Pages 332–342
Abstract
Research summary supplied by the authors
Due to the limited fresh water sources and increased water demand in the tannery industry, a promising technology for treating tannery wastewater is the need to comply the current environmental regulations. Tannery wastewater is characterized by the presence of high concentrations of organic matter, sulphides, salinity, chromium, etc. Conventional treatment methods which involves many stages of operations such as secondary clarifier, tertiary treatment, etc. often facing challenges to achieve stringent standards due to their limited efficiency in the removal of pollutants and high operational footprint. Since the discharge standards of wastewater has noticeably becoming stringent in recent times, substantial advancements have been made in the tannery wastewater treatment technologies which focuses on the sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective systems. The integration of biological, physico-chemical with membrane-based processes offers improved pollutant removal with minimal stages of operations, reduced sludge generation, and improved water reuse potential. Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR) can be an innovative option for wastewater treatment in providing quality permeate which offers the reuse of treated wastewater. MBR can be advantage of achieving high retention of solid particles, elimination of secondary clarifier, and producing quality permeate. MBR can be used with higher Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) and can be increased upto 12000 mg/L. The MBR permeate which has SDI < 5, can be the best feed for RO treatment so that the reuse of treated tannery wastewater for leather processing can be achieved. The membrane fouling issues are being addressed in the treatment system as well as by introducing cleaner process technologies. In the present study, it is shown that incorporation of metal oxides in the membranes improves the challenges in membrane bioreactors, thus highlighting the sustainable treatment strategies for further applied research and field applications.