1. 2. 3.

Arshad ALI, Hashim Nisar HASHMI, Naseem BAIG

TREATMENT OF THE PAPER MILL EFFLUENT – A REVIEW

1,3.
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY, ISLAMABAD (MCE-NUST), PAKISTAN
2.
UNIVERISITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, TAXILA, PAKISTAN
ABSTRACT: The disposal of untreated paper mill effluent is a major environmental concern today. The
purpose of this paper is to highlight the available treatment units for the paper mill effluent and to
recommend a possible best option for the developing nations, like Pakistan. Various physcio-
chemicals, anaerobic, aerobic, combination of different treatment units have been evaluated, on the
basis of their treatability performance, especially in terms of COD, BOD and AOX removal efficiency.
It is concluded that the physcio-chemical and aerobic processes are uneconomical and impracticable,
owing to their high operational cost. Whereas, the anaerobic processes seem to be more reliable,
simple and feasible for the developing world, both in terms of pollution reduction and low operational
costs.
KEYWORDS: Paper mill, chemical oxygen demand, aerobic, anaerobic
INTRODUCTION
There are thousands of paper mills operating world-wide that produce more than 450 million
tons of paper, to meet the daily requirements. And it is expected that the demand of paper usage will
reach to 500 million ton per annum by the end of 2020. This rapid industrialization has put adverse
impacts on the entire environment. The paper mill is considered to be one of the major units in terms
of fresh water usage, and also in terms of producing highly toxic effluent. In Pakistan, more than
400,000 tons of paper is produced annually by sixty different paper mills. That release about 36,000
cubic meters of wastes per day. This effluent of the paper mill is highly polluted, in terms of its
higher COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), AOX (Absorbable Organic
Halides) and TSS (Total Suspended Solids) concentrations. The AOX content of the wastes is highly
persistent, bio-accumulative and carcinogenic in nature. Dioxin, which is known to be the most toxic
substance ever found on earth, also belongs to the family of AOX, and has been reported to be present
in the effluent of paper mill Paper Indust (Savant et al. 2005). But unfortunately still, most of this
effluent is directly disposed off into the receiving streams without any proper treatment. It is one of
the major environmental challenges being faced by Pakistan (Ali et al. 2001).
A lot of work has been done at
various levels to address the issue of
paper mills effluent by environmental
scientists, engineers, legislator and policy
makers. Different techniques, namely
pyscio-chemical, biological, have been
tried to reduce the pollution load of the
paper mill effluent. And most of them are
highly valuable in terms of their
efficiency and reliability. Since, the
developing countries are subjected to
higher degree of environmental pollution,
due to the disposal of untreated domestic
and industrial effluent; therefore it is
very much essential to work-out cheapest
available treatment techniques. The main
purpose of this paper is to highlight the Figure 1. Typical layout of paper mill effluent treatment
available treatment techniques in terms plant (Thompson et all, 2001)
of their applications, and to suggest the most viable option for the treatment of paper mills effluent
for Pakistan.
BACKGROUND
Figure 1 shows a typical layout of the wastewater treatment plant used for the paper mill
effluent, as illustrate by different authors. It consists of screening chamber, primary sedimentation

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 ANNALS OF FACULTY ENGINEERING HUNEDOARA – International Journal Of Engineering

tank and biological treatment unit. Though, the wastewater pollution of the paper mill could also be
reduced by adopting some environmental friendly management measures, like replacing the use of
chlorinated compounds that are used during the bleaching process of paper making with EFC
(Elecmental Free Chlorine) radical. But this type of process modification reduces the concentration of
COD/BOD to a certain limits only. Still effective and efficient techniques are required to reduce the
excessive pollution load of the paper mill effluent before its final disposal.
Table 1. Wastewater characteristics of the paper mill The biological treatment unit
effluent (Arshad and Hashim, 2012) in case of paper mill effluent
Parameters Concentration Parameters Concentration treatment normally consists of an
pH 8.4 COD (mg/L) 1810 activated sludge process or
Color (units) 1736 TSS (mg/L) 958 anaerobic digestion or sometimes
Lignin (mg/L) 452 TDS (mg/L) 1524 even the combination of both the
processes are used (Thompson et al.
AOX (mg/L) 32 BOD (mg/L) 960
2001). Tertiary treatment units are
also used, but very rarely, either to polish quality of the final effluent, or might be to reduce the
toxicant concentration in the effluent, in accordance to the available legislations. Table 1 shows the
wastewater characteristics of the paper mill effluent in Pakistan.
AVAILABLE TREATMENT TECHNIQUES - PHYSCIO-CHEMICAL TREATMENT UNITS
Saunamaki (1997) found that the sedimentation tank can remove more than 80% of the
suspended solids at a SLR (Surface Loading Rate) of 1.4m3/m2-hr. But they were observed to be less
effective in terms of BOD or COD removal. Since, the suspended particles within the paper mill
effluent mainly consists of bark particles, fiber debris, filler and coating material etc, therefore, it
was suggested by Haarhoff and Bezuidenhout (1999) to use dissolved air floatation system, as a pre-
treatment unit for biological treatment process. And the same combination has been found quite
useful when applied to the effluent treatment of Shotton Paper Mill UK and Hallsta Paper Mill
Sweden. Its treatability performance was observed about 90% in terms of suspended solids removal
(Wenta and Hartmen 2002). In a study performed by using an activated carbon, more than 90% COD
removal has been observed (Shawwa et al. 2001).
Simlarly, by using the blast furnace dust and slag 60% lignin has been found to remove from the
effluent of paper mill (Das and Jain, 2001). Different coagulants like horseradish peroxide, aluminum
sulfate, polyethyleneimine, polyelectrolytes, calcium sulfate, aluminum sulfate, chitosan etc are
found effective in terms of reducing the COD, BOD, AOX and turbidity of the paper mill effluent. And
in some similar studies, the reduction in the toxicity of bleached paper mill effluent has also been
observed to decreased (Rohella et al. 2001, Torrades et al. 2001).
The ultra-filtration in combination with the dissolved air flotation is also found to be effective,
removing 70% TOC (Total Organic Carbon) and color. This process is also observed to be effective for
the removal of heavy metals from the same effluent (Merrill et al. 2001). With the help of reverse
osmosis, 80% BOD could be reduced. The use of ozonation is also observed to be useful both in terms
of reducing the concentration of COD and toxicity of paper mill effluent. Such technique has also
shown to reduce 85% of the effluent color (Sevimli and Sarikaya 2002, Freire et al. 2003,). The use of
photon-fenton and wet-oxidation, in combination with ozone, or the advanced photocatalysis with
O2/TiO2/UV, are also found to be quite useful for reducing the pollution load of paper mill effluent
(Dufresne et al. 2001, Verenich et al. 2001, Perez et al. 2002, Hassan and Hawkyard 2002).
BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT UNITS
Most of the biological treatment units that are used for the treatment of paper mill effluent
are activated sludge processes. Normally they operate at an OLR (Organic Loading Rate) of 0.07-
0.21kg-BOD/m3-day, and at a HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time) of 8-12hours. But the problems of poor
settling of sludge have been reported in many cases of an activated sludge process during the
treatment of paper mill effluent. These problems arise mostly due to the poor oxygen supply or low
OLR or nutrient deficiency in the system. Though they can be encounter by adjusting the F/M
(Food/Micro-organsims) ratio, or by the addition of certain chemicals like, chlorine, ferrous salts of
lime etc. But practically the process becomes quite complicated in its function (Saunamaki 1997,
Dalentoft and Thulin 1997, Yamamoto et al. 1991).
The COD removal efficiency of the activated sludge can be enhanced to 80%, if high-rate
trickling filter or ozonation processes are introduced at its up-stream side (Kantardjieff and Jones
1997). But still there are several problems associated with the activated sludge process, when
treating a high-strength industrial effluent, like that of the paper mil. Moreover, the toxicity removal
efficiency of an activated sludge process is very low (Kennedy et al. 2000).
The other types of aerobic processes, like aerated lagoons, sequential batch reactor etc, have
been observed to reduce 80% of the COD concentration of paper mill effluent. And 70% AOX removal
was also noticed in a study performed by an aerated lagoon (Welander et al. 2000, Schnell et al.
2000). The toxicity removal from the paper mill effluent can be achieved by using bio-film reactors

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(Asselin et al. 2000). The fungal treatment is observed to be effective for reducing 50% AOX from the
paper mill effluent, at HRT of 2.0 days. But such a longer HDT makes the practical design of the
system uneconomical. However, certain species of fungi, for instance P-Taeda, can be effectively used
as a better pre-treatment option (Mendonca et al. 2002).
The tendency of using anaerobic process for paper mill effluent was started in early 70s. It has
low energy input; comparatively fewer nutrients are requiring, and produce less amount of sludge.
The two-stage processes, anaerobic-aerobic, are relatively more effective both in COD and sulfur
removal from the effluent of paper mill (Chen et al. 2003). Anaerobic filter, up-flow sludge blanket
(UASB), fluidized bed, anaerobic lagoon, and anaerobic contact reactors are the main available
anaerobic treatment processes, which are widely used for the treatment of paper mill effluent. About
55% lignin removal was also reported by using anaerobic process, but since, the bleaching effluent of
the paper mill consists of very low biodegradable fraction, and therefore, some researchers have
suggested avoiding its application. Though, recalcintrent materials have also been identified in the
pulping section effluent of the paper mill, which makes the anaerobic process difficult to operate.
But still it is suggested by many authors to use anaerobic process for the treatment of paper mill
effluent, as it comparatively reliable anc effective, and it can give more than 80% COD removal
(Lettinga et al. 1991, Rajeshwari et al. 2000, Peerbhoi 2000).
In some studies, the anaerobic process was also modified for its better treatability
performance, like stripping for sulfur contents, addition of an activated carbon etc. More than 70%
COD removal has been observed by such modifications. In more recent study, the treatability
performance of anaerobic process was enormously increased by the use of methanol, as an easily
biodegradable substance and by the addition of an activated carbon with the digested sludge. The TOC
and AOX removal of the technique was observed to be 90% and 75%, respectively, at an OLR of 4.8g-
TOC/L-day and HRT of 16hrs. And the same technique was found helpful in the removal of 60% lignin
from the paper mill effluent (Arshad et al. 2011, Arshad and Hashim 2012).
COMBINE AND TERTIARY TREATMENT UNITS
Generally, the combination of various treatment units is attempt to achive maximum
treatability performance, and to polish the quality of the effluent before its final disposal. For
instance, the combination of coagulation and wet-oxidation has shown to remove 50% COD and 75%
lignin from the effluent of paper mill (Verenich et al. 2001). The combination of chemical-oxidation
and ozone with bio-film or activated sluge process were also observed to be effective, it removed 80%
of the COD (Schmidt and Lange, 2000). Jahren et al. (2002) worked on a sequential aerobic-anaerobic
reactor, and found that 60% of COD can be removed from the effluent of paper mill. The combination
of primary sedimentation tank and aeration basin has also shown to reduce 80% COD (Welander et al.
2000). In a study conducted by Shawwa et al. (2001), using a combine aerobic-anaerobic process the
TOC and color removal efficiency from the paper mill effluent was observed to be 65% and 90%,
respectively.
The most commonly used tertiary treatment units for the paper mill effluent are ultra-
filtration, ozonation, adsoprtion and membrane technology. Chen et al. (2003) showed that the
chemical coagulation, followed by dissolved air flotation and multimedia filtration are the best
tertiary treatment options for the paper mill effluent, which gives final COD concentration of less
than 100mg/L.
CONCLUSIONS
The disposal of untreated paper mill is one of the major environmental concerns, due to its high
BOD, COD, AOX concentrations. The physcio-chemcial techniques are reliable in terms of their
treatability performance, but they are very much expensive when applied to field scale
measurements. And moreover, the handling and disposal of the sludge that is being produced during
such processes also poses an additional problem. The aerobic processes are simple to operate, but the
nutrients and energy requirements of such processes are comparatively more, and that makes them
costly. Whereas, on the other hand, the anaerobic processes which has less inputs repquirements, and
are easy to operate, seems to be more feasible for the treatment of paper mill effluent especially for
the developing world. Furthermore, by using the latest available anaerobic technique of adding an
esily biodegradable substance and activated carbon, highly acceptable quality of effluent could be
produced, which can meet the requirements of available effluent disposal standards.
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