Feasibility Studies on Recycling/Reuse of Wastewater from Automobile Industry

Abstract

The wastewater from automobile industry consists of high organic, inorganic matter with oil and grease and heavy metals. If partially treated or untreated wastewater is discharged to damage the geo-environment. Sustainable growth in automobile industry warrants water conservation. The effluents recycle/reuse provides a novel opportunity to augment the increasing demand and enhance the idea of closing the water cycle (Takashi Asano, 2002). Water reclamation refers to the capture, treatment, and recycling/reuse of wastewater, typically for non-potable purposes. Implementation of wastewater reclamation, recycling/reuse need to be promoted for preservation of limited water resources. The automobile industry is therefore, a prime member for the recycle/reuse of treated wastewater. Recycled water satisfies more water demands in automobile industry, as long as it is adequately treated. The issues like water quality criteria, techno-economic analysis are essential components for water reuse. The treatment technologies engaged for treating the automobile effluent are dissolved air floatation (DAF) (Reed et. al. 1998), oil & water separator and chemical treatment, where coagulant like alum, ferrous sulphate and calcium chlorite and coagulant aid PAC are added (Mazumder and Mukherjee; 2011). The biological treatment includes biological filter, sequencing batch reactor (SBR), anaerobic sequencing batch biofilm reactor (Oliveira et al; 2007) and constructed wetlands (Cañizares et al. 2008). In advance treatment system such as ultrafiltration (UF) (Zhao et al. 2006) is used for water recovery. Among all technologies, ultrafiltraion is found to be most efficient (Mazumder and Mukherjee; 2011) for recovery of water. An attempt is made to access the feasibility of recycle/ reuse of wastewater from automobile industry through conventional and advanced treatment process. Studies were carried out on secondary treated effluent on laboratory and pilot scale model on sand filtration and activated carbon column with chlorination process. The treatment scheme comprises oil and grease separator, chemical treatment, and bio-oxidation process followed by filtration and adsorption processes with or without membrane separation process is a techno-economical viable option for recycle/reuse of treated water. The water conservation in automobile industry can achieved through recycle/reuse of treated effluent.