Techno economic evaluation for the treatment of pesticide industry effluents using membrane schemes Original Research Article

The treatment and disposal of pesticide industry effluent (PIE) is governed by the most stringent environmental legislations. Numerous uncertainties and threats may be encountered during different stages of treatment and disposal. Functional or component failures may be associated with high level risks which mandate the adoption of high safety standards and some times relocation of the treatment interventions. This paper introduces a membrane based treatment for the safe management of PIE. The raw feed is to be first directed to nanofiltration (NF) separator. The NF concentrate is to be then directed to Fenton type reactor. The permeate of the NF is further treated with a high rejection reverse osmosis (RO). Activated carbon modules are interposed within the treatment sequence for polishing of Fenton reactor effluents. Economic indicators for this proposed scheme are developed. Further, environmental management considerations are addressed.