A novel multi-phase treatment scheme for odorous rubber effluent

ABSTRACT

Despite the great profits of rubber latex production, its preliminary processing releases a large amount of wastewater into the water bodies from several processing steps. This rubber effluent is rich in total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total dissolved solids (TDS), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Therefore, the study addressed a liquid phase treatment of the effluent using an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor followed by coagu-flocculation and aeration. In addition, the gas phase (containing odorous hydrogen sulphide of 10–12% by volume) from the UASB reactor was sent to a caustic scrubber where the H₂S removal efficiency of 63 ± 5% was achieved. This integrated multi-phase treatment scheme proved to be an effective approach by reducing TKN, TDS, BOD and COD by 68–87%, 61–69%, 81–84% and 81–87% respectively in the final effluent.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• UASB reactor
• hydrogen sulphide
• coagu-flocculation
• rubber effluent
• TKN

Acknowledgement

Green Trust Latex Industries Ltd., BSCIC, Moulvibazar, Sylhet, Bangladesh is gratefully acknowledged for providing the scope for this study. We would like to thank Mr. Zahid Ansary, Training Institute for Chemical Industries, Narsingdi, Bangladesh for analytical support with gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. We also thank Mr. Ferdous and Mr. Rais, Shahajalal University of Science and Technology, for assisting with analytical tools, chemicals, and consumables supply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.