Wastewater Glossary

Explore a glossary of wastewater treatment terms.

• Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
  BOD is similar in function to chemical oxygen demand (COD), in that both measure the amount of organic compounds in water.
• BOD Reduction - Activated Sludge Process
  The activated sludge (AS) biological treatment process is the most common process for reducing five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) in wastewater, for both industrial and municipal applications.
• Capillary Flow Porometry
  Capillary Flow Porometry or Bubble Point Method is used to determine q required pore size for filtration media.
• Clarifiers
  Clarifiers are settling tanks built with mechanical means for continuous removal of solids being deposited by sedimentation.
• Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)
  Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is a water treatment process that clarifies wastewater (or other waters) by the removal of suspended matter such as oil or solids.
• Electrodialysis (ED)
  Electrodialysis (ED) is a membrane process used to transport salt ions from one solution to another.
• Equalization (EQ)
  Equalization (EQ) is a means of buffering or equalizing the characteristics of wastewater prior to entering a wastewater treatment system.
• Fine Particle Filtration
  Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid.
• Flocculation
  Flocculation, in the field of chemistry, is a process wherein colloids come out of suspension in the form of floc or flake; either spontaneously or due to the addition of a clarifying agent.
• Flow Monitoring
  The measurement of flow is one of the primary functions in water treatment processes.
• Ion Exchange
  Ion exchange (IE) is a water treatment method used to remove unwanted dissolved impurities from water and other liquid solutions.
• Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Technology
  Membrane bioreactors (MBR) are systems that are highly effective in removal of organic, inorganic and biological contaminants from a wastewater stream.
• Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)
  An MBBR system is a continuously operating, non-clogging biofilm reactor with low head loss, a high specific biofilm surface area, and no requirement for periodic backwashing.
• pH Adjustment
  pH is a measure of the how acidic or basic water is, with a range from 0 to 14.
• Recommended Allowable Limits for Flowback/Produced Water
  The recommended allowable limits for the treated flowback and produced water.
• Reverse Osmosis explained and usage
  The phenomenon of water molecules spontaneously migrating through a permeable membrane being used to separate a dilute solution from a concentrated solution until the concentration in both is uniform is called osmosis.
• Sewage Sludge Treatment
  Sewage sludge treatment describes the processes used to manage and dispose of the sludges produced during sewage treatment.
• Ultrafiltration (UF)
  Ultrafiltration is used for the separation of suspended solids, bacteria, virus and other solutes of high molecular weight.
• Wastewater Terms and Definitions
  Wastewater treatment related terms explained.
• Water Purification
  Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids and gases from contaminated water.