Industrial wastewater treatment methods employed in Southeast Asian countries

Abstract

Wastewater pollution from industrial sector has tremendously increased in recent years and has posed severe environmental and health problems in many countries worldwide. Humans and other living organisms need clean water to sustain life and performing other daily activities, such as growing crops in agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. However, lack of effective water treatment and poor management of water sources caused by wastewater discharge to the environment without sufficient treatment have contributed to the high concentration of organic matter and hazardous compounds. In Southeast Asian countries, several treatments are employed in treating wastewater such adsorption, advanced oxidation process and membrane filtration reactor. As there are limited data demonstrating the most efficient and cost-effective way for wastewater treatment in the Southeast Asia’s industrial sector, this paper aims to examine the existing and advanced methods for treating industrial wastewater in Southeast Asian countries and assess its efficacy in removing contaminants from the industrial wastewater. PRISMA approach was used to conduct the review of this study with 64 articles making the final selection from 5 Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam). The review found that the anaerobic aerobic-wetland sequential system and a convective sludge dryer removed the highest number of contaminants eliminating almost 99% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), volatile suspended solid (VSS), and volatile fatty acid (VFA) with an added benefit of being cost effective, environmentally friendly and sustainable.