Use of thermal coagulation, separation, and fermentation processes for dairy wastewater treatment

AbstractBased on its large water consumption, dairy industry is considered as one among the most polluting food industries. The present work is related to investigations about water management practices in one Tunisian dairy plant where two effluents’ generators were identified as the most polluting following their COD assessment. The first was the generated water from DECREAMING (D) machines washings with COD value of 112 g L−1, and the second source is BACTOFUGATE (B) with COD value of 196 g L−1. Thermal coagulation was performed for (D) and (B) samples leading to media clear phase separation. After decantation, recuperated supernatants were filtrated. The recorded COD removal amount exceeded 90% for both samples filtrates. Additional biological treatment was performed with mediums based on the obtained filtrates. Isolated Candida strains, Lactobacillus and baker’s yeast strains were inoculated in batch process fermentation. Different biological treatment effects were evaluated using musts COD assessmen...