Globally, industrial water consumption increases with time and produces huge amount of waste water. If this trend continues, there will be irreparable damage to global water resources and our environment. Recycling and reuse of industrial waste water and/or adoption of zero discharge techniques could be the strategy to tackle this and protect water resources from critical damages in future. Mithapur unit of Tata Chemicals (TCL) is well knows as a producer of soda ash and produces about 400 kgs of solid waste per day. Earlier, the solid waste was dumped continuously with seawater in remote areas and this ash-like waste grew to coverage of 30 acres. As a mitigation measure, in collaboration with TCL, TERI has developed a green belt on those waste dumps which is irrigated only with a 1: 1 mixture of sea water and ETP water. Such strategy works in both ways:  reuse of waste water and less use of fresh water.The wastewater discharged by Madhya Bharat Paper Mill industry is highly heterogeneous and contains compounds from raw materials, processed chemicals, and other compounds formed during processing. TERI has developed a low cost alternative technology based on HRTS (high rate transpiration system) principle where selected plants species are used for reclamation as well as providing an option of loading huge volumes of wastewaters in a small area of land with no obvious side effects. Distillery industries produce waste water approximately 12-15 times by volume of the product alcohol. TERI has developed an innovative technology which is a package of plants with very high rate of transpiration and microbes selected for offering high tolerance to plants for survival and establishment using mycorrhizal applications. In leather industry, tanning is the main process that protects leather against some environmental effects such as microbial degradation, heat, sweat or moisture. About 90% of tanneries in the world use chromium salts as tannage materials because of the excellent properties of the chromium compounds in the tanning. However, only 60% of the total chromium reacts with the hides. The rest of the chromium remains in the tanning effluent and are subsequently sent to an effluent treatment plant (ETP) where the chromium salts end up in the sludge. TERI in collaboration with Delhi University has developed a unique Cr recovery process by using biological (e.g. microbes, plants) and green chemistry approach. Recovery of Cr more than 99% has been achieved through this process. Such intervention increases the reuse potential of tannery waste water.

Wastewater re-use and management in industrial sector

248th National Meeting (2014)

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