Industrial Wastewater Pollution & Treatment



Industrial Wastewater Pollution & Treatment

Literature Review

Conventionally, the processes of industries were built without considering the wastes that are produced from industries or by considering the powerful impact of the environment that they can also take place (Hedge & Unnikrishnan, 2005). As the regulations were made and the concern of compliance arose, then the industry for wastewater treatment was established, with the treatment focus of end-of-pipe that aimed at washing away the collective wastewater before discharging. The treatment requirements for wastewater are based on the concentration and type of the particular contaminants with range of treatment for the wastewater defined as tertiary, quaternary, primary, and secondary with per unit operations that are categorized as chemical, physical, biological, and thermal (Bagajewicz & Savelski, 2000).

The aspect of the usage of water has also modified for industries as the water has become inadequate, and the costs of energy have escalated and discharge more rigorous regulations. There are several strategies that can use for reusing and recycling the wastewater, directly effect on the inputs of freshwater and the outputs of wastewater require treatment (Bagajewicz & Savelski, 2000; Bagajewicz & Savelski, 2001). Consequently, the conception of discharge to zero extent was come into being.

Two different approaches are mostly used for reducing and minimizing the adverse effects that are linked with treatment and disposal of the wastes of industries and such are the 'cleaner production' and the 'end-of-pipe' approaches. The approach of end-of-pipe focuses on washing or cleaning up the water wastes or giving emissions later than the production (Glavic & Zbontar, 2000; Hilson 2000), but it has been a conventional approach in order to meet the limits of the imposed discharge. Particularly, the treatment operations of the wastewater are planned in a way that could be able to remove the suspended, dissolved, and settle-able solids, metals, organic matter, pathogens, and nutrients from wastewater (Asano & Mujeriego, 1999). Such approaches of end-of-pipe have evidenced insufficient for the industries for meeting compliance and minimization goals as compared to other preventative approaches (Hilson, 2000). The approach of 'cleaner production' is also regarded as the pollution preventative approach (Taylor, 2005), and it is preventative measure that is proactive approach and used to support the sustainable development that is incorporated into the designing of process for achieving remarkable improvements in the environment (Jia et al., 2005). It adjoins to the bottom line by means of conserving manpower, materials, and energy whereas maximizing yields and minimizing the costs of disposal and treatments (Hedge & Unnikrishnan, 2005). As articulated by Tanish and Eastwood (1999), “better solutions mostly work more than just saving water” as they may also minimize the investment of capital and get better the raw materials or else lost. The water that is reclaimed as the alternative of water supply also has a value economically.

Some evident approaches of cleaner production are used by the industries of manufacturing, as per the points of views of Hedge and Unnikrishnan:

More efficient kinds of control in processes

Effective management of energy ...