Pollution Research Paper

CHARACTERIZATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF DAIRY EFFLUENTS

ASHA RANI GARG, SEEMA GARCHA, ASHISH KUMAR SINGH, KAMALDEEP AND ANKIT MAGOTRA

Abstract

Water is one of the most important requirements of all living beings and there is a dearth of pure water resources at global scenario owing to continuous pollution. Pollution caused by industrial and dairy effluent is a serious concern throughout the world. The present study was conducted to characterize the physicochemical properties of the effluent from Dairy Plant located at Patiala and an attempt was made using the process of bioremediation to treat the dairy effluent using Kluyveromyces marxianus MTCC 3772, Candida parapsilosis MTCC 1744 and Candida haemulonii MTCC 1966 in terms of their COD reduction, pH, survival and TOC reduction of the dairy effluent. The physical parameters under study include color and appearance, odour, temperature, pH, total solids (TS), total dissolved solids (TDS) and total suspended solids (TSS). The chemical parameters checked include chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), oil and grease, phosphorous content, total sugars, total proteins and total organic content (TOC). Our findings revealed that the dairy effluent was dirty white to greyish in color having turbidity with disagreeable pungent odour and temperature ranged from 20°C -25°C.The pH of dairy effluent ranged between 6.2-7.2. The amount of TS, TDS and TSS of the dairy effluent were 2400 mg/L, 2300 mg/L and 1000 mg/L. COD and DO of untreated dairy effluent sample ranged from 2880-8000 mg/L and 45-51 mg/L respectively. The content of oil and grease, phosphorous content, total sugars, total protein and TOC were recorded as 320 mg/L, 11.7 mg/L, 29 μg /mL, 1600 μg/mL and 540-2240 mg/L respectively. It was observed that Kluyveromyces marxianus has the maximum bio remediating benefit and it has maximum capacity to utilize the organic waste of dairy effluent than other two microbial cultures. After biological treatment dairy effluent is treated with activated charcoal and it became more clear and transparent. Thus, further studies at larger scale must be performed in this aspect to save our valuable resource of life.