Industrial waste water management has become a critical issue for all the industries who incur a lot of industrial waste water. When you dump gallons of waste water in a nearby lake, river, or sea, it not only harms the nature and environment, it also poses a threat to public health. Plus, as a company, it comes on your reputation and non-compliance of government laws can incur heavy penalties.
Sounds extremely challenging situation right? That’s where Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) comes into play. With the right approach to wastewater management through Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs), you can turn this challenge into an opportunity for sustainability and efficiency.
In this blog post, you will explore:
- The challenge of industrial wastewater
- How to choose the right plant for your industry
- Principles of effluent treatment plants
- Detailed industrial water treatment processes
- How ETPs reduce water wastage
- Technological innovations in ETPs
- Environmental and economic benefits
- Regulatory and compliance aspects
- Future trends in effluent treatment
So, let's begin by understanding the challenge of industrial waste water!
The Challenge of Industrial Wastewater in Water-Wasting Industries
Industrial wastewater comes from various industries’ manufacturing processes. This wastewater is harmful and laced with toxic chemicals which can only hamper the environment if dumped in the lake, river, or sea.
A study suggests, the industrial wastewater treatment service market is expected to reach $ 153.94 million by 2030! This stats suggests the need for industrial wastewater treatment has increased. This has also given rise to the need for industrial water treatment plants among the waterwater emitting factories/industries.
Hence, proper management of this wastewater becomes essential. Plus, it's the need of the hour if you want to keep your practices of wastewater dumping sustainable for the environment.
Types of Industrial Wastewater and Their Challenges
There are various industries that do wastewater dumping in public water resources. They might include vegetable oil extraction, petrochemical, petroleum, textile, chemicals, and all those industries that incur a huge amount of water wastage.
And the wastewater comes in various forms:
Process Water: This water comes from production processes which are generally hard to treat as they have high levels of organic matter, oils, and chemicals.
Cleaning Water: When a particular industry requires hazardous elements in it. They need to wash their equipment daily. This water can have chemicals and pollutants in it.
Cooling Water: The water that comes from regulating temperature in industrial processes, may have toxic oils and contaminants.
Stormwater Runoff: In facilities with large outdoor areas, rainwater can carry contaminants into the wastewater system.
Characteristics of Industrial Wastewater
Industrial wastewater can have different characteristics to define the level of harm it can do to the environment. The key characteristics include:
High Organic Load: These contain all kinds of organic waste that can come from vegetables and other edible oil seeds. They can be - fats, oil grease which are difficult to clean off.
Variable pH Levels: The low and high levels of pH define how rigid and harmful the water is. Varied levels would affect the decision about which treatment of wastewater will suit which wastewater and how much environmental harm it can cause. For example, petrochemicals and chemical manufacturing.
Suspended Solids: These are the tiny particles that cause sludge buildup and operational issues if not removed properly and on time. For example, petroleum refining and mining operations.
High COD/BOD Levels: Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) are the measures that define the amount of oxygen needed to dissolve the organic material in the water. The wastewater with high levels of it is extremely polluted and harmful to the environment.
Impact on Water Resources
When the wastewater is not dumped properly, it can have a significant impact on water resources, such as:
Pollution of Water Bodies: The contaminated water can drive to the lakes, rivers, and oceans which can be dangerous for aquatic life.
Depletion of Freshwater Resources: So much wastewater dumping can lead to a scarcity of clean drinking water. A study by WHO confirms that - 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to safe drinking water.
Regulatory Penalties: If your industry does not follow environmental laws for wastewater management, it can incur heavy fines and reputation damage for you.
Understanding Effluent Treatment Plants
ETP stands for Effluent Treatment Plant. It is a process designed to remove solid, chemical, and organic substances from wastewater so that it can be safely reused or disposed of in the environment.
ETP solves all the wastewater challanges in industrial plants and gives an opportunity for your business be environmental-friendly, efficicent, and sustainable.
Key Objectives of ETPs
Here, are the key objective of installing an ETP in your company:
To separate the effluent wastewater from influent wastewater.
Remove sludges from wastewater to make it safe for dumping.
Make industrial wastewater environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Reuse and recycle the wastewater for better impact.
Major Treatment Processes For Industrial Waste Management
There are 4 main processes that make an effective Effluent Treatment Plan. They include Physio-chemical processes, biological processes, tertiary treatment, and sludge treatment. let’s learn them one by one.
Physio-Chemical Processes
In ETP, the first treatment process is physio-chemical. These include:
With parallel plates set at a 45° angle, the TPI system traps and collects oil and separates it from the water.
This process helps reduce oil content and prepares water for further treatment steps.
Biological Processes
After the physio-chemical treatment, biological processes take place:
The Bio Tower utilizes microorganisms to degrade organic material in wastewater and convert it into less harmful.
Then, the organic matter is adsorbed onto a biological film where aerobic microorganisms break it down in the outer layers.
Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen are added to support microbial activity.
Stabilized wastewater from the Bio Tower is recirculated. This is done to ensure further treatment before sending it to the Aeration Tank.
Tertiary Treatmen
Tertiary treatment removes hardness and reactive silica from treated effluent using lime, soda ash, dolomite, and alum in the High Rate Solid Contact Clarifier (HRSCC).
Dosing with alum, lime, and soda ash removes temporary and permanent hardness, adjusting the pH for optimal silica removal.
Dolomite containing CaO and MgO reacts to form Mg(OH)₂ which absorbs silica and creates sludge.
Sludge Treatment
Proper sludge management is crucial for the overall effectiveness of your ETP and to minimize environmental impact.
Biological sludge from the Activated Sludge Process (ASP) is thickened by gravity separation in a sedimentation tank (thickener) for volume reduction.
Oily sludge from TPI and DAF undergoes thickening to reduce its volume.
Chemical sludge from the HRSCC is also thickened to minimize volume before disposal.
Now all we are left with is treated water that is totally environment friendly and ready for recycling thick elements.
How ETPs Reduce Water Wastage
In the industries where waterwastage and usage is significant, ETPs comes as a life safer for reducing the wastage of water.
There are multiple industries that need ETP to steer clear of their enviromental resposibility and government laws. The major ones are:
Chemical manufacturing
Pharmaceuticals
Textile and dyeing
Food and beverage processing
Oil and gas refineries
Metal and minin
Automobile & auto parts manufacturing and more…
Here’s how ETPs can reduce water wastage and make up a sustailnable and responsible enviroment to live in for all these industries:
Efficient Water Usage
The core nature of effluent treatment plans in to make water usage more efficient in your plant:
Process optimization: If you adopt a process of always treating the water and reusing it in future processes you can reduce significant waste of fresh water. This makes you a more enviromnetally responsible industry as well.
Closed-loop systems: A close-loop water system keeps your water locked in the pipes for more volume and quality after the water is treated. This allows you to recirculated the treated water within the plant, which, in turn, reduces discharge and usage of freshwater.
Water audits: If you keep tabs on areas where water is largely used and monitor it regularly. You can find ways to improve the efficiency as the real problem unveils.
By focusing on the above aspects, you can dramatically reduce your plant's water footprint.
Recycling and Reuse
ETPs are able to reduces water wastage more effectively through the way od recycling and reuse.
Here’s how:
Cooling tower makeup: The cooling towers need water to makeup and with treated waters via ETPs you can do it. This reduces the excessive demand of freshwater for all the industrial operations.
Boiler feed water: When the water is thoroughly treated with ETPs, the recycled water can become useful as boiler feed water. This can save both - water and energy.
Cleaning and washing: Many industrail plants like edible oil and textile requires numerous cleaning operations. So they can use treated wastewater instead of fresh water wherever its not extremely needed.
Irrigation: Irrigation requires so much of water and treated water can be a best source to to use to its full potential if you have green spaces in your plant.
By implementing these strategies, you can save water, reduce operational costs and enhance your plant’s sustainability.
Real-Life Examples Of How ETP Can Transform Industrial Wastewater Management
Textile wastewater treatment
Due to the harmful effects of textile wastewater on the environment, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) required textile processing units in Tirupur to implement Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) systems based effluent treatment plants.
These systems treat and reuse wastewater in the dyeing process. This regulation was introduced because Tamil Nadu has been facing water shortages for many years due to low rainfall.
ETP for domestic water pollution and wastage
The major environmental concern is an urbanizing India relate to high levels of water pollution due to poor waste disposal, inadequate sewerage and drainage, and improper disposal of industrial effluents. The CETP (Common Effluent Treatment Plant) has been modified to operate as the first combined waste water treatment plant (CETP) in India treating industrial waste along with domestic sewage. It is successful in its treatment.
The process achieves greater than 95% BOD removal and maintains low BOD to COD ratio. Operation and maintenance in the plant is maintained strictly and also follows all the safety rules. Each and every treatment unit as per the design requirements and also can accommodate future inflow.
Technological Innovations in ETPs
The effluent treatment plant itself is an innovation that brought a big change in the waste water management practices. Many industries have witnessed the benefits of effluent treatment plant, as they transformed their business with it.
The demand for ETPs have gave rise to technological innovations in the field. The top innovations include:
Advanced Treatment Technologies
There are several cutting-edge wastewater treatment technologies making rounds in industries like edible oil plant manufacturers, petroleum refining units and more. They are:
Membrane bioreactors (MBR): MBR are systems that combine biological treatment with membrane filtration. This produces high quality treated effluent water which is compatible and suitable for reuse.
Advanced oxidation processes: There has been innovation in oxidation processes. The advanced versions are now available. The methos like ozonation or UV/hydrogen peroxide treatment efeftively break down hard and comlex organic compounds that are generally found in edible oil wastewater.
Electrocoagulation: This is a technological process that uses electricity to remove contaminants. This potentially reduces chemical usage in your ETP.
Automation and Monitoring
Automation is in every industry right now. So, why could ETPs stay behind. The major automation and monitoring innovation that are transforming ETP operations.
Real-time monitoring: A new portable device has been created that can quickly detect toxic heavy metals in industrial wastewater. It uses a handheld sensor with bacteria. When heavy metals are present, they stop the bacteria from breathing, making it easy to identify dangerous levels of these metals in the water.
Predictive maintenance: Certain AI-driven systems has the capabilities to predict equipment failures before they occur. This reduces downtime and improves overall industry efficiency.
Machine learning: The data about a wastewater’s BOD, COD, PH levels and more are recorded and run through machine learning algorithms to categorize the waste as toxic or non-toxic while maintaining quality and environmental standards.
Remote operation: There are modern ETPs that can be monitored and controlled remotely. This gives you complete control of the plant and offers 24*7 insights and oversight for a quick response to any issues.
Environmental and Economic Benefits
Implementing an effective effluent treatment plant like N&T Engitech in your factory setting is not just about meeting environmental laws. It about numerous economic and enviormental benefits of treating wastewater it comes with.
Reduction in Environmental Impact
When you implement ETPs for treating your industrial waste water, you are enabling various benefits like:
Cleaner water bodies: The effluent that is treated properly and effectively helps you maintain the cleanliness and health of local rivers, its acquatic life, lakes, and ground water.
Biodiversity protection: The reduction in the dumping of hard and toxic pollutants in water bodies help conserve its natural state and preserves the aquatic ecosystems.
Reduced carbon footprint: With efficient water treatment and continuing the practice of recycle and resume you can reduce your plant’s overall energy consumption related to carbon emissions.
The above mentioned environmental benefits help protect our planet earth and enhance your company's reputation as a responsible corporate citizen while promoting sustainable society.
Cost Savings and Efficiency
ETPs can lead to significant cost savings and improved efficiency. Here’s how:
Reduced water costs: The investment required in acquiring and using freshwater can be significantly reduced as the ETPs promote reuse of the treated water in processes where it can be ok to use it.
Lower discharge fees: Many regions charge for wastewater discharge based on volume and quality. Better treatment via ETPs means lower discharge fee to pay and significant cost savings, ultimately.
Energy savings: There are several powerful and efficient ETPs in the market that even comes with energy recovery systems. These plants can minimize the overall energy consumption and hence its costs.
Avoided fines: With ETPs in place, you will automatically adhere to the environmental laws and reguletions. Hence, you will never have to pay fines and penalties.
Future Trends in Effluent Treatment
Now you know the benefits and reasons to get yourself a effuent treatment plant. Its innovative tech can transform the water waste management.
Let’s look at some top trends that the future of effluent treatment may witness:
Zero liquid discharge (ZLD): More and more plants are moving towards ZLD systems. They are focusing more on treating the water, recycling and reuse. The aim is to eliminate wastewater discharge entirely.
Energy-neutral treatment: Innovations in biogas recovery from anaerobic treatment processes are making energy-neutral or even energy-positive ETPs a reality.
Green chemistry: The use of environmentally friendly chemicals in the treatment process is gaining traction. The reason is to make waterwaste management a more efficient and achievable.
Water circularity: Treating wastewater to a quality suitable for reuse in various processes creates a closed loop water system within your plant. This enables the usage of same treated water in various operations of the company plant.
Conclusion
Industrial water waste management is not just a requirement but a necessity now. The challenges of regulation compliance, increased costs and endangered enviroment & earth has gave rise to effluent treatment plants. The ETPs can overcome all the challenges with its unique and detailed process of separating hazardous water elements and water with only treated water left on the surface.
Remember, the journey towards efficient wastewater management is ongoing. Stay informed about technological advancements, regulatory changes, and emerging sustainable practices. Regularly assess and upgrade your ETP to ensure it continues to meet your plant's evolving needs. In the end, ETP is a commitment to sustainability, efficiency, and responsible business practices.
So if you are industrial entity like an edible oil plant or so, you must look for an effective ETP manufacturers like N&T Engitech. We are the renowned manufacturers, suppliers, and exporters of high-quality Effluent Treatment Plants. Our innovative solutions cater to diverse industries and ensure effective treatment of wastewater to meet regulatory requirements.
Plus, the wastewater process of our ETP plant treats organic matter, inorganic matter, heavy metals, oils and greases, suspended particles and other contaminants. Take the first step towards efficient wastewater treatment today.
