Techno-economic evaluation of the treatability of resin production plant wastewater

Industrial wastewater often contains a variety of toxic pollutants, posing significant challenges in the treatment process. Due to the variability in the characterization of such wastewaters, there is no specific or universal treatment method available. Therefore, the treatment or disposal of industrial wastewater must be conducted using an appropriate method determined through detailed characterization and treatability studies. This thesis examines the treatment potential of wastewater from resin production plants in our country, which currently cannot be effectively treated and is typically disposed of using the incineration method—a method that is energy-intensive, expensive, and environmentally unsuitable. Resin production wastewater is complex, with high recalcitrant content, and its characteristics vary depending on the type of resin produced. Initially, characterization studies identified high levels of organic pollution from the production process. The wastewater contains high levels of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (19875 mg/L), total organic carbon (TOC) (6143 mg/L), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) (5879 mg/L). General toxicity tests revealed that the wastewater is toxic and inhibitory at volumetric LC50=1.25% for freshwater organisms Daphnia sp., and at 24-hour IC50=16.1% and 48-hour IC50=15.0% for anaerobic and aerobic mixed cultures, respectively. Based on the characterization results, the applied treatment methods demonstrated that biological treatment is an effective solution for wastewater treatment. In a continuous feed completely mixed activated sludge system, a COD removal efficiency of 98.25% was achieved at an 80% wastewater feed rate. This result highlights that biological treatment is a crucial step in reducing environmental impact and conserving water resources. Consequently, a techno-economic evaluation was conducted at the final stage of the study. The economic assessment of this treatment method determined that the cost of biologically treating resin production wastewater is $39.88 per cubic meter.