Analysis of Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Effluents from Beverage Industry in Ethiopia

Abstract

Beverage industries are one of the most polluting industries producing huge amount of wastewater effluents. These industries have been recognized to cause pollution by discharging effluent into receiving environment especially to the nearby rivers. The aim of this study is to determine the status of waste water effluent discharge of beverage industry in Ethiopia. Samples were collected from 8 beverage industries’ wastewater effluent discharge end pipe and examined for different physico-Chemical parameters such as: COD, BOD5, TSS, ammonia, total nitrogen, PH and phosphate. The observed values were ranged between 9 - 397.5 mg/L for TSS, 0.185 - 69.7 mg/l for phosphate, 0.265 - 71 mg/l for ammonia, 226 - 1975 mg/l for COD, 15 - 576 mg/L for BOD, 4 - 86.6 mg/l for total nitrogen and 5.21 - 12.37 for PH. The finding of the study revealed that most of the beverage industries were extremely high amount of total suspended solids (TSS), BOD and COD effluent discharge were found above the Ethiopian beverage industry effluent discharge limit value. Half of the sampled beverage industries’ effluent discharge of PH, total nitrogen, ammonia and phosphate were found within the limit value while the rest of the industries are still discharging their effluent above the national standard limit value. The continuous discharge of effluents into rivers without any additional treatment raises the level of pollution and toxicity, which have significantly adverse impact on the aquatic environment.