SEMINAR PAPER ON WASTE TREATEMENT

ABSTRACT

This seminar report includes brief reviews of optional water treatment method that can be used in lower level of income generating waste producing factory.  It explains the main option that would be available. Waste water treatment is costly business. Most of small scale level soap manufacturing factory ignore it and direct dumping on site is done. Once waste water is produced it has to be treating before disposing.  So, this report mainly focuses on necessity of waste treatment on soap industry.  Also this seminar paper includes option of waste treatment method in lower cost by using useful bacteria to treat wastewater that is termed as aerobic waste water treatment.

Key words:

Waste management, reed plant, reed bed, triclosans, constructed wetland, aerobic method

             LITERATURE REVIEW:

Oceans ESU ltd. offers reed bed system design for effluent from industry, agriculture and other sources.  They involved in initial development and engineering of this natural process as a viable industrial solution.  They claim that it is possible to install reed bed of any size even in single domestic wastes to large excesses of 3000 acres and also they said it is most cheaper and easier to maintain.

The study was performed by the Environmental Engineering Division (EP), of the Environmental Sustainment Laboratory (EL), U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (USACERL).  U.S. Army installations practice anaerobic digestion for sludge stabilization, followed by the use of conventional sand-drying beds for sludge dewatering.  Army plants, commonly use sand-drying beds to dewater sludge for their many advantages: they are simple in design; easy to operate; low-maintenance; energy-efficient; and relatively expensive to construct, operate, and maintain. With these systems, the sludge is simply spread over the sand-drying beds and dewatered by a combination of evaporation and drainage.  Some problem arose in sand drying bed system, then they applied reed plant system which was effective to sand drying system.  By this organization, this system uses the common reed  to treat wastewater sludges.

Reed bed technology has been successfully demonstrated in the northeastern United States in sludge dewatering (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [USEPA] September 1987).  This study surveyed technical information on the use of reed bed technology to establish the baseline for using this relatively new alternative technology at U.S. Army wastewater treatment plant.

II.               INTRODUCTION:

“Global and local: societies, environments and globalization” (schweizer, 2001) reported that anti bacterial or antifungal soaps or handwash uses chemical called “Active-B” or triclosan.  Triclosans is an antibacterial and antifungal agent found in consumer products, including soaps, detergents, toys and surgical cleaning treatments (Halden, 2014).  Its functional groups include both phenols and ethers (Triclosan). It is used as a synthetic broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent.  Triclosan was first registered as a pesticide in 1969. Additional research seeks to understand its potential effects on organisms and environmental health. One of the most famous brands also is using this chemical.  Subsequent laboratory testing and clinical trials result that widespread use of everyday household product containing triclosan could lead to appearance of multi-resistant super germs as they induced genetic changes to bacteria. It penetrates skin and enters bloodstreams more easily and has to turn up everywhere from aquatic life (smithsonian).  According to united state food and drug administration “no evidence indicates that triclosan in personal care product provides extra benefit to health, study shows that substantial quantities of triclosan (170,000-970,000 kg/yr) can break through wastewater treatment and damage algae on surface water.  This possesses potential hazards to environment and ecology particularly for aquatic system.  Triclosan should be sent to municipal waste water treatment plant where about 97 to 98 % of tryclosan is removed (halden).  So, waste water treatment is essential for saving environment and aqueous life.

Aerobic method of treatement can be of many type.  But feasible and accepted method can be reed bed system and contact bed system of waste management.

A.                 CONTACT BED SYSTEM

Contact bed system  is a watertight bed filled with coarse material and used for purifying sewage which after being run into the bed and left for some hours in contact with the material to promote bacterial action is filtered off and the bed aerated (An Encyclopedia Britannica Company).  Contact beds are tanks containing the inert substances, such as stones or slate that maximized the surface area available for the microbial growth to break down sewage,  the sewage is held in a tank until it was fully decomposes and it is filtered out into groud or can be disposed outside.  So, in this type of industry sewage or wastes can be deposited in a contact bed tank and after we knew that, the bacterial growth has decomposes  the sewage, treatement would complete

B.                 REED BED SYSTEM:

Reed beds are nature’s sewage and purification system for septic tank, waste water, effluent (self build and design, 2004).  Reed bed system is worldwide use, especially in rural areas unconnected to large-scale sewage system.  This system is a man-made, engineered, marsh-like area designed and constructed to treat wastewater. Constructed wetlands are a cost-effective alternative to conventional treatment systems, simple to both install and operate. Furthermore, this systems are low-cost technologies which are able to control environmental pollution.

This technology is currently evolving into an acceptable, economically competitive alternative for many wastewater treatment applications.  Reed beds effectively remove Nitrogen and Phosphorus and the quality of effluent is better than secondary treatment at a conventional wastewater treatment plant.  So, for soap wastes this may be helpful in lower scale.  Reed bed systems have many applications in low-income countries, because of the low operating and maintenance costs, which local people could be trained to do. Aquatic plants remove pollutants by directly assimilating them into their tissue and by providing a suitable environment for micro-organisms to transform pollutants and reduce their concentration. They are also known to stimulate the soil activity

1.                      STEPS IN WASTE TREATMENT:

Two basic steps occur in the treatment of wastewater by aerobic method for soap waste. The first step, called primary treatment, consists of the removal of solid material, such as grit or  grease, from the wastewater by physical means, i.e., settling and flotation in tanks.

The second step, called secondary treatment, removes the dissolved material by biological means, i.e., consumption by microorganisms. It is in the secondary treatment stage where the most important process in reducing the exposure concentration of detergent ingredients occurs. This is called biodegradation. Biodegradation describes how organic (carbon-containing) detergent ingredients, like surfactants, enzymes and fragrances, are broken down into carbon  dioxide, water and minerals by the action of microorganisms such as bacteria. At this stage, biodegradation reduces the amount of detergent, soap ingredients discharged into the environment to levels that do not present a risk to fish or other aquatic life. Any small amounts of chemicals which are not biodegraded or removed during sewage treatment are diluted in surface waters and soils.[1]

III.             METHODOLOGY:

• Direct interview to employee of factory that produces wastes.
• Direct visit to industry to observe the environmental hazards due to disposing without treating.
• Different research papers were consulted.

“Kamalsaan herbal production pvt ltd”, Balaju industrial estates, Balaju was visited in order to know if there were any kind of treatment system before disposing it, then It was known that, there were no any system of treatment (Shrestha, 2014). That was small scale soap manufacturing factory which has capacity of producing

• 500 kg of herbal soap per day
• 1000 kg of washing soap per week
• 1000 kg of detergent per week

Data of untreated waste from factory was collected. 20 ltrs/day of water for washing purpose was found to be used.  So per day production of untreated wastages in the factory is 20 ltrs of water which contains oils and 7% unusable processed soap. They directly dispose to drainage system.  From waste disposal system of this industry, the ultimate affect is to aqueous system.  If any small scale type of treatment was done before directly disposing then, many percentage of harmful chemical entering aquatic life would be controlled.

“Himalaya sabun uddyog” of Nawalparasi, kawasoti was visited and depositing the wastes in a pit was observed.  Proper scientific deposition forming a bed would be appreciable but the deposition was random and that system was not for long term.  Local people were affected by odor from diposits.  And public protest due to such problem will force the industry to shut down or move the plant.  So in this case too proper treatment before disposing is necessary.  Several industries were approached to know the treatments before disposing maximum small scale type of industry were not found to install scientific way of treatment.  So, my approach is to aware people about economical method of waste treatment.

IV.           FEASIBILITY STUDY:

In order to analyze the feasibility of aerobic method (reed bed system) three parameters has been considered as;

• Cost
• Environment
• Social

A.                 COST

Installation cost:

Firstly, cost and resources were the main factors affecting how and where to propose such a solution to the waste.  Because cost use for waste treatement is considered as unproductive waste and many want to be escaped from this.  The construction of a reed bed consists of cheap materials, such as pebbles, certain reeds, PVC piping and polyethylene (Wong, 2009).

Maintenance cost:

One of the major advantages of reed bed treatment plants is the fact they require very little maintenance. There are a few steps that will help promote the effectiveness of reed beds.

• Harvesting:

On the second year and thereafter the reeds should be harvested annually at least once, up to twice a year. The reed plants should be cut to roughly 20cm above the gravel surface.

• Checking blocking to Pipes

The main types of blockages that occur will be from the roots.  Hence, ensure that they do not grow too aggressively near the piping.  This can be done by trimming and harvesting the reeds every so often, but also a plastic barrier can be created between the reed roots and the reed bed membrane.

• Annual draining

It should be done to allows the upper region of the reed bed to dry out and de-clog. The water should be slowly reduced to minimize the amount of wastewater exiting the system at a time.

B.                 ENVIRONMENT

As the wastes from industry cause pollution i.e. disposing garbage into pit, the system not only reduces the pollution level in that area but also induces no other problematic harm to the environment.  Another advantage of the system is that the reed bed uses naturally-occurring process.  Therefore it has strong credibility for sustainability and low-environmental impact. .

C.                 SOCIAL

The main social factor to consider is to adapt to the cultural difference and, thus, having a program which would easily be introduced into the community effectively and efficiently. The reed bed system meets these criteria.  It requires low levels of maintenance and can be easily built.[2]

Feasibility study for contact bed system[3]:

A septic system usually includes three components: the septic tank, a drainfield and the soil beneath the drainfield.  The tank must be a watertight container constructed of a sound, durable material resistant to corrosion or decay (concrete, fiber reinforced plastic, fiberglass, or polyethylene).  Area coverage parameters for this system is Area occupied, cost of installation, durability.  So the total cost coverage will be low and area occupied is low.  So it is feasible for small scale.

V.               FINDINGS

• In case of kamalasaan herbal production pvt ltd, economical and very old method called contact bed system can be applied.
• In case of Himalaya sabun uddyog, we can observe that there is land place for treatement so in such a case where there is availability of land we can use, reed bed.
• The use of aerobic method of treatment of wastes from soap is found to be economical and feasible in context in Nepalese scenario.

VI.           LIMITATIONS

• This technology doesn’t include what if the excessive bacterial growth take place, how to dispose the bacteria.
• Reed Bed system is not effective urbanized area or where the land to be used for system is more beneficial for using in other purpose.
• During installation, it is necessary to take advice from expertise.
• Contact bed system cannot be use for the the industry that has high rate of production of wastages so, it is limited to only small scale.

VII.         CONCLUSION:

A background investigation showed that reed bed and contact bed technology has relatively broad application in disposing waste sand sludge.  As we know that prevention is better than cure, first you have to try not to produce hazardous waste but all the time it may not be possible.  In this case being a responsible person you have to at least try to use feasible technology before disposing it randomly.

 VIII.    REFERENCES

A thompson, P. G. (2005). The fate and removal of triclosan during waste water treatement. water environment .

An Encyclopedia Britannica Company. (n.d.). Merriam webster. Retrieved from Merriam webster web site: http://www.merriam-webster.com

Blowing in the wind. (n.d.). Retrieved from reedbeduk.co.uk.

Encyclopedia britannica. (n.d.). reed. Retrieved from Search Britanika: http://www.britanica.com

halden, R. (n.d.). On the need and speed of regulating Triclosan and Triclocarbon in united state. Environmental science and technology , 44.

Halden, R. (2014). On The need and speed of regulating Triclosan and Triclocarbon in United State. Environmental Science and Technology , 44.

national food and crop center. (2011, 11 22). . NNFCC Renewable Fuels and Energy Factsheet . Anaerobic Digestion .

schweizer, h. p. (2001). global and local: societies, environment and globalization. sciencedirect artical pii , 202 (1), 1-7.

self build and design. (2004, oct). Blowing in the wind. Retrieved from reedbeduk.co.uk: http://www.reedbeduk.com

Shrestha, S. (2014, aug 22). Waste Treatement. (G. Basyal, Interviewer)

smithsonian. (n.d.).

Treatement with Macrophytes. (n.d.). Retrieved from Greywater reuse: http://www.greywaterreuse.com

Triclosan. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org.com

Wong, C. (2009). reed bed. In The Reed Bed Sewage Treatment System (pp. 25-26).

APPENDIX:

summary of cost consideration for reed bed system in Nepal (UN-HABITAT, 2008)
Plant	total construction cost(US $)	per sq m(US $)	maintenance cost
Dhulikhel Hospital	16000	60	150
ENPHO lab	570	40
Kathmandu University	26000	40	290
Sunga Thimi	3500	85	520
Private House Ktm	520	85
Pokhara Sub municipal	85700	20

TRIBHUWAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING

THAPATHALI CAMPUS

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING)

A SEMINAR REPORT ON

“POSSIBLE AEROBIC METHOD FOR WASTE WATER TREATEMENT IN SMALL SCALE SOAP INDUSTRY.

SUMITTED BY:

GEETA BASYAL

COLLEGE ROLL NO: 067/BIE/14

September, 2014

TRIBHUWAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING

THAPATHALI CAMPUS