Cost‐effective pre‐treatment of agro‐industrial wastewater

Pre‐treatment of wastewater discharged from a potato‐chips factory was the subject of this study. Wastewater discharged from this factory is characterized by high values of BOD, TSS and oil and grease (3,685, 4,115 and 169mg/l, respectively). Treatability studies via continuous aerobic and anaerobic methods treatment have been investigated. The results obtained showed marked improvement in the quality of the treated effluent using packing material versus the upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor (UASB) without packing. An extra removal in COD (53 per cent), BOD (61 percent), TSS (52 per cent) and oil and grease (46 per cent) was obtained. Corresponding residual values were 398mgO₂/l, 235mgO₂/l, 108mg/l and 38mg/l, respectively. Based on the laboratory results, engineering designs and economic evaluation of the different treatment systems were developed.