Treatment Plant Effluent Research Articles

Industrial Water Demand and Wastewater Generation: Challenges for Bangladesh’s Water Industry

Bangladesh has experienced massive industrial growth in the past century. With the impressive industrial development, the country struggles to meet the demand for water and manage the wastewater generated. This paper critically analyzes Bangladesh’s three significant industrial wastewaters: textile, tannery, and landfill leachate. The textile and leather industries are major freshwater consumers and wastewater generators in Bangladesh. Most textile factories across Bangladesh operate without effluent treatment plants, causing severe water pollution. Unlike textile plants, most tanneries are located in Savar, Dhaka. Savar’s newly constructed central effluent treatment plant has serious design flaws and cannot meet discharge standards. Bangladesh has only three sanitary landfills for municipal solid waste disposal. With inadequate leachate collection and treatment facilities, the landfills have become point sources of surface water and groundwater pollution. The pollution of water resources is devastating as Bangladesh depends on surface water for irrigation and groundwater for drinking. Although Bangladesh has mandated laws and regulations for water pollution control, the lack of implementation is a significant problem. To get a better handle on industrial water demand and wastewater treatment, the Bangladesh government and the Department of Environment should work together to implement stricter laws and regulations and emphasize technical workforce development and stakeholder training.

Sustainable Synthesis of Iron-Zinc Nanocomposites by Azadirachta indica Leaves Extract for RSM-Optimized Sono-Adsorptive Removal of Crystal Violet Dye.

Environmental pollution has exacerbated the availability of clean water to mankind. In this study, Azadirachta indica leaf extract was used for sustainable synthesis of Fe-Zn nanocomposites (IZNC). The instrumental techniques of Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to determine the structural and chemical composition. The overall surface was mildly acidic in nature, as the pHPZC was observed to be 6.00. The ultrasonicated adsorption experiments were designed by central composite design (CCD). The best responses, which proposed a contaminants removal of 80.39%, were assessed using the response surface methodology (RSM). By repeating experimental runs at the expected optimum operating parameters (OOP), the method was experimentally affirmed with the %mean error and %RSD9 being 2.695% and 1.648%, respectively. The interaction of CV dye and the nanocomposite showed tremendous adsorption efficiency towards crystal violet (CV) dye, as revealed by isotherm studies. Fitting kinetics and isotherm models were affirmed by root mean square error (RMSE), χ2, and a Pearson regression coefficient. Thermodynamic studies proved spontaneity of the CV dye adsorption over the nanocomposites. The values for ΔGo, ΔHo, and ΔSo were observed to be -1.089 kJ/mol, 28.59 kJ/mol, and -3.546 kJ/mol, respectively. Recovery of CV dye was carried out in a variety of media, including NaOH, NaCl, and CH3COOH. The maximum CV recovery was achieved in an acidic media. The robustness of adsorption was affirmed by the interference of various matrix ions, including KCl, LiCl, NaCl, and MgCl2, which did not significantly affect the adsorption process. The maximum adsorption capacity was obtained at a low concentration of LiCl. The results show that a green synthesis approach for nanocomposite synthesis might be an effective and economical way to remove organic contaminants from wastewater. Moreover, it is also effective for effluent treatment plants (ETP) for waste management purposes, in which it may be coupled with chlorine as a disinfectant to purify water that can be used for domestic and irrigation purposes.

Environmental Compliance through the Implementation of Effluent Treatment Plant at a Company in the Cosmetics Sector

The current water crisis is a governmental and a third sector reason for concern. The government tends to intensify its regulatory power mainly on companies that use water as raw material and generate wastewater from the production process. The search for loss reduction on consumption and water treatment alternatives and reuse has been of increasing importance in the cosmetics sector. Thus, a case study was conducted with the aims of evaluating the environmental and economic benefits of the adoption of wastewater and water treatment plant to a cosmetics company and analyzing environmental compliance regarding water quality for release into the environment after the treatment process. The results indicate feasible economic gain from investment and operation costs with the adoption of a wastewater treatment plant. Additionally, environmental compliance regarding the existing regulations due to reduction of the environmental impact was recognized. Therefore, the cosmetics industry company must implement the wastewater treatment plant to avoid legal penalties and also be capable to operate it.

Current Trends in Rail Transported Industry Wash Water Treatments, Reuse, Recycling & Recovery: A Review

According to North Eastern Railway the coach washing plant due to continuous growth the World population development of agriculture and Industry in the emerging important issue countries as well as climate change the insufficiency water becomes the past few years in Increase important issue. The collection of data process was performed and integrated with a characterization process, reuse treatment operation and maintains that a new process has been developed in treating train coach waste water for recycling in the work. This fresh water is available as surface water and ground water. The water collected from the coach wash centre was taken to the laboratory and analysis was carried out by conducting various tests to determine the difference in physical and chemical characteristics of the water sample. Railway coach wash water contains oil, grease, sand, etc., and main chemical characteristics that are not suitable for gardening like pH, iron, nitrate, and ammonia, so we can reduce these parameters in the effluent treatment plant (ETP) and reuse them for washing train coaches and gardening purposes. The tests that are conducted for determining the different physical and chemical parameters include: chemical parameters effluent reuse treatment operation to maintain cost the train coach washing waste water is collected in the storage tank and treated waste is collected and trough the agriculture work. This paper presents the current scenario of coach washing plant activities and the utilization of waste water in many aspects after the washing of coaches.

Modifications of petroleum industry effluent treatment Method: An approach for quality improvement of process water for ASP flooding and chemical EOR

Several Alkali Surfactant Polymer (ASP) pilot facilities are currently being put into operation across India. The physicochemical parameters of the process water play an important role in the success of ASP flood to improve the recovery. In the current study treated effluent from an effluent treatment plant (ETP) is used as process water for the ASP pilot. The ETP sample water collected shows a lack of improvement in quality in terms of iron content, higher total suspends solids (TSS), high turbidity, and low filterability. The process water has calcium (as Ca + ) 60 mg/L and magnesium (as Mg2 + ) 33 mg/L. These ions are critical in the ASP designing process. The increase in the rate of filtration was determined by plotting the rate of filtration against the cumulative volume (Cerini filtration). The MTSN values were observed to be −1.35 and −1.09. The RPI values are 7.15 and 2.60 at two different time periods. The sample collected showed a lack of improvement in quality. This tube well water after filtration was best suited for ASP flooding. However, the high concentration of calcium results in the formation of calcium carbonate in addition to sodium carbonate (to be used as alkali for ASP). Hence calcium should be removed by softening the process water in the softening plant. The water was treated in the laboratory with a calculated amount of sodium carbonate to remove calcium and magnesium. Which comes out to be 0.30 gm/l of water. After treatment water was filtered and calcium and magnesium concentrations were determined. The calcium concentration was calculated 13 mg/l as compared to 60 mg/l in treated water.

Utilization of textile and tannery sludges in cement mortar

The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of Textile ETP and Tannery sludges and strength characteristics of cement-sludge mortar. The textile Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and tannery sludges have the potential to become a serious environmental burden for Bangladesh in the future because of their high rate of generation, with a very limited safe disposal option. On the other hand, day by day the demand and price of cement are increasing. This study was devoted to evaluate the technical feasibility of utilizing textile ETP and tannery sludges in cement mortar both as separate and mixed modes. An attempt was taken to replace 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by weight of cement in mortar with textile ETP and tannery sludges both as a separate and mixed modes. To evaluate the characteristics of the textile ETP and tannery sludges, the pH, moisture content, organic matter content, chemical composition (XRF), TCLP (Heavy Metal) tests were studied. The initial and final setting time, compressive strength, tensile strength, and water absorption of mortar by partial replacement of cement by textile ETP and tannery sludges both as separate and mixed modes were studied to evaluate the properties of cement-sludge mortar. It was found that the textile ETP and tannery sludges both as separate and mixed modes can be a replacement of cement up to 10% in cement mortar and can be used for the purposes of S-type of mortar. The textile ETP sludge as a separate and mixed modes of the sludges can be a replacement of cement up to 20% and can be used for the purposes of N-type of mortar.

An Overview of Applying the Sustainability aspects and the Hazardous Waste Management in a Chemical industry in India

The hazardous waste management in the chemical industry has been monitored from April 2021 to March 2022. All different kinds of hazardous waste were segregated by the concerned department and handed over to the environmental department. Different types of hazardous waste were handled, stored, and disposed of as per the directions, which are provided in the combined consent of operations. We have followed the hazardous waste management rules 2016 for handling and disposing of hazardous waste. We have introduced a sustainable initiative, where the spent salt from the effluent treatment plant, fly ash from the boiler and spent carbon from the process have been mixed in a suitable proportion in the form a utilizable waste, which is having higher calorific value has been sent in the cement industry in the regular basis. In this way, we are not only utilizing the hazardous wastes but the various heavy metals such as Arsenic, Chromium, Mercury, Molybdenum, Nickel, Lead, Selenium, Zinc and Copper, which are present in the spent salt, fly ash and spent carbon is not let out into the environment. In case this toxic waste is not maintained properly, it would increase the toxicity in the environment. Further, it will deteriorate the health of the employees and the contractors working in the working environment. We have taken the highest safety precautions while handling toxic hazardous waste so that we can protect the environment and occupants working in the hazardous zone. We have studied the literature and identified the various twenty-four numbers habitat, which includes seventeen trees, three herbs, two shrubs, one grass and one bamboo are the recommended plantation species, which can be planted in the fly ash storage area. Planting such type of species near to the fly ash storage area, will help us in absorbing the fly ash dust pollutants and the impacts of exposure to the pollutants of fly ash can be reduced in the occupational environment.

Microfauna no tratamento de lodo ativado de efluente de uma indústria de processamento de soja: uma forma de avaliação e controle do processo

ABSTRACT Wastewater treatment system by activated sludge, the purification of the organic matter by specific heterogeneous microorganisms, occurs in the presence of oxygen in aeration tanks. The analysis of the microfauna present in the sludge is an important indicator of the performance and efficiency of the activated sludge system. Considering this importance, the objective of this work was to identify the microorganisms which are part of the microfauna present in the aeration tank of the effluent treatment plant of a soybean processing industry in the state of Mato Grosso, evaluating the biological activity of the sludge and the efficiency of the process. Protozoa and bacteria were identified through electronic microscopy and physical-chemical analyses such as pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, BOD, COD, suspended solids, and SVI. During the study, it was possible to identify bacteria related to flake formation, organic matter degradation, nitrification and denitrification, and also microorganisms such as thecamoebas, micrometazoa, fixed ciliates and ciliates free natantes, characterizing the process with good purification and the structure of the sludge flakes between ideal and filamentous bulking with a high sludge age. The identification of the microfauna present was efficient as a bioindicator of the treatment system condition with removal of BOD and COD of 59.75 and 67.09%, respectively.

Performance evaluation study of effluent treatment plant of polyester textile dyeing industry: a case study of SIDCUL, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

Performance evaluation study of effluent treatment plant of polyester textile dyeing industry: a case study of SIDCUL, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

Failure mode and effects analysis of common effluent treatment plants of humid sub-tropical regions using fuzzy based MCDM methods

Common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) are used to collectively treat the effluents generated from different types of manufacturing industries of an industrial cluster before discharge so as to prevent the environment from the harmful effects of the effluents. There are several failure modes (FMs) that may lead to the failure of the CETP which may result in discontinuation of its operation. Thus, it is imperative to identify and estimate the criticality of the various FMs using failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) in order to minimize the risk of failure of the CETP. This study identifies 24 potential FMs of the CETP, installed in humid subtropical regions, with the help of consensus among 5 experts who are the managers of CETPs installed at five different industrial regions of Delhi, the capital town of India. Subsequently, it applies a combined fuzzy based multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methods i.e. fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) to derive rank of FMs. FAHP is applied to calculate the weights of three risk factors (RFs) i.e. occurrence (O) which refers to the chance of a failure cause occurring; severity (S) which measures the extent of effect of a failure cause on the system and the detection (D) which represents the chance of detecting the failure cause before the failure actually occurs. Then FTOPSIS is employed to determine rank of the FMs which signifies their criticality. The data required to implement FAHP and FTOPSIS are gathered from the experts in linguistic terms which are subsequently converted into equivalent triangular fuzzy numbers. Finally, sensitivity analysis is carried to ensure robustness of the ranking results produced by the combined FAHP and FTOPSIS method.

Bioremediation of reactive orange 16 by industrial effluent-adapted bacterial consortium VITPBC6: process optimization using response surface methodology (RSM), enzyme kinetics, pathway elucidation, and detoxification.

Textile effluent is one of the most hazardous industrial pollutant sources. It is generated in huge volumes and contains a wide array of toxicants. Reactive azo dyes, which are xenobiotic compounds, are predominantly utilized by textile industries for dyeing cotton, viscose, wool, and silk. The conventional physicochemical treatments used by industrial effluent treatment plants are ineffective in dye degradation. The present study thus attempted to find a potential treatment for reactive azo dyes. A novel bacterial consortium VITPBC6 was constructed with the most potent and compatible reactive orange 16 (RO-16) decolorizing isolates of tannery and textile effluents, and the isolates were identified as Bacillus flexus VITSP6, Bacillus paraflexus VITSPB7, Bacillus megaterium VITSPB9, Bacillus firmus VITEPB1, B. flexus VITEPB2, and Bacillus aryabhattai VITEPB3. The physicochemical factors of RO-16 decolorization were optimized by response surface methodology. Consortium VITPBC6 was able to tolerate a high concentration of RO-16 up to 800mg L-1. A cocktail of enzymes including azoreductase, tyrosinase, laccase, lignin peroxidase, and manganese peroxidase was involved in RO-16 degradation by VITPBC6. Consortium VITPBC6 degraded RO-16 following zero-order reaction. The enzymes of consortium VITPBC6 had a Vmax of 352mg L-1day-1 for RO-16 degradation; however, the Km value was high. VITPBC6 biodegraded RO-16 resulting in the formation of small aromatic compounds. Lastly, different toxicity assays conducted with untreated RO-16 and its corresponding biodegraded metabolite revealed that the toxicity of biodegraded metabolites was significantly lower than the untreated dye.

Optimisation and performance evaluation of response surface methodology (RSM), artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) in the prediction of biogas production from palm oil mill effluent (POME)

In recent years, machine learning (ML) techniques have been developed to predict the performance of anaerobic digestion (AD) processes including methane potential and reactor stability. However, their practical applications to industrial-scale palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment plant are limited. In this study, ML algorithms such as response surface methodology (RSM), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and artificial neural network (ANN) are employed to model the biogas production and methane yield from the AD of POME in a local industry-scale anaerobic covered lagoon. Results demonstrated that these models were well aligned with two years of operational data with high coefficient of determination (R2) of up to 0.98. ANFIS yields the highest prediction accuracy, with R2 of 0.9791 along with the lowest mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.0730 and root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.1438. Subsequently, ANFIS is used in the multi-objective optimisation to maximise the biogas production and methane yield. Optimal conditions for the temperature of the anaerobic digester, pH and recirculation ratio are 38.9 °C, 7.03 and 1.89 respectively which could enhance the biogas production and methane yield by 19.4% and 12.2% respectively. Confirmatory experiments were carried out in the biogas plant under this set of optimised variables for a period of two months. The predicted biogas production and methane yield are highly correlated to the actual data with small percentage difference of 1.25% and 5.09% respectively, indicating that ANFIS model was accurate and reliable. Sensitivity analysis shows that pH has the most dominant effect on the methane yield.

Utilization of Domestic Wastewater and Textile Effluent Treatment Plant Sludge as Brick Material

Utilization of Domestic Wastewater and Textile Effluent Treatment Plant Sludge as Brick Material

Industry Perspectives on Water Pollution Management in a Fast Developing Megacity: Evidence from Dhaka, Bangladesh

Industry representatives are key stakeholders in addressing pollution in the rivers surrounding Dhaka, Bangladesh, a fast growing megacity. Drawing on insights from political-ecology and framing water management as a sociotechnical system, we present an analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with representatives from key polluting industries. Three main thematic areas resulting from these interviews relate to the management of effluent treatment plants, the need for enhanced education, both technical and moral, and sociocultural factors that shape attitudes toward water management. In these areas, industrial representatives show multiple ways and realms in which more sustainable water governance in Dhaka may be enacted.

Microcosmic plant and fungi synergism-based filter to remediate the pollutants from industrial wastewater

Plants release compounds that signal microbes to engage in interactions. This interaction results in increased germination efficiency and root elongation, resulting in improved pollutant breakdown in both the rhizosphere and the phyllosphere. Most plants are symbiotic with fungi and these fungi play important roles in the structure, function, and health of plant communities. This study focuses on the potential of Syngonium podophyllum and Trichoderma harzianum fungi synergism to uptake the pollutants from the pretreated industrial wastewater collected from CETP common inlet point characterized by high COD (401 mg/l), BOD (159 mg/l), Nitrate (10.6 mg/l), and Lead (0.3 mg/l). Three setups S1 (Syngonium with Industrial wastewater water), S2 (Immobilized Trichoderma with Industrial wastewater), and S3 (Syngonium with Trichoderma & Industrial wastewater) were installed to treat pretreated industrial wastewater before entering CETP (Common effluent treatment plant). Compared to other treatments, the S3 setup was found more efficient to reduce the pollutants COD, BOD, NO3-N, and Pb by 82 %, 75.4 %, 70.7 %, and 80 % respectively in 6 days while S1 could reduce only 59.6 % COD, 63.1 % BOD, 42.4 % Nitrate and 80 % Lead and S2 setup reduced the COD, BOD, Nitrate, and Lead by 55.1 %, 40.8 % 33.9 % and 63.3 % respectively. The BCF (Bio Concentration Factor) and TF (Translocation Factor) of Syngonium were also improved in setup S3 (0.66 and 0.04 respectively) as compared to treatment setups S1 and S2. Based on the findings, it is feasible to conclude that using plant-immobilized fungal cell synergism for increased remediation of pollutants from wastewater is an environmentally benign and cost-effective strategy.

Microalgae Potentials for Phycoremediation with Paint Effluent of Electroplating Industry

Water pollution is a one of the major environmental issue that the world is facing nowadays. The untreated effluent as well as the chemically treated effluent both results in pollutions. These toxic contaminants directly and indirectly affect the flora and fauna of the ecosystem. The solution for such a drastic environmental issue lies within the cells of one such cosmopolitan plant group namely “Algae”. These are certain algal species which have the inhibit capacity to utilize some of the most threatening environmental contaminants such as nitrogenous compounds, ammonia, phosphates and some of the metal ions so on. Hence, treating the effluent with algae would be an eco-friendly method to reduce pollution. Phycoremediation of effluent using algae is a novel green-technique when applied to aqueous pollution. The present investigation included the preliminary screening of microalgae potentials for their tolerance and growth in paint effluent from an electroplating industry which include the native microalgae isolated from the effluent treatment plant (ETP). The microalgae, such as Chlamydomonas pertusa, Dactylococcopsis raphioides and Chlorococcum humicolo were selected and employed in the treatment of electroplating paint effluent an individually and also as mixed algal group. The physico-chemical parameters were analyzed. The individual culture and the mixed algal culture both could effectively reduce TDS (Total Dissolved Solid), TSS (Total Suspended Solid), free ammonia, calcium, sodium, nitrate and phosphate. Chlorococcum humicolo had a significant remedial level of Turbidity (20.51%), Calcium (95.76%), Sodium (8.33%), Free ammonia (62.96%), Phosphate (71.29%) and Total Kjeldhal Nitrogen (48.23%) treated with paint effluent of electroplating industry among the microalgae. Thus, Chlorococcum humicolo could be selected for further field pilot scaling up study. Phycoremediation is a cost-effective, efficient and a sustainable technology for future clean earth.

Treated tannery effluent and its impact on the receiving stream water: physicochemical characterization and cytogenotoxic evaluation using the Allium cepa test.

Tanneries are considered some of the most polluting industries due to the heavy use of toxic compounds, most of which are released into water bodies, thus exerting adverse effects on aquatic biota. However, the effects on organisms of treated effluents when released into the natural environment are rarely evaluated. This study aims to assess the physicochemical parameters of a tannery effluent after treatment (TE) at a Common Effluent Treatment Plant as well as the water of the receiving stream and to evaluate cytogenotoxic effects in Allium cepa. Three sampling sites (A: TE discharge point; B: 100m downstream from site A along the receiving stream; C: 100m upstream from site A along the stream) were selected. Onion bulbs were exposed to TE (100%, 80%, 60% v/v), water samples from sites B and C, and tap water for 72h. Chromosomal aberration and mitotic index were analyzed on the root cells of A. cepa. The TE was above the standard limits for ammoniacal nitrogen, COD, and total nitrogen. No cytogenotoxicity was observed in A. cepa exposed to samples from sites A and C. However, the stream water sampled downstream from the TE discharge site significantly reduced the mitotic index, indicating a cytotoxic effect. Therefore, this demonstrates the effects of interactions between the receiving water and the complex chemical mixtures in the TE. The findings thus showed that the toxicity assessment of treated effluents along with the receiving water body would provide valuable and more realistic information about the joint toxicity of chemical pollutants in aquatic environments.

Lacrimispora defluvii PI-S10-B5AT sp. nov., an Obligate Anaerobe, Isolated from an Industrial Waste and Reclassification of Hungatella xylanolytica as Lacrimispora xylanolytica and Clostridium indicum as Lacrimispora indica Comb. nov.

A bacterial strain was isolated from the waste slurry of an industrial effluent treatment plant near Patancheru, Hyderabad, India, and designated as PI-S10-B5AT. It was an obligately anaerobic, spore-forming, rod-shaped, motile bacterium that stained Gram-positive. The strain revealed high 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with Hungatella xylanolytica DSM 3808T (99.4%) followed by members of the genus Lacrimispora (98.8-93.3%). However, the average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization of genome sequence exhibited similarity in the range of 94.3-68.7% and 57.4-18.8%, respectively, with all closely related strains. A multi-gene phylogenetic analysis of strain PI-S10-B5AT was performed to investigate the taxonomic affiliation, which revealed formation of a coherent cluster with the members of the genus Lacrimispora. The DNA G + C content was 41.8mol%. Major polar lipids were glyco- and phospholipids. The fatty acids analysis showed C16:0 to be the major fatty acid. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and whole-genome phylogenetic analysis, strain PI-S10-B5AT is assigned as a novel species of the genus Lacrimispora, for which the name Lacrimispora defluvii is proposed. The type strain of the novel species is PI-S10-B5AT (= MTCC 12280T; = DSM 24980T) isolated from waste slurry of effluent treatment plant. The genomic analysis of type strains of C. indicum PI-S10-A1BT and H. xylanolytica DSM 3808T showed ANI and AAI values consistent with members of the genus Lacrimispora. Therefore, these strains are ascertained to the genus Lacrimispora and reclassified as Lacrimispora indica and Lacrimispora xylanolytica comb. nov.

Sustainable Mini ETP for Small Industries: A Case Study of Powder Coating Industry

Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) are considered as one of the viable solution for small to medium enterprises for effective wastewater treatment. An Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) is an integral part of production processes with relevance to wastewater, the pollutants with their respective limit values that have to be reduced. In addition, the ETP also facilitates in reduction of number of discharge points in an industrial estate for better enforcement by environmental regulatory agencies in terms of pollution reduction and environmental improvements. However, many of the operating ETPs are not performing optimally due to various technical and managerial reasons. Small scale industries usually do not have access to latest technological advancements in effluent treatment process. To address the pollution discharge of industries, adoption of cleaner production technologies and waste minimization initiatives are now gaining ground. Treatment of such industrial effluent is very important and necessary from environmental point of view. Also, to meet the Standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from various Industries set by the Government and to avoid hefty penalties ETP is a need for the industries. In present case study anattempt is made to design a compact but sustainable mini effluent treatment plant for small scale industry i.e. powder coating unit. This mini ETP requires smaller space as compared to traditional ETP with old technology. By using such compact modular mini ETP for small scale industry issue of non-treating or partly treating effluent can be overcome with cost and space efficiency. This will enable small scale industries to cater their need to avoid pollution and also to safeguard environment.

Occurrence of Phthalates in common effluent treatment plants and removal by using Nano Titania-Graphene based photo-catalyst for tertiary treated effluent

The occurrence and effectiveness of common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) for the removal of phthalates, as well as the fate of DEHP, are demonstrated in this study using a nano TiO2-Graphene-based photo-catalyst and photolytic system. Full-scale CETPs were selected at SIDCUL, Haridwar, and Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, along with installing a lab-scale photocatalytic reactor. Solid phase extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) was used to extract and quantify four phthalates, namely DEP, DBP, BBP, and DEHP, and byproducts.The average concentration of DEP, DBP, BBP, and DEHP in the mixed industrial effluent of CETP Haridwar exceeded by around ten folds than the literature value. Still, it was removed significantly by 77.9%, 32.8%, 97.5%, and 41.8%, respectively.The average influent concentration was eventually lower than the treated effluent at CETP Unnao, and phthalates were not removed during the process. During process optimization, the distinct ability of each method to remove DEHP during photolysis and photo-catalysis was discovered. The UV-TiO2-GO had removal effectiveness of 98% in 30 min at pH-6. However, at a dose of 500 mg, UV and UV-TiO2-GO had removal efficacy of 73% and 86%, respectively, for 180 min. After de-esterification, the UV system only cleaved the aliphatic chain, leaving the aromatic ring intact and producing a variety of byproducts. The superoxide ions (O2°−) and hydroxyl radicals produced in the photocatalytic process attacked not only the aliphatic chain but also the benzene ring.