Common anaerobic treatability of pharmaceutical and yeast industry wastewater

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of anaerobic treatment of pharmaceutical and baker's yeast industry effluents in a joint treatment system. Anaerobic treatability studies have been performed in a lab-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASBR). The experimental study has been carried out for 333 days. The influent COD's during the experimental study were about 10,000 mg/l. Pharmaceutical wastewater has a 5% of inhibition on the COD removals at the dilution rate of 1/100 or more in the joint anaerobic treatment with baker's yeast industry effluents. Maximum inhibition of 10% on the average was observed when the system was characterized with acclimation periods. The study has shown that, following the solvent extraction with pre-aeration process, a common anaerobic treatment can be applied to baker's yeast industry wastewater and to pharmaceutical industry effluents.