• Physico-chemical treatment

• Membrane treatment
Dairy •
•
Nano filtration (NF)
Reverse osmosis (RO)
Wastewater • Biological treatment
•
Treatment •
Dissolved air flotation (DAF)
Activated sludge
Mechanisms • Trickling filters
• Lagoons
 Coagulation/flocculation and precipitation and
adsorption

Effectively reduces suspended, colloidal or

Physico-
dissolved constituents

chemical Also, removes organic matter which

contributes to the BOD and COD concentration
treatment Coagulant agent such as alum is added to
wastewater

Sedimentation, flotation and filtration will

facilitate their removal in later stages
• Adsorption is considered most
effective physico-chemical treatment
• Some common adsorbent are activated
carbon, synthetic polymer and silica
based compounds
• Activated carbon is the most effective
adsorbent
• Two main types of activated carbon are
Granular activated carbon (GAC) and
Power activated carbon (PAC)
• Removes wide range of organic
compounds
• An alternative process of treating dairy wastewater is by
electrocoagulation (EC)

 EC process for the treatment of dairy wastewater had

COD and oil-grease removal efficiencies of 98 and 99%
respectively

 Anode gets oxidised and cathode subjected to reductive

deposition

 Aa a result, metal hydroxides and poly-hydroxides are

formed

 These hydroxides are effective in removing wastewater

contaminants by the method of electrostatic attraction
 Mechanical process that removes or separates
particulates and colloidal substances from wastewater

Particles bigger than the pore size are retained while

smaller particles permeate through pores

Membrane Removes bacteria, particulates, natural organic matter

Treatment
and microorganisms

Microfilter (MF), Ultrafilter (UF), Nanofiller(NF) and

Reverse Osmosis (RO) are some common membrane
filter technologies

Nanofiltration and Reverse osmosis are commonly used

in dairy wastewater treatment
 NF membrane concentrates on materials
that are dissolved rather than suspended
solids

Separation occurs via diffusion process

Nanofiltration
Removes almost all contaminants such as
lactose, fats and pathogenic bacteria

Have high permeability for monovalent salts

(NaCl and KCL) and organic compounds with
molecular weight lower than 300 Da
The use of acid, The NF membrane Membrane fouling Nanofiltration However, decrease Suitable for dairy
alkaline cleaners process is adversely can be a major issue rotating disk in permeate flux wastewater neutral
and sanitisers in the affected by this in this technique modules (NF-RDM) was seen as a result pH levels (6-9)
dairy industry variation in pH have been
creates variation in implemented to
pH of the alleviate this
wastewater problem
Contaminants Removed in Nanofiltration
 • Semipermeable membrane
which acts as a filter to retain
the ions and particles slowing
water to pass through one
side and concentrate on other
• Pressure used as a driving
force
• Concentrates on particles with
molar masses below 350 Da
• Pressure, temperature,
viscosity, tangible velocity and
density of fluid are some of
the main physical operational
parameters

Reverse Osmosis(RO)
• Protein, lactose, fat and
ashes from dairy effluent are
regarded as a major source if
profit
• A study determined that for
1000 cubic metres of milk
per day; the potential profit
was US$349,000 per year
• Membrane system such as
reverse osmosis can separate
these solids from aqueous
solution
• Producing high quality water