Water and wastewater management in a small tanning facility

Abstract

This paper presents a tannery industry's water and wastewater management problem. Information has been collected on the volume of water demand and, consequently, wastewater generation in these plants. This made it possible to relate them to the values generated by one of the smaller tanning plants located in Poland. The concentration of the pollutants contained in this wastewater, mainly chromium, was also determined from the study. Management of wastewater is a financial nuisance for small plants. The need to conclude contracts with specialized treatment plants, storage and long-distance transport of sewage, also by the respective companies, generates considerable costs, which may be a limiting factor of the willingness to invest in production. Wort reuse reduces the cost of purchasing chromium as a bath ingredient, reduces the frequency of waste disposal and significantly reduces company costs.