Abstract

Wastewater collected from rubber processing factory was characterized for their pollution characteristic. Results of the analysis show that the total solids, TS, suspended solid, SS and dissolve solid, DS, were 1528.5, 1078.5 and 450 mg/l respectively, the turbidity was 702 FTU. These values are high when compared to Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) effluent discharge standard for industrial wastewater. The dissolved oxygen content was 4.72 mg/l, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and Chemical oxygen demand (COD) were 2610.18 and 3142 mg/l respectively. The total bacterial count was 6.0 x 10⁸ /100 ml. These results show that the wastewater has high pollution potentials and so need to be treated before discharged to the environment. The values for ammonia, Nitrate and Phosphate were 1.49, 1.36, 1.32 mg/l respectively. Heavy metals contents were within FEPA effluent discharge standard for industrial wastewater. The ratio of COD to BOD was 1.2:1, meaning that, the extent of biodegradation of the wastewater from this factory is less than 50%. This shows that biological treatment may not be suitable for its treatment. It conductivity is 320 Scm^-1suggesting that the wastewater contain ions and so physicochemical method of coagulation and flocculation may be a good alternative for the treatment of this wastewater. Physicochemical treatment of this wastewater yielded substantial reduction in the solid concentration, BOD and COD, nitrate, phosphorus, and bacteria counts and so the treated effluent could be discharged safely into the environment without the fear of pollution.

Keywords: Wastewater, rubber processing factory, pollution, physicochemical treatment, effluent discharge standard, environment.