ASSIGNMENT- 5

(Roll no. 26)

Q1. Explain necessity of equalization and neutralization for

industrial waste water.
ANS 1: Necessities are -
Equalization:
 It is the method of retaining waste in a basin so that the
effluent discharge is fairly uniform in its characteristics.
 The main objective is to minimize or control fluctuations in
waste water characteristics in order to provide better
condition for subsequent treatment.
 The purpose of equalization is to provide adequate damping
of organic fluctuations in order to prevent shock loading of
biological treatment.
 It also provides adequate pH control or to minimize the
chemical requirements for neutralization.
 It helps in providing continuous feed to biological systems
once a period, when the manufacturing plant is not
operating.
 It helps in preventing high concentration of toxic materials
from entering the biological treatment plant.

Neutralization:
 The excessively acidic or alkaline waste should not be
discharged without treatment into a receiving stream, sewer,
and effluent treatment plant or on land.
 There are many acceptable methods for neutralization of
acidic or alkaline waste water and they are as follows:
Neutralization of acidic waste:
o Mixing the waste by the waste from other industry.
o Passing acidic waste through beds of lime stone.
o Mixing acidic waste with lime slurry
o Adding proper proportion of caustic soda or soda ash.

Neutralization of alkaline waste:

o Use of waste boiler flue gas
o CO2 treatment for alkaline waste
o Producing CO2 in alkaline waste
o H2SO4 treatment.
o Acid waste neutralization in industrial process.
Q2. Write a note: CPCB norms for industrial waste water
treatment.

ANS 2: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is the regulatory

authority and mandates the treated water quality for any STP in
India. The discharge standards stipulated in 2015 have been
diluted making it easier for STP owners. The changed norms are:

Q3. Explain for sugar, dairy and pulp & paper industry
a. Sources of waste water
b. Characteristics of waste water
c. Treatment of waste water
d. Disposal of waste water.
ANS 3:

1.Sugar Industry

a) Sources of Wastewater:
There are various sources of wastewater generating in a sugar
industry. The break-up of the effluent generated in the various
units of a typical sugar plant is shown in Table 2.

Centrifugation produces another type of wastewater called

‘Molasses’. Molasses is an important raw material for distilleries.

(b) Characteristics of wastewater:

The effluent characteristics from a typical sugar plant are

presented in Table 3.
(c) Treatment of Wastewater:

The system of treating wastewater is by Activated Sludge Process

(ASP) from various units of a sugar plant is shown in Fig. 3. The
various units include Bar Screen, Skimming Tank, Equalization
Basin, Aeration Unit, Clarifier and Sludge Drying Beds.
(d) Disposal :
The Indian Standards (IS: 2490, 1974; IS: 7968, 1976) require
that the BOD and COD of the treated effluent should be brought
down to 30 and 250 mg/l for disposal into inland waters.
The respective values for disposal on land should be less than
100 and 250 mg/l. None of the treatment alternatives achieve this
target. Hence, further treatment or dilution before final disposal is
essential.

2. Dairy Industry
(a) Sources of wastewater:
The liquid waste from a large dairy originates from the following
sections or plants: receiving stations, bottling plant, cheese plant,
casein plant, condensed milk plant, dried milk plant, and ice
cream plant. The main sources of dairy effluents are those arising
from the following:
 Spills and leaks of products or by-products
 Residual milk or milk products in piping and equipment
before cleaning
 Wash solutions from equipment and floors
 Condensate from evaporation processes
 Pressings and brines from cheese manufacture

(b) Characteristics of wastewater:

Dairy effluent contains soluble organics, suspended solids, trace
organics.
Dairy wastes are white in color and usually slightly alkaline in
nature and become acidic quite rapidly due to the fermentation of
milk sugar to lactic acid.
The pollution effect of dairy waste is attributed to the immediate
and high oxygen demand.
It has high sodium content from the use of caustic soda for
cleaning.
Typical Characteristics of dairy industry wastewaters reported by
various authors are given in table.
(c) Treatment:

Dairy manufacturing has a strong impact on the environment,

producing large volumes of wastewater with high organic and
nutrient loading and extreme pH variations. This requires the
application of effective and cheap wastewater treatment
procedures which ensure fresh water preservation. There are
various dairy effluent treatment strategies as shown in following
figure:
(d) Disposal:
Dairy plants discharging waste waters directly to streams, bays,
rivers, creeks and /or estuaries must have a permit for this
discharge.
Dairy plants that use non-discharge systems such as land
disposal will also need a permit.
Effluents from waste treatment systems must be sufficiently
reduced in BOD and biological nutrients (e.g., P, NH3) that
discharge to surface waters does not significantly affect aquatic
life.
Environmental regulatory agencies specify limits for composition
of effluents discharged to each type of stream or watershed.

3. Pulp and Paper Industry

(a) Sources of wastewater:
The high volumes of water required, have resulted in the majority
of the mills in India being situated close to rivers where
inexpensive water is readily available. Inland where inexpensive
water is less readily available, process water is also derived from
treated domestic waste waters. Waste-water disposal often
occurs directly to rivers or to the sea with or without prior
biological treatment. Other avenues of disposal include irrigation
onto pasture land, or discharge to sewer (attracting a local
municipal discharge levy).
In the production of approximately 3 000 000 t/a of paper products
the Industry uses some 130 million m3 /n of water. The waste
water produced is high both in organic material (200 to 17 000
mg/C COD) and inorganic material (500 to 13 000 mg/f TDS). The
variation in water intake and waste-water quality is dependent
upon the tree species or pulp material utilized, the efficiency of
the mill in terms of process control and operation, the paper
product produced, and the degree o\ chemical recovery or
wastewater treatment prior to discharge.
(b) Characteristics of wastewater:
1. Suspended Solids
The presence of suspended solids in mill waste waters is due to
the fine bark particles and silt from pretreatment, the overall
retention on the paper machines, which is affected by the use of
retention aids and save-alls, and the loss of fiber/filler in spillages
or during wash-ups and grade changes.

2. Dissolved Solids
(i) Organic matter: Depending upon the pulping procedure and
yield coefficient of pulp from the wood, bagasse or waste paper,
up to 60% of the raw material is suspended or dissolved and
becomes a potential organic pollutant load. The loss of dissolved
organic matter in mill waste waters also arises from non-retained
wet-end additives and materials dissolved from pulp or recycled
broke and waste paper. In practice the majority of this material is
recovered for reuse. As measured by the COD of the mixed waste
water, the specific loss of dissolved organics ranged from 4,4 - 80
kg/t. The strength of the waste water depends on the load loss
and the specific water intake and varies over an extremely wide
range (200 - 20 000 mg/£ COD).
(ii) Inorganic matter: Total dissolved solids load ranged from 2 -
183 kg/t of product (Table 6). Pulp liquors containing discharges
from the black liquor, washing liquors, overflows and storage
residue contribute to the high TDS levels in the form of salt cake,
sodium, calcium, carbonates and sulphates.

(c) Treatment:
Treatment of water without reuse (open cycle)

In this case, the objective of treatment is to reduce the

contamination in effluents to such a degree that they can be
discharged, thereby complying with legislative requirements and
avoiding any environmental impact.

The effluents to be treated tend to have high pH values and a

high content of organic matter, solids in suspension, organ
halogenated compounds (AOX), nitrogen, and phosphorus,
amongst other contaminants.

A satisfactory treatment of such effluents would involve stages

such as homogenization and neutralization of the pH,
coagulation/flocculation prior to decantation, and, finally,
elimination of the organic matter using a biological process
(anaerobic or aerobic) or by advanced oxidation (with ozone,
Fenton, or photo-Fenton). After these steps, the effluent can be
discharged into the environment.
Q4. Write a note on: Effluent standards.
ANS 4:
EFFLUENTS STANDARDS IN INDIA:
Q5. Explain in detail: CETP
ANS 5:
COMMON EFFLUENT TREATMENT PLANT (CETP)
The concept of effluent treatment, by means, of a collective effort,
has assumed reasonable gravity by being especially purposeful
for cluster of small-scale industrial units. Common effluent
treatment plant (CETP) not only helps the industries in easier
control of pollution, but also act as a step towards cleaner
environment and service to the society at large. Small scale
industries, by their very nature of job cannot benefit much from
economies of scale and therefore the burden of installing
pollution- control equipment, falls heavy on them. Realizing this
practical problem, under the policy statement for abatement of
pollution the Govt. felt to extend the scheme for promoting
combined facilities for treatment of effluent and management of
solid waste for clusters of small-scale industrial units and also to
provide technical support to them. Accordingly, Ministry of
Environment & Forests, Govt. of India, had instructed various
State Pollution Control Boards, to examine the possibilities of
establishing CETPs in various Industrial estates in the respective
states.
The concerted approach of joint or common effluent treatment
provisions has many advantages. Wastewater of individual
industries often contain significant concentration of pollutants; and
to reduce them by individual treatment up to the desired
concentration, become techno-economically difficult. The
combined treatment provides a better and economical option
because of the equalization and neutralization taking place in the
CETP.
Other important issues for the merit of common treatment include
scarcity of land at the industry's level and a comparatively easier
availability of professional and trained staff for the operation of
CETP, which can otherwise be difficult, at the individual industry
level. For the regulatory authorities also, common treatment
facility offers a comparatively easier means of ensuring
compliance of stipulated norms. The handling and disposal of
solid- waste also becomes increasingly easier as the
infrastructure is created in the project itself. The concept of
common treatment, based on feasibility, should be part of the new
industrial estates as essential component of infrastructure, In fact,
the location of industries should always be such that units with
compatible nature of activity are located in a cluster which inturn
can facilitate in providing common treatment.