Page 36 - Industrial Wastewater Treatment, Recycling and Reuse

Industrial Wastewater Treatment, Recycling, and Reuse: An Overview 19

Figure 1.8 Key issues in effluent treatment.

• Can we recover useful chemicals and/or energy from industrial
wastewater?
• Conservation of water?
It is imperative that we have answers to not just one or two issues listed
above, but to all issues for proper preservation and utilization of our existing
water resources and effective and efficient utilization of water for industrial
applications in general, thereby eliminating or minimizing threats to man-
kind from the scarcity of water and the dangers of environmental pollution.
Thus, there is a need to look beyond the popular approach of the 3Rs and
find effective ways to eliminate pollution-related issues along with recovery
of useful chemicals or energy to maximize process benefits and profitability.
The challenge in development of sustainable waste management
technologies for chemical and allied industries is not simple for the very rea-
son that most of the existing wastewater treatment methodologies differ
significantly from each other, not just in their principles, but in their
form of application and, most importantly, in process economics with huge
differences in land, equipment, and material requirements. Today, the
industrial-wastewater engineer must be familiar with the manufacturing
process and the chemistry of the raw materials, products, and byproducts.
In recent years growth in industrial activity has significantly altered the com-
position of wastewaters. Pollutants that are resistant to biological oxidation
have become predominant (e.g., synthetic detergents, petrochemicals, syn-
thetic rubber), requiring the development of new nonbiological processes
and approaches to water-pollution control. Ready-to-use solutions are