Tshemese Z., Deenadayalu N., Linganiso L., Chetty M., 2022, Characterization of Sugar Effluent from a Sugar Milling Industry in the Kwazulu-natal Province of South Africa for Biogas Production, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 96, 7-12.
Sugar industry is one the biggest contributors to the environmental pollution in the modern world. The effects are specifically felt by the aquatic environment which in turn affects the human beings as they depend (partially and otherwise) on the aquatic creatures such as fish for food resource. Also, water demands are growing continually as human population increases although the supply of water is diminishing. The disposal of the effluent from industries to water streams becomes detrimental as it does not only disturb the aquatic life but also the water quality that is used for domestic and agricultural purposes. Effluent discharging industries include thermal power plants, paper mills, oil refineries, sugar mills etc. The composition of this effluent is total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand, heavy metals and sometimes the total dissolved solids. Treatment and reuse of industrial effluent (wastewater) then becomes a necessary step to meeting the environmental strain. One way of effectively solving the crisis of industrial wastewater is through treating while making additional useful products such as biogas and electricity. The aim of the present paper is to do a thorough analysis of the effluent from sugar milling industry for production of biogas and electricity through anaerobic digestion.
