Applicability of hybrid treatment to reduce the footprint of domestic and industrial wastewater of developing countries

Abstract

Wastewater pollution is a serious concern, especially in developing countries such as Pakistan. The untreated domestic and industrial wastewater is typically discharged into sewers, natural drains, or water bodies. There is a dire need to evaluate the applicability of low-cost treatment technologies. Hybrid wastewater treatment (HWWT), comprising of chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) and intermittent sand filter (ISF), was adopted to treat domestic, process and manufacturing, and food industry wastewaters. The wastewater pollution and contamination were assessed in terms of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total suspended solids (TSS). The removal efficiency (RE) performance of HWWT was compared with the CEPT system only. Considering the CEPT only, the RE of BOD was ≈70 % for domestic, >80 % for process and manufacturing, and ≈50 % for the food industry. For COD, the RE was high in process & manufacturing (RE ≈ 81 %), followed by food (RE ≈ 55 %) and domestic wastewater (RE ≈ 17 %). Furthermore, the CEPT provided >95 % TSS removal in all wastewater types. The HWWT increased TSS removal by ≈2 %, BOD removal by ≈13 %, and COD removal by ≈27 % compared to the CEPT system. Therefore, HWWT proved more efficient in treating both domestic and industrial wastewater. The HWWT reduced the greywater footprint (GWF) by 50–60 % when compared to the CEPT system. This study provided knowledge of the characteristics of domestic and industrial wastewater. Furthermore, provides a basis to assess the applicability and performance of various wastewater treatment systems under given settings.