Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant of Hawassa St. George brewery by collecting wastewater samples from the influent and outlet of each treatment unit and analyzed using standard methods for major physicochemical parameters. Results of the present study revealed that except for temperature (36-38 0C), all of the other analyzed parameters of raw wastewater exceeded the national discharge limit indicating the necessity of treating the raw wastewater generated by the brewery. In most cases, the values decreased as the wastewater passed over the treatment units of the plant indicating an involvement of the units in the removal of pollutants. The brewery’s treated final effluent had a mean value of 8.6±0.08 (pH), 24.9±0.6oC (temperature), 203.0 mg/L (COD), 17.7 mg/L (NH4-N), 3.62 mg/L (SO24), 220.6μS/cm (EC), 49.8 mg/L (BOD5), and 529.6 NTU (turbidity), which were within national industrial wastewater discharge limits. However, the values of some parameters namely, TN (41.0 mg/L), TP (24.3 mg/L), H2S (3.1 mg/L) and TDS (110.6 mg/L), were higher than the limits. The overall pollutant removal efficiency of the treatment plant was 96.0% (BOD), 92.3% (TSS), 92.0% (COD), 88.5% (EC), 80.6% (TDS), 49.6% (turbidity), 43.0% (SO42-), 42.7% (NH4-N), 33.6% (temperature), 32.8% (TN), 31.8% (pH), and 30.4% (TP). This result shows that the overall removal efficiency was higher only for BOD5, TSS, COD, TDS, and EC, all others (especially nutrients) had less than 50.0% efficiencies. Higher nutrient concentration exceeding the discharge limits in final effluent and poor removal efficiency of the treatment plant indicates that the Hawassa St. Gorge brewery waste treatment plant is not effective enough to lower concentrations of these parameters below the discharge limit. Therefore, in order to make the plant more efficient and to reduce the effect of effluent, the factory should take some technological, technical and recycling measures.Keywords: Brewery, Hawassa, Performance, St. George, Treatment, Wastewater
Highlights
Even though substantial technological improvements have been made in the past, it has been estimated that approximately 3 - 10 L of wastewater is generated per liter of beer produced in breweries (Kanagachandran and Jayaratne, 2006).According to Alebel (2014), in Ethiopia, 90% of the industries are releasing their effluents into water bodies, streams, and land without any treatment mechanisms
As described by Brewers of Europe (2002) and Driessen et al (2003), brewing activities like malt processing and filtration could be the cause for the high TSS values, which indicated that brewery solids mainly of spent grains, Kieselguhr, surplus yeast, cold break and possible label pulp from the bottle washer
The present results indicated that the BOD5 /Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) ratio was nearly 0.6 (0.57), which is indicative of biodegradability nature of organic matter in the raw wastewater
Summary
Even though substantial technological improvements have been made in the past, it has been estimated that approximately 3 - 10 L of wastewater is generated per liter of beer produced in breweries (Kanagachandran and Jayaratne, 2006).According to Alebel (2014), in Ethiopia, 90% of the industries are releasing their effluents into water bodies, streams, and land without any treatment mechanisms. The principal objective of any wastewater treatment is generally to allow industrial effluents to be disposed of without danger to human health or unacceptable damage to the natural environment. Because the treated effluent from the factory is released to the immediate surrounding with residences and surface waters (the stream, river, and lake), there is a need to ensure its safety to human health and the environment. Because the factory is relatively younger, the performance efficiency of the treatment plant and the chemical composition of the effluent discharged to the surrounding have not been studied. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the composition of the effluent and overall pollutants removal performance of the wastewater treatment plant of Hawassa St. George Brewery
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