. Radiation-induced oxidation of organic substances by dissolved oxygen is considered in some detail, the reduction in COD being compared with consumption of dissolved oxygen in many samples under various conditions of aeration. It was concluded that the procedure was "far from being economically competitive" with secondary or tertiary treatment. Effects on sludges are also considered, the effects looked for being changes in filterability, moisture content of filter cake, and rate of settling. There was an effect of radiation dose on filterability, but this could be duplicated by a small dose of ferric salt; there was no effect on moisture content. In some samples of activated sludge, irradiation (5 × l0 s rad) improved the settling characteristics, but in others the opposite effect was observed. These investigations are being continued. On the evidence presented by these authors it seems unlikely that in the foreseeable future radiation techniques will supplement more traditional methods for the treatment of waste waters and sludges. The remainder of this very substantial volume contains some 50 papers dealing with the uses of large sources of radiation mainly in organic synthesis and polymerization. Radiation dosimetry and engineering problems are also dealt with. Most of the papers are in English, though a few are in French or Russian. The discussions are appended. G. E. EDEN