Types and Treatment Technology of Industrial Wastewater

Abstract

In the recent past, water contamination is an alarming topic for humans, the environment and other living beings. Water becomes wastewater after its use for different purposes in daily life or industries. As the population is growing rapidly, the amount of wastewater is increasing day by day for its high demand which has a large adverse effect on our environment and daily life. Industries are the major consumers of fresh water and so they produce a large amount of industrial effluents. Due to the large effluents containing toxic pollutants (e.g., dyes, heavy metals, surfactants, personal care products, pesticides, pharmaceuticals) from agricultural, municipal, and industrial resources, water becomes contaminated and its properties like the smell, color, COD, BOD, Turbidity, pH, TDS, etc. have been changed drastically. This change in water quality has a great effect on human health and the aquatic environment. To maintain the ecological environmental balance and to ensure fresh water for living beings, water has to be treated effectively. There are several techniques for the treatment of industrial wastewater such as adsorption, coagulation/Flocculation, chemical precipitation, advanced oxidation process, anaerobic system, stabilization pond, etc. The selection of treatment procedure varies from one type of industry to another as wastewater contains different pollutants. This paper focuses on the characteristics of industrial wastewater, its treatment steps, different treatment methods and sludge treatment used in industries for the treatment of effluents.