Author: Ashmeet Kharbanda, K. Prasanna

DOI:

Dairy wastewater when released from the industry is highly rich in organic matter, suspended solids, oil and grease, fats, nitrogen, phosphorous and calcium. After disposal it may cause water as well as land eutrophication and can block soil pores thus resulting in reduced levels of soil infiltration. When send to the treatment units this dairy wastewater also results in crystalline deposits. Dairy wastewater is classified as nutrient rich wastewater containing sufficient amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and calcium that can be separated or extracted by suitable methods. The extraction of these nutrients is done using a lab scale batch reactor of desired efficiency needful to justify this issue and find a solution to it. The process of extraction of nutrients is performed using a Mixed Suspension Mixed Product Removal Batch Reactor of suitable dimensions in the form of Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate and Hydroxyapatite. These nutrients being a slow released fertilizer will provide value to the crop production and land yield, further reducing BOD, COD and TSS of the wastewater making it safer to dispose. Dairy wastewater is taken from an industrial source which is firstly characterized, diluted and then fed into the reactor in the presence of suitable seed material resulting in formation of crystals. Experiments performed for the formation of Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate and Hydroxyapatite are separately carried out in different batches. The key focus of this project is to enhance the efficiency of dairy wastewater treatment units and prevent crystallization during treatment process.

Keywords: Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate (MAP), Hydroxyapatite (HAP), Batch Reactor, Dairy wastewater, Crystallization.