Wastewater treatment of sugar industry

Sources of wastewater:
Sugar industry wastewaters are produced mainly by cleaning
operations. Washing of milling house floor, various division of
boiling house like evaporators, clarifiers, vacuum pans,
centrifugation, etc. generates huge volume of wastewater. Also,
wash water used for filter cloth of rotary vacuum filter and
periodical cleaning of lime water and SO2 producing house
becomes a part of wastewater. Periodical cleaning of heat
exchangers and evaporators with NaOH and HCl to remove the
scales on the tube surface contributes organic and inorganic
pollutant loadings to wastewater. Leakages from pumps,
pipelines, centrifuging house also contribute to wastewater
produced. Except this, wastewater is also produced from boiler
blow down, spray pond overflow, and from condenser cooling
water which is discharged as wastewater when it gets
contaminated with cane juice.

Contaminants of wastewater:
Sugar industry wastewater contains wash water with lost cane
juice in various operations, detergents, bagasse particles, oil and
grease used for lubrication, and lost sugar solids in process. It is
characterized by high concentrations of nutrients, organic and
inorganic contents. The ranges of COD and BOD are from 1101200mg/L and 60-5000mg/L respectively. The pH and total solids
concentration are 4.5-10 and 6062mg/L respectively. These values
changes from industry to industry. It also contains heavy metals
ion such as Mn+2,Cu+2,Pb+2,Cd+2,Fe+2,Cr+3 etc.

Treatment methods:
1. Physical(primary) treatment:
1.1.
Screening: Remove large solids and rags that cause
problems if passed through the plant.

1.2.
Grit removal: Remove 95% of grit and stones, which
could result in blockages and abrasive, wear on machinery
and pipe works.
1.3.
Equalizer: its basic objective is to minimize or control
fluctuations in wastewater characteristics and flow rate.
The main purposes of equalizer are:
Dampening of organic fluctuations to prevent shock loading
of biological systems.
pH control to minimize chemical requirements for
neutralization by using lime flakes or soda flakes.
Minimize flow surges to physical chemical treatment.
Permit chemical feed rates compatible with feeding
equipment.
Provide continuous feed to biological system (even when the
factory is not operating).
2. Biological(secondary) treatment:
2.1.
Anaerobic process.
Anaerobic treatment method for concentrated wastewater,
in terms of pollutants (as the sugar industry wastewater), is
widely used method in the
industries. It has several advantages over aerobic
processes, which include the lesser energy required,
methane production due to the degradation of organic
matters, which is a source of energy; and lesser sludge
production, which indirectly reduces sludge disposal costs
greatly. Anaerobic batch reactor, anaerobic fixed-bed
reactors (AFR), up-flow anaerobic fixed
bed (UAFB) reactor, and UASB reactor are generally used for
anaerobic treatment of sugar industry waste-water. If we
use AFR type of reactor after a retention time of 4d 90% of
COD will remove.
2.2.
Aeration lagoons (aerobic process).
Aerobic biological treatment generally involves degradation
of organics in the occurrence of oxygen. Conventional
aerobic treatment includes activated sludge, trickling filters,
aerated lagoons, or a combination of these. Sugar industry

wastewaters are biodegradable except oil and grease which

are not easily degraded by anaerobic processes, because
oils produce long-chain fatty acids during the hydrolysis step
which causes retardation in methane production. Long-chain
fatty acids were reported to be inhibitory to methanogenic
bacteria.
2.3.
Activated sludge.
It involves production of an active mass of microorganisms
capable of stabilizing organic content of waste in the
presence of dissolved oxygen. Activated sludge is probably
the most versatile of biological treatment processes.
Activated sludge is a biological contact process where
bacteria, protozoa, and small organisms such as rotifers are
commonly found. Bacteria are the most important group of
microorganisms, because they are responsible for the
structural and functional activity of the activated sludge
flocculation.
2.4.
Trickling filter.
A trickling filter consists of a bed of coarse material, such as
stones, slats, or plastic, over which wastewater is
discharged from moving spray distributors or fixed nozzles.
A secondary clarifier usually follows trickling filter to reduce
effluent suspended solids. Sometimes, trickling or high-rate
filters are used as a first stage treatment for high BOD
wastewaters, followed by an activated sludge system.
3. Chemical(tertiary) treatment:
3.1.
Disinfection:
Chlorine gas is injected into the final effluent before the
effluent is being reused. Residual chlorine content of 1 ppm
is the desired final concentration.
Characteristics of wastewater of sugar industry before and after
treatment.

Parameters

Before treatment

Standard values

COD(mg/L)
BOD(mg/L)
pH
VSS(mg/L)
TSS(mg/L)
Temperature( 0C)

1000-4340
350-2750
5.2-6.5
373-2190
760-800
31-49

150-250
80-120
6-9
180
50