Physico-chemical Analysis of Effluents from Pharmaceutical Industry and Its Efficiency Study

There is an increasing trend to require more efficient use of water resources, both in urban & rural areas .The aim of the present research work was to determine the behavior of various parameters of the pharmaceutical wastewater. The company produces bulk drugs, antibiotics, pain killers, food additives, personal care products and others. It is important for the industry to develop its own wastewater treatment system before discharging the effluent in order to meet the Karnataka State Pollution control Board (KSPCB) standards. Reduction of pollutants in the wastewater down to permissible concentrations is necessary for the protection of ground water and the environment. In order to design an appropriate treatment system the characteristic of the wastewater generated need to be found out with reference to the following parameters; temperature, pH, total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), oil & grease, chlorides & sulphates An intensive analytical programme was followed for 4 months for monitoring pharmaceutical wastewater. The characteristics of the waste water for the inlet to outlet for the septic tanks variations were TSS ranged between 4300-94 mg/L, TDS ranging between 2846-1308 mg/L, COD ranging between7280-9.9mg/L, BOD ranging between 4132-6.6 mg/L, chlorides ranging between 1000-300 mg/L, sulphates between 500-300 mg/l and pH ranging between 7.43-7.14 mg/L. Evaluation of data presented revealed that the order of reduction efficiency was COD < TDS < BOD < TSS. Additionally, the problems associated with the operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment plants is discussed.