Developed Method for Treatment of Industrial Wastewater from Edible Oil Industry using Membrane Technology

Abstract

Microorganisms and algae growth on surface water are stimulated in surface water in the presence of effluent wastewater from edible oil industries. This leads to depletion of dissolved oxygen (DO) by eutrophication process result in negative impact on aquatic environment. The new regulation in environment agency and increasing market demand are forcing the industrial sectors to consider finding new solutions and sustainable techniques of the wastewater treatment. In this study, reverse osmosis (RO) membrane filtration has been applied to assess the removal performance of emulsified oil from wastewater. Polysorbate 20 (Tween 20) was used as an oil/water emulsifier. Effect of oil concentrations in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and activated carbon unit on removal efficiency and permeate flux have been studied in details. The results elucidated significant improvement in removal efficiency reached to "98%". The obtained results show promising application of RO membrane (polyamide membrane) at flux "17 L/m2 hr-1". The experiments showed that membrane filtration of wastewater from edible oil is a convenient technique for a possible removal of high concentration of oil (up to 6000 mg/L) with "98%" removal efficiency at permeate flux "17 L/m2 hr-1 "and low fouling rate.