Assessing the Treatment Efficiency of a Multi-Stage ETP for Pharmaceutical Wastewater: A Case Study in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study assessed the treatment efficiency of the physical, chemical, and biological treatment processes to treat effluent discharged for a pharmaceutical factory. The treatment mechanism comprised of equalization tank, neutralization tank, anaerobic followed by aerobic bioreactors, two stage clarification system, reed bed bio-filtration process, and post aeration system. The effluent quality parameters such as pH, turbidity, TDS, TSS, TS, COD and BOD₅ were analyzed in the laboratory with standard methods. The overall pollution removal efficiencies were 100% for turbidity, 97% for TSS, 95% for COD, and 97% for BOD₅. The average reduction ranges of Turbidity, TSS, TS, COD and BOD₅ were 201 FTU to 0 FTU, 512 mg/l to 13 mg/l, 912 mg/l to 530 mg/l, 2034 mg/l to 99 mg/l, and 1126 mg/l to 29 mg/l respectively were observed in the final stage. In terms of performance evaluation of individual treatment units, the anaerobic treatment unit achieved 1%, 17%, and 37% removal efficiencies for turbidity, COD, and BOD₅ respectively; while the aerobic unit achieved 76%, 86%, and 86% removal efficiencies for the same parameters. The chemical treatment process was found effective for TSS and turbidity removal purpose. The Reed Bed performed well in removing BOD₅, COD, and Turbidity.

IUBAT Review—A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 8(2): 264-282