Management and Control of Industrial Effluents Discharged to Public Sewers: A Case Study

Authors: Freeman Ntuli

Abstract:

An overview of the important aspects of managing and controlling industrial effluent discharges to public sewers namely sampling, characterization, quantification and legislative controls has been presented. The findings have been validated by means of a case study covering three industrial sectors namely, tanning, textile finishing and food processing industries. Industrial effluents discharges were found to be best monitored by systematic and automatic sampling and quantified using water meter readings corrected for evaporative and consumptive losses. Based on the treatment processes employed in the public owned treatment works and the chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand levels obtained, the effluent from all the three industrial sectors studied were found to lie in the toxic zone. Thus, physico-chemical treatment of these effluents is required to bring them into the biodegradable zone. KL values (quoted to base e) were greater than 0.50 day-1 compared to 0.39 day-1 for typical municipality wastewater.

Keywords: biodegradability, industrial effluent, pollution control, public sewers

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1084876

References:

[1] A. Azizullah, M.N.K. Khattak, P. Richter, and D-P Häder, "Water pollution in Pakistan and its impact on public health-A review-, Environment International," vol 37, pp. 479-497, 2011.
[2] M. Milovanovic, "Water quality assessment and determination of pollution sources along the Axios/Vardar River, Southeastern Europe," Desalination, vol 213, pp. 159-173, 2007.
[3] J. Nyamangara, C. Bangira, T. Taruvinga, C. Masona, A. Nyemba, and D. Ndlovu, "Effects of sewage and industrial effluent on the concentration of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd in water and sediments along Waterfalls stream and lower Mukuvisi River in Harare, Zimbabwe," Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, vol 33, pp. 708-713, 2008.
[4] T. Rajaram, and A. Das, "Water pollution by industrial effluents in India: Discharge scenarios and case for participatory ecosystem specific local regulation," Futures, vol 40, pp. 56-59, 2008.
[5] A. Elhassadi, "Pollution of water resources from industrial effluents: a case study-Benghazi, Libya," Desalination, vol. 222, pp. 286-293, 2008.
[6] P.J. Oberholster, A.M. Botha, and T.E. Cloete, "Biological and chemical evaluation of sewage water pollution in the Rietvlei nature reserve wetland area, South Africa," Environmental Pollution, vol 156, pp. 184- 192, 2008.
[7] F. Ntuli, K.P. Kuipa, and E. Muzenda, "Designing of sampling programmes for industrial effluent monitoring," Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., vol 18, pp. 479-484, 2011.
[8] A.D. Patwardhan, Industrial waste water treatment. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited, 2009.
[9] T.G. Sanders, R.C. Ward, J.C. Loftis, T.D. Steele, D.D. Adrian, and V. Yevjevich, "Sampling frequency," in: Design of network systems for monitoring water quality, Colorado: Water Resources Publication, 1983, pp. 156.
[10] D. Kerdachi, (2002) "Effluent tariff system for discharge into the municipal sewer using the fixed - variable method of expenditure allocation and depreciation," in 2002 Biennial Conference of the Water Institute of Southern Africa, May 19-23, Durban, South Africa.
[11] Water Pollution Control Federation, Regulations for Sewer use, Manual of Practice no. 3, Washington, D.C.: Water Pollution Control Federation, 1975.
[12] J.C. Groenewold, R.F. Pico, and K.S. Watson, "Comparison of BOD relationships for typical edible and petroleum oils," Jour. WPCF, vol 54, no. 10, pp. 398-405, 1982.
[13] C. Belshaw, A.P. Jones, D. Hosker, and A.G. Fox, "Industrial effluent management and control in the North West," Proc Saf and Env Prot, Trans IChemE, vol 68, part B, pp. 224-226, 1990.
[14] M.J. Nicholas, R. Clift, A. Azapagic, F.C. Walker, and D.E. Porter, "Determination of ÔÇÿbest available techniques- for Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control: A life cycle approach," Proc. Saf. and Env. Prot., vol 78, no. B3, pp. 193-203, 2000.
[15] APHA., WEF. and AWWA, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. Clesceri, L.S., Greenberg, A.E., Eaton, A.D. (eds.) 20th edn. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 1998.
[16] L.H. Keith, ed., Principles of environmental sampling, 2 edn. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1996.
[17] E.L. Dick, "Automatic Water and Wastewater Sampling," in: Principles of Environmental Sampling, 2nd ed, L.H. Keith, Ed. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1988, pp.237-258.
[18] T. Schofied, "Sampling of water and wastewater: Practical aspects of sample collection," Wat. Pollut. Control, pp. 468- 476, 1980.
[19] R. Newburn, "Modern Sampling Equipment," in: Principles of Environmental Sampling, 2nd ed, L.H. Keith, Ed., Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1998, pp. 225-235.
[20] Metcalf, and Eddy, Wastewater Engineering: Treatment, Disposal and Reuse, 3rd ed, G. Tchobanoglous, and F.L. Burton, Eds. New York: McGraw Hill International, 1991, pp. 195-200.
[21] J. Wild, "A survey of trade effluent sampling for charging in the Seven Trent Water Authority," Jour. of the Inst. of Wat. Eng. & San, vol 38, no.5, pp. 457- 466, 1984.
[22] G. Samudro, and S. Mangkoedihardjo, "Review on BOD, COD and BOD/COD ratio: A triangle zone for toxic, biodegradable and stable levels," International Journal of Academic Research, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 235-239, 2010.
[23] K.P. Anand, A. Sivashanmugam, H. Beulah, and N. Palaniswamy, "Performance evaluation of low cost adsorbents in reduction of COD in sugar industrial effluent," Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol 168, pp. 800-805, 2009.
[24] N. Azbar, and T. Yonar, "Comparative evaluation of a laboratory and full-scale treatment alternatives for the vegetable oil refining industry wastewater (VORW)," Process Biochemistry, vol 39, pp. 869-875, 2004.
[25] K.B. Chipasa, "Limits of physicochemical treatment of wastewater in the vegetable oil refining industry," Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, vol 10, no. 3, pp. 141-147, 2001.
[26] S. Haydar, and J.A. Aziz, "Characterization and treatability studies of tannery wastewater using chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT)- A case study of Saddiq Leather Works," Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 163, pp. 1076-1083, 2009.
[27] F. Harrelkasa, A. Azizib, A. Yaacoubib, A. Benhammoua, and M.N. Ponsc, "Treatment of textile dye effluents using coagulation- flocculation coupled with membrane processes or adsorption on powdered activated carbon," Desalination, vol. 235, pp. 330-339, 2009.
[28] N.F. Gray, "Micro-organisms and Pollution Control," in: Water Technology, Great Britain: Arnold, 1999, pp.102-108.