Feasibility Studies on the Treatment of Synthetic Dairy Wastewater Under Variable Experimental Conditions

The requirement of milk and milk products is kept growing in steady rate, making a significant impact on the Indian agricultural domain. The dairy industries require large quantity of water for the purpose of washing of canes, machinery and floors, and the liquid waste in dairy originates from the manufacturing processes, utilities and service sections. The various sources of waste generation from a dairy are spilled milk, spoiled milk and skimmed milk whey. The objective of this study is to focus on finding out the optimal parameters for efficient biodegradation of organics in the dairy wastewater. An experimental setup was designed and fabricated, and made to comprehend the degree of wastewater stabilization in the form of COD at variable experimental conditions. The main characteristics of dairy waste streams were identified and the anaerobic degradation of the wastewater in the fixed film fixed bed reactor was carried out with operating condition of variable organic loading rates.