Chapter 9 - Biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for industrial wastewater

Abstract

In amidst of advancement of wastewater treatment technologies, economic feasibility is the uttermost major concern for treating an industrial wastewater (IW). There are various techniques that are being used for the IW treatments such as, physiochemical, biological (aerobic and anaerobic), oxidation, membrane processes, etc. Besides high time consumption, biological treatment method is most attractive because of its simplicity and low operating/maintenance cost. Moreover, this particular method is most efficient for wastewater having high biodegradability index (BI). Nowadays, a number of advanced multiple bioreactor such as activated sludge reactor, sequential biological reactor, membrane biofilm reactor, moving-bed biological reactor, upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor, aerobic granulation technology, etc., are widely applied based on their design and applicability and found suitable for wastewater having low BI. Furthermore, improvements in the performance of bioreactors are intensified by altering the other important parameters including selection of microbes and the properties of wastewater. In the recent times, IW with high organic loads (distillery, pulp and paper, dairy, sugar industry wastewater, etc.) is now used as raw material for the energy generation in terms biogas and electricity. In this context, the performance of biological treatment processes is integrated with some phycochemical treatments methods such as, high-intensity ultrasound waves, electrocoagulation, etc. In this chapter, we summarize recent advancement adopted by biological treatment methods to bring up the current challenges in handling the different types of IW.