Importance of industrial waste treatment:

• Industries use water that is obtained from the water treatment system for a variety of purpose
such as for manufacturing goods, for heating, for cooling, as carrier of raw material, as carrier of
waste matter, as a solvent etc.

• The resulting water is then classified as waste water.

• The indiscriminate discharge of these waste water into streams, the environment can render
soils sick, pollute the receiving bodies of water, and cause air pollution by generating obnoxious
gases.

• Discharge untreated waste water into the domestic sewer system makes the tasks of treating
domestic sewage a very difficult and costly exercise.

• To prevent any health hazards caused by discharging waste water into the environment and
protect domestic sewage, the waste water must be treated before discharge.

• Important contaminants of concern in waste water treatment are: suspended solids, nutrients,
priority pollutants, refractory organics, heavy metals, dissolved inorganic etc
 Volume of waste generated by an industry can be reduced by

1. Segregation

2. Conservation

3. Reuse, recycle

4. In plant control measures

5. House keeping

Segregation

1. It is cheaper to treat low volume of concentrated waste water than large volume of dilute waste
waters.

2. Cooling water is generally free from pollution.

3. Waste water from process, cooling boiler blow down, sanitary waste, waste water from canteen
and storm water should be segregated and treated separately.
 4. In the process, waste waters from some sections are stronger than those from the other
sections.

5. All these waste waters have to be sewered separately, if necessary

Conservation of water

There is lot of scope for conservation of water in many industries like tanneries, textiles, paper mills etc.

In many industries, in summer the consumption of water is less.

In water scarce areas the amount of water is used is less per unit of product than in industries in other
area.

It is therefore possible to reduce water consumption in many industries without affecting the quality of
the product, Important steps included

(a) prevention of running taps, leaks, spills

(b) alarm at overflow position

© spill collection system

(d) preventive maintenance

(e) no overloading

Modification of equipments and process automation has in many cases minimizes operational errors,
reduced spills and reduced waste generation.

Reuse and Recycle of water

• First preference is reuse of waste water without treatment like reuse of textile mill wash
waters.

• Second preference is reuse of waste water after partial treatment like reuse of paper machine
waste water.

• Third preference is reuse of waste water after complete treatment.

• Improved operations routines like cleaning routines, analysis and prevention of spills
(accidental discharges) and internal treatment of separated effluent streams which can result
in process water clouser (recycling) and raw material recycling are important.

• Reclaiming water from sewage is being practiced using tertiary treatment methods in many
countries.
 • In many countries water reclaimed from sewage is being used in industries for various
purposes like cooling, washing etc.

4.In Plant Control Measures

• In a sugar mill, for example, cooling oil used in roller mills for tandem cooling can be selected
in a sump filled with bagasses, solid waste from the same industry.

• Bagasse absorbs large quantities of cooling oil which can later be used in boilers.

• The overflow from evaporators can be collected in a sump and recycled to clarification
section. Press mud can be uses as a soil conditioner and should not be allowed in to drains.

• Proper storage of molasses is very important. Molasses spills have high BOD and COD.

• In a pulp and paper mill, leakages and spillage of black liiquor can be collected in a sump and
pumped to soda recovery section.

• Chemical and process water recycling will result in less effluent flow and less discharge of
pollutants.

5.House Keeping

• Preventive maintenance prevention of leaks and spills, cleaning schedule and clean
environment are important house keeping measures required to reduce the volume of waste
water generated.

Good house keeping practices are very important and involve alteration of existing system to limit
unnecessary generation of wastes attributable to human intervention

Strength reduction

• Waste strength reduction is the second major objective for the industrial plant. The following
are the methods which help in reducing the strength which include:

• Process change

• Equipment modification

• Segregation of waste

• Equalization

• Proportioning of waste

• Monitoring of waste stream

 • Deduction in accidental spills

• By-product recovery.

Process change:-

• Process change The production engineer can be asked to change the manufacturing process by
providing options either by change in manufacturing intermediate chemicals or change in
certain raw materials or change in some equipment.

• In reducing the strength of waste through process changes, the wastes that are most
troublesome from a pollutant point of view should be considered.

• Equipment modification: The change in equipment can reduce the amount of contaminant
entering the waste stream and thereby reducing the strength.

• Segregation of waste Segregation of waste reduces the strength and a difficulty of treating the
final waste in an industrial plant. It results into 2 waste:1) one is strong and small in volume 2)
Another bigger and more in volume with almost the same volume as the original
unsegregated waste.

1. In reducing the strength of wastes through process changes, the sanitary Engineer is
concerned with wastes that are most trouble some from a pollution standpoint
2. Equipment modification:- Changes in equipment can effect a reduction in the strength of
the waste, usually by reducing the amounts of contaminants entering the waste stream.
An outstanding example of waste strength reduction occurred in dairy industry.
The new cans were constructed with smooth necks so that they could be drained faster
and more completely.
This prevented a large amount of milk waste from entering streams and sewage plants.
3. Segregation wastes:- Segregation of wastes reduces the strength and or the difficulty of
treating the final waste from an industrial plant.
It usually results in two wastes one strong and small in volume and the other weaker with
almost the same volume as the orignal unsegregated waste.
The small volume strong waste can then be handled with methods specific to the problem
it presents.
In terms of volume reduction alone, a segregation of cooling waters and storm waters
from process waste will mean a saving in the size of the final treatment plant.
 Volume reduction:-
Volume Reduction ' means a system or process for physically or
chemically reducing the volume of solid wastes. Volume Reduction means techniques such
as: compaction, shredding, and baling. Volume Reduction means techniques such as:
compaction, shredding, and baling
• In general, the first step in minimizing the effects of industrial wastes on receiving streams
and treatment plants is to reduce the volume of such wastes.

This may be accomplished by

1. classify wastes.
2.Conserving wastewater
3.Changing production to decrease wastes
Reusing both industrial and municipal effluents as raw water supplies.
Eliminating batch or slug discharges of process wastes.

• Classification of wastes:- If wastes are classified so that manufacturing process waters are
separated from cooling waters, the volume of water requiring intensive treatment may be
reduced considerably.
 Chemical precipitation:-
• Chemical precipitation is one of the more common methods used to soften water. Chemicals
normally used are lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) and soda ash (sodium carbonate,
Na2CO3). Lime is used to remove chemicals that cause carbonate hardness. Soda ash is used
to remove chemicals that cause non-carbonate hardness. When lime and soda ash are added,
hardness-causing minerals form nearly insoluble precipitates. Calcium hardness is precipitated
as calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Magnesium hardness is precipitated as magnesium hydroxide
(Mg(OH)2). These precipitates are then removed by conventional processes of
coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration. Because precipitates are very slightly
soluble, some hardness remains in the water--usually about 50 to 85 mg/l (as CaCO3). This
hardness level is desirable to prevent corrosion problems associated with water being too soft
and having little or no hardness.