TREATMENT OF FOOD-AGRO INDUSTRY EFFLUENT BY PHYSICO-CHEMICAL METHODS

Abstract

The sugar industry wastewater contains huge amount of pollutants. Different treatment methods for the effluent are available like biological, ion-exchange, electrocoagulation, ozonation, coagulation-flocculation and adsorption etc. Rapid development by industrialization in developing countries, less environment friendly measures cause of water pollution. This in turn, results in lack of quality for drinking and irrigation. Single treatment way is not feasible to treat the highly polluted effluent and not possible to manage the permissible limits of National Environmental Quality Standards which is getting more strict with passage of time, by the regulatory bodies like Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency in Pakistan. In this study the effluent was treated by coagulation followed by activated charcoal. Three coagulants, alum, ferric chloride and ferrous sulphate were applied. Using different doses of coagulants and activated charcoal achieved remarkable results. The total dissolved solids were decreased upto 87% and total suspended solids upto 98%.