Abstract

Bioremediation of Industrial Effluent by Agro Based Mixed Culture (ABMC)

Author(s): Hetal Mandalaywala and Ratna Trivedi

Industrial Effluents are mainly composed of suspended solids, high levels of organic pollutants, fats, oil and grease and are often being classified as ‘high strength’. High strength effluents cannot be discharged into natural water bodies as they deplete the dissolved oxygen of the natural water body and thus render a potential threat to aquatic flora and fauna. Hence these industrial effluents must be treated before discharging, by effective methods. The conventional methods require the use of chemicals and are of high cost. Thus there is a need to develop new intensive biotechnological methods for the treatment of waste water. A laboratory-scaled experiment was conducted to test the bioremediation potential of agro based mixed culture (ABMC) for industrial effluents. Different variables like temperature and concentration ofABMC (%v/v) were tested for 13 days of treatment. The results were compared with the waste water sample without adding ABMC as control. The water quality parameters analyzed were pH, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). All parameters showed significant difference, improving the water quality, compared to the untreated sample. The study revealed that the ABMC could remove 75.46%BOD and 76%COD. The pH turned acidic due to the formation of acids as a result of decomposition of organic matter. This study indicated that ABMC has bioremediation potential of improving the water quality of industrial effluents. The biological treatment using ABMC is effective and the agricultural waste being cheap and easily available makes this method economical in practice.