Recycling of wet grinding industry effluent using effective Microorganisms™ (EM)

Abstract

A considerable volume of effluent released from the food processing industries, after the extensive use in the products manufacturing and industrial process. Effluents, either without treatment or with improper treatment, released out from the industries would severely damage the environment and human health. An investigation was done by recycling the effluent samples, collected from the wet grinding industry, Madurai, India, which was determined with an acidic pH (5.93), high turbidity (160.78 NTU), high BOD (62.4 mg/l) and COD (274.38 mg/l) and a significantly higher quantity of starch (115.81 mg/l). Biological wastewater treatment method was chosen in this experiment on the basis of the biodegradability index of effluent (3.21–10.75). The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of wastewater treatment in a prototype STP utilizing the Effective Micro-organisms™ Consortium application. The US EPA International Water Quality Standards and the Water Quality Index were used to compare the water quality of the recycled effluent with and without the EM application. The effluent from the EM consortium treatment was found to have acceptable levels of pH (7.38), salinity (1.94 ppt) and Conductivity (4.05 mS); and a declining trend found in TDS (1.81 ppt), BOD (24.4 mg/l) and COD (148.83 mg/l) level when the effluent treated using EM. Removal effectiveness of EM significant reduce in the treated effluents starch (85.15%), sulphate (78.42), phosphate (79.60), nitrogen (65.54%), and turbidity (82.73%) level were observed. Which was shown to be comparatively better than employing without EM treatment. This research substantially intends to the best practices, towards sustainable industries through Cleaner Production Mechanism.