Effluent Treatment Plant or ETP for Food Industry

The evolution of various industrial sectors and expansive urbanization greatly results in increased water consumption and also results in generation of wastewater which considerably diverse in nature, toxicity and treatability. Among all industrial activities, the food industry/sector requires a large volume of water to process food and is the biggest generator of wastewater/effluent.

Wastewater from food processing facilities is often high in strength hence it requires pre-treatment before its discharge into the environment or for reuse. To put it simply, it is mandatory for all the food processing industries to set up ETP or Effluent Treatment Plant for effective wastewater management.

1. What if effluent, how is it generated from food industry and its characteristics:

Most of the industries produce wastewater also known as effluent, as a bi-product of their production process. The effluent/wastewater generated varies so greatly in both flow and pollution strength and consists of several contaminants/pollutants, which can be removed with the help of an effluent treatment plant (ETP).

Food industry requires greater amount of water for processing food product. Wastewater discharged from food and beverage industries vary with strength and characteristics. Effluent from food industry consists of high concentrations of suspended solids, total solids, BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand), COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), dissolved oxygen, oil and grease, fats, sugar, color, preservatives, and usually nutrients such as nitrogen, ammonia and phosphate etc.

2. ETP – Proven and most effective solution for effluent/wastewater treatment in food industry:

ETP for food industry is developed and integrated with an advanced technology without which water-borne pathogens can spread out and results in diseases and degradation of receiving water bodies. ETP greatly reduces the negative impacts of the effluents to aquatic ecosystems and to humans hence effluent treatment plant has proven to be an effective solution for effluent treatment applications.

Effluent treatment plant or ETP for food industries/food processing industries is the best way to overcome from water pollution. It’s main objective is to produce a product that can be safely discharged into a watercourse or sewer in compliance with the recommended limits for discharge.

Importance of ETP for Food and Beverage Industry:
1. Efficient and practical
2. Convenient to use
3. More effective compliance with the law
4. Uplift industry image
5. Self sustaining system

3. Different treatment methods and levels of effluent treatment plant (ETP):

Here, are the 3 wastewater treatment methods used in ETP for food industry to reduce the potential impact on the environment.
1. Physical Treatment Methods
2. Chemical Treatment Methods and
3. Biological Treatment Methods

Generally, ETPs undergoes four (4) treatment levels such as preliminary treatment level, primary treatment level, secondary treatment level and tertiary treatment level. All these treatment processes/levels have the potential to treat the effluent from food industry and bring down its parameters to the permissible ones.

1. Pretreatment or preliminary treatment level:
Being a first treatment level, it removes coarse solids and other large materials that are found in effluent to avoid damage to subsequent treatment units. Preliminary treatment operations typically include coarse screening, grit removal and, in some cases, breaking of large objects into the smaller objects. Partially treated wastewater is now subjected to next treatment level called primary treatment level.

2. Primary treatment level:
It’s objective is removal of large solids from the wastewater via physical settling or filtration. It involves separation of floating material and heavy solids from liquid waste. The primary clarifiers can effectively remove 50-60% of the suspended solids. Oil and grease, organic nitrogen, organic phosphorus, and heavy metals associated with solids are also removed during primary sedimentation.

3. Secondary treatment level:
The major purpose of this treatment level is to remove suspended solids and residual organic matter which can be done using aerobic and anaerobic processes. The activated sludge process is the most common option in secondary treatment. It involves aeration tank where oxygen is supplied to the microorganisms which results in removal of biodegradable dissolved and colloidal organic matter.

4. Tertiary treatment level:
The purpose of this treatment level is to further improve the effluent quality before it is discharged to the receiving environment. It removes the contaminants that were not removed in previous treatment levels. It involves disinfection process (using chlorine, UV light, ozone) which leaves no harmful residues that would need to be removed from the wastewater after treatment.

Water that we recovered after all these treatment levels can be recycled and reused for various uses/applications in the food industry.

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