Averting the wastewater treatment crisis with Zero Liquid Discharge Systems

As India sets sail towards becoming a 5 trillion-dollar economy, we are about to witness some massive-scale developments across all industries. There is going to be a major shift in the market mentality, both in rural and urban areas, that will drive the country’s economy. A change like this can be great for the nation’s goal of becoming a super-power. But a change for the better, needs to be rooted in every facet of our societal problems.

The wastewater treatment problem:

Population is on a steady rise; And as a nation, we are doing everything to eradicate problems like poverty and housing.  But in our mission to emerge as a world leader, we are neglecting one of the most troubling problems of our times… wastewater treatment! 

India generates a staggering 1.7 million tonnes of faecal waste a day. Being the biggest consumer of freshwater in the world today, we have a serious lack of concern for our water resources. India has always been projected as a country with abundant water resources. But that’s not the case anymore! Water scarcity is going to be the biggest threat we will face in our race to the top.

Wastewater- Our biggest un-tapped resource

In India, only 30% of the wastewater is treated.  Today, we have an opportunity to take that remaining 70% and transform it into a useful resource.  But the challenges to creating viable wastewater treatment plants are numerous.

Here are some of the challenges we face:

1.       Land-  Any conventional wastewater treatment plant requires a lot of land. As developments up rise from every industrial sector, land is becoming more and more expensive.

2.       Costs: The Centre for Science and Environment estimates that Rs.1 crore per million litres is the cost incurred to build a wastewater plant. Due to these exorbitant costs, civic bodies have no option but to discharge the waste into river bodies.

3.       Population: We have a major population control problem.  And as population increases, living areas are becoming more and more dense, increasing water intake and wastewater discharge volumes. 

4.       General Apathy:  In general, we have a serious apathy towards our wastewater problem.  Most of urban India’s sewage systems lead directly to rivers or lakes.

5.       Existing drainage systems. The design of most Indian urban drainage systems is such that wastewater flows directly into a river or lake without treatment. This makes it even more difficult for authorities to manage wastewater.

How can Zero Liquid Discharge Systems help?

A zero liquid discharge (ZLD) system is a facility where no wastewater is discharged into the environment, and all of it is available for immediate reuse. ZLD plants use specialized wastewater treatment technologies that transform all of the effluent into reusable clean water. Whether it’s for landscape irrigation or for replacing conventional water supplies in an industrial process, reusing wastewater reduces demand for fresh water.

The technologies used in ZLD facilities include sedimentation, dissolved air flotation, media filtration, activated carbon filtration, ultrafiltration, and reverse osmosis. These technologies help the ZLD plant to filter out all the waste from the water, and reduce it to solid waste blocks. Almost 98% of the water is available for immediate reuse. With this, ZLD becomes as effective alternative over conventional systems. 

Here some benefits of ZLD systems with respect to Indian wastewater problems;

1.       Immediate clean water access:  ZLD plants produce clean, usable water at the site itself. So the water can be routed back to various usage sites such residential or industrial

2.       Reduced costs: With advanced filtration, crystallization and sedimentation techniques, the process proves to be highly cost-effective than regular systems

3.       Reduced dependency on municipal water supply:  If ZLD systems are implemented on a local or a hyper-local scale, this can eliminate the dependency on acquiring water from centralized water authorities, as water can be made available on demand, wherever needed.

4.       Compliance with regulations:  Government regulations regarding industrial wastewater discharge have gotten highly stringent. ZLD systems make sure that no waste products go outside the bounds of manufacturing faculties, making it very easy to comply with the regulations

5.       Consistent water supply and consistent quality:  As ZLD systems make water readily available, our dependency on freshwater streams will reduce drastically and therefore, creating an opportunity to establish a consistent water supply across the nation.

Praj industries is a major manufacturer of wastewater treatment solutions, and one of the most prominent Corn Ethanol Producers in India with over 30 years of industry expertise.

From pioneering Bioethanol production technology to mastering Zero Liquid Discharge systems, Praj industries offers a plethora of high-tech engineering solutions. Apart from ZLD systems, they offer a wide range of Industrial wastewater treatment solutions like scrubbing, evaporation and crystallization, that are highly customized and match international standards of quality and output.