Treatability Study of Pharmaceutical Wastewater by Hydrodynamic Cavitation Process
Abstract
In the present work, degradation of pharmaceutical effluent has been investigated using hydrodynamic cavitation process. In this study, the effect of hydrodynamic cavitation was examined for the different time intervals from 0 to 150 mins. In hydrodynamic cavitation pump was used of 1 H.P capacity and reactor capacity were 50 litres. With hydrodynamic cavitation, the maximum COD removal achieved was 80.36% in 90 mins.
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Introduction
The existence of pharmaceutical substances in the aquatic environment and their possible effects on living organisms are a growing concern. The treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater to the desired effluent standards has always been difficult due to the wide variety of the products that are produced in a drug manufacturing plant. Variable wastewater composition and fluctuations in pollutant concentrations cannot be treated by conventional treatment plants. Activated sludge process is a well-for removing various organic contaminants and organic carbon. However, the substances synthesized by pharmaceutical industries are organic chemicals that are structurally complex and resistant to biological degradation. The treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater requires some complementary techniques that could efficiently remove pollutants and enable the wastewater to be discharged into receiving water or be reused for industrial purposes.
Pharmaceutical and antibiotic residues from human, animal and medical waste enter in the water and soil from: 1) The effluent treatment plants of manufacturing facilities, 2) The municipal sewage treatment plant, 3) Hospital waste treatment plants, or 4) Animal farms.
Most pharmaceutical substances are, by nature, biologically active and hydrophilic, in order that the human body can take them up easily, and persistent, to avoid degradation before they have a curing effect. Depending on the pharmacology of a medical substance it will be excreted as a mixture of metabolites, as unchanged substance, or conjugated with an inactivating compound attached to the molecule. When they enter a wastewater treatment plant, xenobiotic is not usually completely mineralized. They are either partially retained in the sludge or metabolized to a more hydrophilic but still persistent form and, therefore, pass through the wastewater-treatment plant and end up in the receiving waters.
Conclusion
The degradation of wastewater from pharmaceutical wastewater was investigated by the cavitation process. The cavitation process was done in two ways acoustic and hydrodynamic. Therefore, maximum efficiency of COD removal is achieved at 90 mins, 80.36% with hydrodynamic cavitation without any use of chemical.
Cavitation is eco-friendly way to reduce the pollution load of wastewater. These processes differ from the other treatments processes because wastewater compounds are degraded rather than concentrated or transferred into a different phase and secondary waste materials are not generated. Sludge generation is very less compared to other processes.
