Utilization of Sugar Factory Pressmud Waste for Upgrading the Efficiency of Waste Stabilization Ponds

Abstract

AbstractWaste stabilization ponds (WSP) are simple, highly efficient, low‐cost, low‐maintenance, and robust systems for wastewater treatment (WWT) and reuse and are widely used in developed and developing countries. Accordingly, this study investigated the use of pressmud waste, which is produced in large quantities in sugar factories and is accumulated as a useless material in open fields around the factories, to improve the efficiency of WSPs. The addition of this waste (at a concentration of 1000 mg L−1) to the influent raw wastewater led to an increase in the efficiency of 10–30% of the anaerobic pond in removing organic loading as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in addition to a 10–15% increase in the total suspended solids (TSS) removal. In a conventional series of anaerobic and facultative ponds (FPs), adding the concentration of pressmud resulted in an increase of ≈10–20% in the removal efficiency of FPs regarding BOD5 and COD and a 10–20% increase in the TSS removal. The results demonstrated that pressmud can be extensively applied in WWT processes, especially in anaerobic treatment reactors.