Complex treatment for the disposal and utilization of process wastewaters of the pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

A complex treatment of process wastewaters (PWW) of the pharmaceutical industry has been elaborated, the objective was their common disposal and utilization. The biodegrad-ability of polluting components is concentration dependent, the mixing of PWWs with domestic wastewater at WWTP is possible, if no toxic and/or non-biodegradable components are present. So the organic content can serve as carbon source in the denitrification step. The characterization and the proper treatment methods of PWWs have been developed. Only 20-30 % of PWWs required pretreatment. The majority can be mixed directly with the domestic wastewater and send to the WWTP. The characterization includes COD, TOC, BOD, AOX, volatile content, toxicity, metal ion content measurements. The pretreatment methods could be: distillation, WO or catalytic WO. After the activated sludge treatment the degradation of emergent pollutants and the disinfection can be performed by UV-Fenton or high energy irradiation. The design of a complex treatment plant attached to a WWTP of 100000 m3/day capacity and its life-cycle analysis to determine the environmental benefits were carried out also.