Redesigning Waste Water Treatment Process in View of Utilising the Water: A Case Study at a Citrus Juice Processing Company in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Disposal of industrial wastewater from a local citrus juice processing company was found to be resulting in negative environmental impacts on the vegetation surrounding the disposal site and the treated wastewater did not meet the minimum purity requirements stated in the Zimbabwe Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27). This project was aimed at redesigning the process so that wastewater which meets required legal requirements for quality is discharged and made available for different purposes. Samples of wastewater were collected at the company's effluent processing plant and experiments were conducted to assess its overall quality. The process was redesigned based on the shortcomings found. The redesigned wastewater treatment prototype gave water that was legally fit for disposal, with an average pH of 7.6 and could be used for irrigation purposes.