Industrial wastewater treatment covers the mechanisms and processes used to treat waters that have been contaminated in some way by anthropogenic industrial or commercial activities prior to its release into the environment or its re-use. Most industries produce some wet waste although recent trends in the developed world have been to minimize such production or recycle such waste within the production process. However, many industries remain dependent on processes that produce wastewaters.
Sources of industrial wastewater
Agricultural waste, Breweries
Beer is a fermented beverage with low alcohol content made from various types of grain. Barley predominates, but wheat, maize, and other grains can be used. Effluents from individual process steps are variable. For example, bottle washing produces a large volume of effluent that, however, contains only a minor part of the total organics discharged from the brewery. Effluents from fermentation and filtering are high in organics and BOD but low in volume, accounting for about 3% of total wastewater volume but 97% of BOD. Effluent pH averages about 7 for the combined effluent but can fluctuate from 3 to 12 depending on the use of acid and alkaline cleaning agents. Effluent temperatures average about 30°C.
Dairy Industry
The dairy industry involves processing raw milk into products such as consumer milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, condensed milk, dried milk (milk powder), and ice cream, using processes such as chilling, pasteurization, and homogenization. Typical by-products include buttermilk, whey, and their derivatives. Waste Characteristics;
Dairy effluents contain dissolved sugars and proteins, fats, and possibly residues of additives. The key parameters are biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), with an average ranging from 0.8 to 2.5 kilograms per metric ton (kg/t) of milk in the untreated effluent; chemical oxygen demand (COD), which is normally about 1.5 times the BOD level; total suspended solids, at 100–1,000 milligrams per liter (mg/l); total dissolved solids: phosphorus (10–100 mg/l), and nitrogen (about 6% of the BOD level). Cream, butter, cheese, and whey production are major sources of BOD in wastewater. The waste load equivalents of specific milk constituents are: 1 kg of milk fat = 3 kg COD; 1 kg of lactose = 1.13 kg COD; and 1 kg protein = 1.36 kg COD. The wastewater may contain pathogens from contaminated materials or production processes. A dairy often generates odors and, in some cases, dust, which need to be controlled. Most of the solid wastes can be processed into other products and byproducts.
Pulp and Paper industry
The pulp and paper industry is one of world’s oldest and core industrial sector. The socio economic importance of paper has its own value to the country’s development as it is directly related to the industrial and economic growth of the country. Paper manufacturing is a highly capital, energy and water intensive industry. It is also a highly polluting process and requires substantial investments in pollution control equipment. The wood pulping and production of the paper products generate a considerable amount of pollutants characterized by Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Suspended Solids (SS), toxicity, and colour when untreated or poorly treated effluents are discharged to receiving waters. The effluent is toxic to aquatic organisms and exhibits strong mutagenic effects and physiological impairment.
Food industry
Wastewater generated from agricultural and food operations has distinctive characteristics that set it apart from common municipal wastewater managed by public or private wastewater treatment plants throughout the world: it is biodegradable and nontoxic, but that has high concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (SS).[1] The constituents of food and agriculture wastewater are often complex to predict due to the differences in BOD and pH in effluents from vegetable, fruit, and meat products and due to the seasonal nature of food processing and post harvesting. Processing of food from raw materials requires large volumes of high grade water. Vegetable washing generates waters with high loads of particulate matter and some dissolved organics. It may also contain surfactants.
Complex organic chemicals industry
A range of industries manufacture or use complex organic chemicals. These include pesticides, pharmaceuticals, paints and dyes, petro-chemicals, detergents, plastics, paper pollution, etc. Waste waters can be contaminated by feed-stock materials, by-products, product material in soluble or particulate form, washing and cleaning agents, solvents and added value products such as plasticizers.
Nuclear industry
The waste production from the nuclear and radio-chemicals industry is dealt with as Radioactive waste.