Wastewater

Treatment Strategies
{ Roopali Devaya
SFMM
18th September 2013
Table of Contents
Sources of Wastewater 1

Obstructing components 2-3

Treatment sequence 4

Starch production 5-6

Vegetable Oil production 7

Slaughterhouses, Dairy & Juice 8

industries

Breweries 9
Sources of wastewater
 Rainwater- Substantial proportion. May be non
polluted or slightly polluted.

 Sanitary and Employee Facilities- Used for washing

or flushing. Cafeterias.

 Cooling water- need varies amongst industries.

 In-plant Water Preparation- From preparation of

drinking water, desalination etc.

 Fruit water and Cleaning water.

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Obstructing components
 Total Solids- Suspended Solids, Filterable Solids,
Settleable Solids.
 Organic Substances- Main pollutant fraction. Need to
be removed to prevent oxygen consumption in the
waterways. COD, BOD determine their content.
 Nutrient Salts- N, P, S. May be lead to massive growth
of biomass and thereby eutrophication.
 Hazardous Substances- Toxic, long-lived, carcinogenic
or mutagenic. Heavy elements are required as trace
elements but toxic in high concentrations.
Hydrocarbons, Cyanides, Chlorinated hydrocarbons
etc.
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 Corrosion-inducing Substances- Depends on the substance
and also the material used. For metallic materials, high
amounts of chloride is corrosive. Synthetic materials are
generally resistant. Some may be unstable towards alkalis,
solvents or oils etc.

 Cleaning agents, Disinfectants and Lubricants: In high

concentrations they have an inhibiting or toxic effect. Certain
components may not be eliminated during treatment.

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Treatment Sequence
 Removal of obstructing substances.
 Solids removal.
 Neutralization or adjustment of pH.
 Special treatment- detoxification, precipitation etc.
 Biological treatment- evaporation.

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Starch Factories
 Starch is produced from potatoes, corn, and wheat.
 Wastewater from starch factories has a high organic
load and usually consists of easily degradable matter.
 The undissolved organic contents are mainly
carbohydrates and proteins.
 The fat content is normally ~10%.

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Treatment Processes
 Soil treatment

 Pond processing- economical way of treatment which

produces effluent that is highly purified. Biological
treatment process , where bacteria use organic
matter in the wastewater as food.

 Small-scale technical processes (evaporation)-

reduction of the wastewater by evaporation to a solids
content of 70%. The dried solids can then be utilized,
e.g., as fertilizer.

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Vegetable Oil Production
 Wastewater treatment processes usually consist of a
physical-chemical pretreatment by fat separators or
flotation systems to decrease the amounts of undissolved
solids and lipophilic substances.
 Often a mixing and equalizing tank is installed behind the
flotation system to equalize pH value and temperature
peak.
 In biological wastewater treatment, aerobic activated
sludge treatment has proved to be effective.

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 In wastewater from slaughterhouses, part of the organic matter
consists of oils and fats in emulsified form. A physical-
chemical stage consisting of a precipitation stage and a
flotation unit is added.

 Dairy Industry- After straining, it is recommended to install a

Mixing and Equalizing tank. In the M+E tank wastewaters of
different concentrations and pH are mixed, the wastewater
flow is equalized, and partial biological degradation occurs.

 Fruit Juice and Beverage Industry- To meet the discharge

limits of the municipal sewer system, it is often necessary to
equalize the pH peaks and sometimes to reduce the
temperature (discharge limit in most cases: <35 °C). Thus, a
wastewater pretreatment plant could consist of a
neutralization stage.

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Breweries
 Removal of settleable solids, such as shards, labels, spent hops,
bottle caps, etc., by suitable screens and strainers.
 To neutralize the mainly alkaline wastewater it is common to
use carbonic acid from the fermentation.
 For the full-scale purification of brewery wastewater to direct
discharge quality, aerobic activated sludge systems have
proved to be best, because of the need to eliminate nitrogen
and phosphorous.

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References

 Rosenwinkle K.H, Austermann-Haun U. & Meyer H.

Industrial Wastewater Sources and Treatment Strategies.

 Wastewater Treatment Ponds. Available at

http://water.me.vccs.edu/courses/ENV149/lesson5_print.ht
m

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