Treatment of Industrial Wastewater by Organic Wastes

Abstract

Performance of the laboratory scale bioreactors containing different organic substrates has been tested for the treatment of

acidic industrial wastes in the treatment of acidic industrial wastes in terms of acid neutralization, sulphate and metal removal processes. Glass jars of 1.5 liter capacity (30 cm height) containing bacterial consortium of different organic substrates were inoculated with dairy whey to promote SRB culture. After incubation period of 17 days at room temperature the jars were introduced with 850 ml acidic industrial wastewater rich in ferric iron characterized by low pH, polluted with presence of metals like cobalt, zinc, copper, lead, manganese, nickel and iron. The experiment was run for three months. After retention period of four, twelve, nineteen, twenty five, thirty seven, fifty two, sixty six, eighty and ninety four days. The pH of the wastewater increased from 5.58 to 8.39, alkalinity from 0 to 712mg/l as CaCO₃, acidity removal was from 223.8 to 95 mg/l as CaCO₃, sulphate removal was 48.9%, lead removal was 91%, zinc 99.3%, copper 97.0%, cobalt 97.0%, manganese -55.6%, nickel- 99.7% and iron 99.87% were observed. The main aim of this study is to compare and interpret the best organic substrate for treatment of acidic wastewater in bioreactors and to be applied on commercial scale.