A review on sugar industry wastewater: sources, treatment technologies, and reuse

摘要

Sugar industries have an important place in the Indian economic development. However, the wastewater generated from these industries bear a high degree of pollution load. Sugar industries in India generate about 1,000 L of wastewater for one ton of sugar cane crushed. Wastewater from sugar industry, if discharged without treatment, poses pollution problems in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In this review, the sugar industry wastewater generation sources, characteristics, recent advancements in the aerobic, anaerobic, and physico-chemical treatment technologies, and the areas needing further research have been explored. Possibility of treated wastewater reuse was also investigated. Most of the research work for sugar industry wastewater treatments has been carried out by anaerobic treatment processes. However, oil and grease are not easily degraded by anaerobic processes. Also, an anaerobic process partly degrades nutrients whereas, aerobic processes consume higher energy. Anaerobic-aerobic combined systems can remove organics completely. Unfortunately, very few studies are available for anaerobic-aerobic combined systems, and more work is needed in this field.