The Environmentalist, 22, 5965, 2002

2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands.

Three Egyptian industrial wastewater management programmes

FATMA A. EL-GOHARY, RIFAAT A. WAHAAB, FAYZA A. NASR and HAMDY I. ALI
National Research Centre, Tahrir Street, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
Summary. A pre-treatment programme for wastewater from factories, representing three main industrial
sectors in Egypt, has been developed. The rst case study was a factory producing potato-chips. Wastewater
discharged from this factory was characterized by high values of BOD, SS and oil and grease (6000
mgO2 l1 , 6577 mg l1 and 119 mg l1 respectively). Chemical treatment using lime and lime aided by
polyelectrolyte achieved good results. Residual values of BOD and SS after treatment were 97 mg l1
and 49 mg l1 , respectively. Oil and grease concentrations were reduced by 91 percent. Treatment via
activated sludge at a detention time of 4 hrs produced good quality efuent. The second case study was an
automobile company, representing the metal nishing industry. Analyses of wastewater samples from the
degreasing, phosphating and painting departments, as well as the end-of-pipe efuent were conducted.
The end-of-pipe efuent contained high concentrations of oil and grease (366 mg l1 ), phosphorous
(111 mg l1 ) and zinc (81 mg l1 ). Chemical treatment of end-of-pipe wastewater using ferric chloride
aided by lime, produced high quality efuent. The third sector was the chemical industry. For this purpose
a paint factory was selected. Characteristics of raw wastewater varied widely according to the production
rate. Average values of COD and BOD were 1950 mg l1 and 683 mg l1 . Oil and grease ranged from
63 to 1624 mg l1 . Chemical treatment using ferric chloride in combination with lime at the optimum
operating conditions achieved good results. Residual values after treatment of COD, BOD and oil and
grease reached 120, 36 and 8.6 mg l1 , respectively. An engineering design for each case study has been
prepared.
Keywords: industrial wastewater treatment, food, chemicals, metal nishing
Introduction
Egypts population in 1992 was about 54 million. It
is expected to reach about 67 million by the year
2000 and about 9095 million around 20252030.
At present, 99 percent of the population lives on
4 percent of the land which is not classied as
desert. With the very high population density in the
valley and delta, major efforts have been made by
the government of Egypt to construct new industrial communities in the desert to act as new poles
of attraction, to create new job opportunities, and

Drs. Fatma A. El-Gohary, Rifaat A. Wahaab (the author for

purposes of correspondence) and Fayza A. Nasr work at the
water pollution research department of the National Research
Centre, Egypt. Dr Hamdy I. Ali works at the Faculty of
Engineering, Ain Shams University, and Cairo, Egypt (e-mail:
rawahaab@hotmail.com).

to protect the fragile ecosystem of the Nile valley

and the delta from further degradation.
One of the major problems facing these new
communities is the potential health and environmental hazard posed by industrial wastewater.
Untreated wastewater discharged by industrial
activities is often contaminated by a variety of
toxic or otherwise harmful substances. These
wastes can damage the sewers and interfere
with the treatment facilities. Moreover, persistent untreated pollutants passing through these
systems may contaminate receiving water bodies
and increase the environmental risks and the cost
of sludge treatment and disposal. The undesirable effects of these hazardous chemicals can be
avoided by pre-treatment of the wastewater prior
to discharge into the sewerage system.

60

El-Gohary et al.
Table 1.

Basic information about the selected factories

Item
Product
Production rate
Number of employees
Working shifts/day
Working hours
Water consumption m3 /day
Wastewater discharge m3 /day

Food

Metal

Chemicals

Potato-chips
1 t/day
400
2
9/shift
740
698

Cars
8000 Car/year
300
2
9/shift
80100
80

Paints and allied products

1080 t/month
23
1
9/shift
26.5
20.5

A wastewater management plan was, therefore,

prepared as a component of an overall environment management plan for one of these new
industrial communities, as a model to be replicated in other cities. The Sixth of October City was
selected for this purpose. The city has an industrial area, which will encompass 847 factories representing almost all industrial sectors. Two hundred and sixty eight factories are productive and
32 are now under construction, while the rest are
still being planned.
Food-processing, metal nishing and chemical
wastes usually contain organic and inorganic matter in varying degrees of concentration (El-Gohary
et al., 1989). Since these wastes differ from domestic sewage in general characteristics, pre-treatment
is required to produce an equivalent efuent
(El-Gohary et al., 1993; Kori and Gupta, 1994;
Soheil, 1995).
For this study three factories, representing
three major industrial sectors in the city under
consideration were selected (Table 1). Laboratory experiments have been carried out to recommend the pre-treatment required. Composite
samples from the different departments and nal
efuents were collected. Physico-chemical analyses were carried out according to the APHA
(1992). Treatment via chemical coagulation and
activated sludge has been investigated.

value of 3210 mg l1 . Biological oxygen demand

(BOD) values varied from 2040 to 6000 mg
O2 l1 . Oil and grease concentrations were relatively high. The wastewater was slightly acidic.
The pH value ranged from 4.5 to 6.5. Sedimentation of the nal efuent achieved 75 percent
removal of suspended solids. Corresponding BOD
removal was only 19 percent. Chemical treatment
using lime and lime aided by polyelectrolyte was
carried out (Table 2). Available results indicated
that the residual values of BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and suspended solids (SS)
were 97 mg l1 , 230 mg l1 and 49 mg l1 , respectively. Oil and grease concentration was reduced
by 100 percent.
Biological treatment using activated sludge
was also investigated (Table 3). Available results
indicated that good quality efuent could be
obtained at a detention time of 4 hrs. Treatability study revealed that high quality efuent could
be obtained using both treatment schemes. However, the use of chemical treatment has been recommended for simplicity of operation and maintenance. An engineering design for the selected
scheme has been prepared (Fig. 1).

Results and discussion

The second case study involved wastewater discharged from an automobile company. A eld survey indicated that the major sources of pollution
were degreasing, phosphating and painting operations (Table 4). Results of the analyses of wastewater discharged from the painting department
were characterized by the high content of organic
compounds. Mean values of COD and BOD were
1882 and 920 mgO2 l1 , respectively. Oil and

Potato-chip factory
On of the most polluting factories in the food
industry sector is that related to the production of
potato-chips. This end-of-pipe efuent contained
high concentrations of suspended solids, ranging from 1902 to 6577 mg l1 with an average

Automobile factory

Wastewater management programmes

Table 2.

61

Chemical treatment of end-of-pipe efuent of potato-chip company

(350 lime + 0
5 nalco)
250 mg l1 lime

Parameters
pH-value
Chemical oxygen demand
Biological oxygen demand
Total kjeldahl nitrogen
Total suspended solids at 105 C
Volatile suspended solids at 550 C
Settleable solids after 30 minutes
Oil and grease
Sludge analysis
Sludge volume
Total sludge weigh at 105 C
Volatile organic matter
Sludge volume index (SVI)

mg 11

Unit

Raw

Treated

%R

Raw

Treated

%R

mgO2 l1
mgO2 l1
mg N l1
mg l1
mg l1
ml l1
mg l1

5
7320
2100
132
3
3210
2498
100
33
6

9
9
1275
483
85
7
102
72
ND
24

83
77
35
67
97
100
29

5
3
5796
2530
144
3450
1321
40
8
77

8
01
230
96
9
5
49
26
3
5
ND

96
96
93
98
98
91
100

ml l1
g l1
%

54
2
9
77%
18
2

67
3
4
72
8
19
98

The results are the mean values of ve samples. ND: not detected. R: removal.

grease ranged between 42 and 334 mg l1 , respectively. Wastewater discharge from the degreasing
and phospating process contained high concentrations of phosphorous, (68 to 120 mg P l1 ) and oil
and grease (up to 200 mg l1 ). Characterization
of the nal efuent indicated those four parameters namely; COD, oil and grease, phosphorus and
zinc exceeded the national standards. Average values of COD, BOD and phosphorous were 1087,
365 and 110 mg l1 , respectively. Zinc concentrations ranged between 36 and 191 mg l1 , with an
average value of 81 mg l1 .

Table 3.

Biological treatment of end-of-pipe of potato-chip company

Parameters
Chemical oxygen demand
Removal
Biological oxygen demand
Removal
Total suspended solids at 105 C
Removal
Sludge analysis
Sludge volume
Total sludge weight at 105 C
Volatile organic matter
Sludge volume index (SVI)

Chemical treatment of for the painting department efuent and the nal efuent was carried
out using lime in combination with ferric chloride.
COD, BOD and SS of the wastewater discharged
from the painting department were reduced by
97%, 97% and 88%, respectively. The chemical
treatment of the end-of-pipe wastewater using
30 mg l1 FeCl3 + 140 mg l1 CaO produced high
quality efuent (Table 5). COD, total phosphorus
and zinc removal values were 93%, 92% and 97%,
respectively. An engineering design for the proposed treatment is presented in Fig. 2.

Unit

Settled
waste-water

mgO2 l1
%
mgO2 l1
%
mg l1
%

3024

1650

820

ml l1
g l1
%

After two hours settling.

Aeration for two minutes followed by sedimentation.

Initial
2700
11
1320
20
600
27
300
3
5
42%
86

2
hours

4
hours

2
hours

24
hours

900
70
645
61
321
61

525
83
198
88
150
82

251
92
115
93
47
94

165
95
59
96
42
95
230
1
9
56%
121

62

El-Gohary et al.

Figure 1. Flow diagram of wastewater treatment plant (elevation and plan) for potato-chip factory (ms = metres; INF = inow;
EFF = efuent).
Table 4.

Characteristics of wastewater discharged from the automobile company

Degreasing and
phosphating dept.

Painting dept.
Parameters
pH-value
Chemical oxygen
demand
Biological oxygen
demand
Total phosphorous
Total residue at
105 C
Total dissolved
solids at 105 C
Total suspended
solids at 105 C
Oil & grease
Zinc
Nickel
Lead
Copper
Chromium
Cadmium

Unit

Min.

Max.

mgO2 l1

6
6
1365

7
3
2352

mgO2 l1

525

1260

920

mg P l1
mg l1

11
856

80
1892

mg l1

395

mg l1

168

mg
mg
mg
mg
mg
mg
mg

l1
l1
l1
l1
l1
l1
l1

42
0
5
0
15
0
2
0
1
0
1
0
05

Aver.

1882

Final efuent

Min.

Max.

Aver.

Min.

Max.

7
02
170
4

8
1
226
2

215
5

7
26
427
5

8
1
2694

1087

730

365

75

116

95
5

35
2
1362

68
1369

120
2166

96
7
1776

13
5
890

160
2029

110
1610

1626

1014

1273

1898

1543

461

1432

907

496

269

96

340

235

154

1568

703

334
8
2
2
0
2
0
3
0
13
0
1
0
05

175
1
1
0
17
0
23
0
11
0
05
0
05

20

200

169

The results are the mean values of ve samples.

221

Aver.

67
36
3
0
2
0
2
0
1
0
09

207
191
2
7
1
5
1
1
0
11
0
05

118
81
2
5
0
7
0
7
0
1
0
05

Wastewater management programmes

63

Table 5. Chemical treatment of end-of-pipe wastewater of automobile company. Optimum dose:

(140 CaO + 30 FeCl3 ) mg l1
Parameters
pH
Chemical oxygen demand
Biological oxygen demand
Total phosphorous
Total residue at 105 C
Total volatile residue at 550
Settleable solids after 30 minutes
Oil and grease
Iron
Zinc
Nickel
Lead
Copper
Chromium
Cadmium
Sludge analysis
Sludge volume
Total sludge weight at 105 C
Volatile organic matter
Sludge volume index (SVI)

Unit

Raw
wastewater

Treated
efuent

mgO2 l1
mgO2 l1
mg P l1
mg l1
mg l1
ml l1
mg l1
mg l1
mg l1
mg l1
mg l1
mg l1
mg l1
mg l1

7
9
1152
585
120
1471
782
7
5
260
4
7
9
4
0
35
<0
2
<0
1
<0
1
<0
05

8
2
79
2
49
6
10
282
216
Nil
16
8
9
75
0
32
<0
15
<0
2
<0
1
<0
1
<0
05

ml l1
g l1
%

%
removal
93
91
5
91
6
80
8
72
100
93
3
84
97
57

102
1
10
73
93

Figure 2. Flow diagram of wastewater treatment plant (elevation and plan) for an automobile plant (ms = metres; INF = inow;
EFF = efuent).

64

El-Gohary et al.
Table 6. Chemical treatment of end-of-pipe wastewater of Paints Company. Optimum dose:
(50 FeCl3 + 140 CaO) mg l1
Parameters
pH
Chemical oxygen demand
Biological oxygen demand
Total suspended solids at 105 C
Total volatile solids at 550 C
Settleable solids after 30 minutes
Oil and grease
Sludge analysis
Sludge volume
Total sludge weight at 105 C
Volatile organic matter
Sludge volume index (SVI)

Unit

Raw
wastewater

Treated
efuent

%
removal

mgO2 l1
mgO2 l1
mg l1
mg l1
ml l1
mg/L

7
5
1590
475
168
124
5
235

8
2
165
73
46
41
ND
8
6

90
89
73
67
100
96

ml l1
g l1
%

170
1
9
79
89

The results are the mean values of ve samples. ND: not detected.

Paints and allied products

The third case study involved a company producing paints and allied products. Characteristics
of the raw wastewater varied widely according to
the production rate. The COD ranged from 459
to 3800 mg l1 , with an average value of 1590
mg l1 . Corresponding BOD values ranged from

285 to 1290 mg l1 , with an average value of

475 mg l1 . Oil and grease uctuated between
63 and 1624 mg l1 , with an average of 235
mg l1 . Chemical treatment of the nal efuent using ferric chloride in combination with lime
achieved good results at an optimum pH around
8.2 (Table 6). The optimum dose varied according
to the strength of the wastewater. Characteristics

Figure 3. Schematic ow sheet to show chemical feed arrangement, rapid mixing and settling tanks for paints and allied products
company (elevation).

Wastewater management programmes

of the treated efuent were within the permissible limits. After treatment, residual COD was 165
mg l1 . BOD value reached 73 mg O2 l1 . Oil and
grease concentrations were 8.6 mg l1 . Different
engineering alternatives to improve the performance of the existing situation were proposed.
The scheme given in Fig. 3 was selected.
References
APHA (American Public Health Association) (1992) Standard
Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 18th
ed., Washington, DC.

65

El-Gohary, F.A., Abou-Elela, S.I. and Ali, H.I. (1989) Wastewater management in the automobile industry. Wat. Sci.
Techn. 21, 22563.
El-Gohary, F.A., Abou-Elela, S.I., El-Kamah, H.M. and Ali,
H.I. (1993) Management of wastewater in light vehicle
manufacturing company in Egypt. Environ. Technology Letter 14, 13545.
Kori, M.M. and Gupta, S.K. (1994) Treatment of wastewater
from a paint industry using polyelectrolytes. 9th Proc. Ann.
Conf. Hazard Rem., 1549.
Soheil, N.M. (1995) Treatment of the industrial wastewater
produced from the yeast industry. Proc. Second Middle East
Conf. on Wastewater Management. 859.