Using combined UV and H2O2 treatments to reduce tannery wastewater pollution load

Abstract

Contaminated wastewater discharged from tanneries in Pakistan creates a lot of pollution problems. This study presents the treatment of wastewater samples collected from inlet and outlet sections of Kasur Tannery Waste Management Agency (KTWMA) in Kasur, Pakistan. The procedure utilizes hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the presence of ultraviolet (UV) radiation for the successful degradation of pollutants present in tannery water. The treatment of polluted water samples with UV/H2O2 for the duration of either 45 minutes or 90 minutes has greatly affected the water quality parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), chlorides, chromium, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS) and total suspended solids (TSS). It was concluded that the contaminants were degraded and changed to a great extent as compared to their original concentrations. This process can be considered to be a clean process as it is an environmentally friendly process and does not produce pollutants and solid wastes like other conventional processes.