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Title: Anaerobic pretreatment of pharmaceutical wastewaters

Abstract

The US Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) sponsors research and development (R D) to improve the energy efficiency of American industry and to provide for fuel flexibility. The pharmaceutical industry generates considerable amounts of wastewater that require extensive treatment before they are released. A common method of disposal is aerobic biological treatment, but this method is energy intensive and expensive. An alternative process--anaerobic digestion--costs less, saves energy, generates less sludge requiring disposal, and produces a usable fuel--methane. OIT and HydroQual, Inc., with Merck Co. recently completed a joint project that demonstrated the anaerobic biological treatment of wastewaters generated by the pharmaceutical industry. The objectives of the project were to demonstrate how the anaerobic biological process and the resulting energy savings can apply to the pharmaceutical industry and how effective and beneficial the process is to sludge management operations at pharmaceutical plants. This technical case study provides an overview of the DOE-HydroQual-Merck R D project and highlights the field tests done on pilot-scale anaerobic wastewater treatment units at a pharmaceutical plant. This document makes field test and data analysis results available to other researchers and private industry. It discusses project status; summarizes field-test efforts; and reviews potentialmore » technology impacts in terms of commercial applications, benefits, and full-scale system economics. 5 figs., 1 tab.« less

Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Solar Energy Research Inst. (SERI), Golden, CO (United States); Energetics, Inc., Columbia, MD (USA)
Sponsoring Org.:
DOE/CE
OSTI Identifier:
6160690
Report Number(s):
DOE/CH/10093-77
ON: DE90000384
DOE Contract Number:  
AC02-83CH10093; AC01-87CE40762
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
09 BIOMASS FUELS; WASTE WATER; ANAEROBIC DIGESTION; BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS; BIOCONVERSION; BIOSYNTHESIS; CARBON DIOXIDE; COST; DRUGS; FIELD TESTS; HYDROGEN SULFIDES; METHANE; WASTE PROCESSING; WATER TREATMENT; ALKANES; CARBON COMPOUNDS; CARBON OXIDES; CHALCOGENIDES; DIGESTION; HYDROCARBONS; HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS; LIQUID WASTES; MANAGEMENT; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; PROCESSING; SULFIDES; SULFUR COMPOUNDS; SYNTHESIS; TESTING; WASTE MANAGEMENT; WASTES; WATER; 090900* - Biomass Fuels- Processing- (1990-)

Citation Formats

. Anaerobic pretreatment of pharmaceutical wastewaters. United States: N. p., 1990. Web. doi:10.2172/6160690.
. Anaerobic pretreatment of pharmaceutical wastewaters. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/6160690
. 1990. "Anaerobic pretreatment of pharmaceutical wastewaters". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/6160690. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6160690.
@article{osti_6160690,
title = {Anaerobic pretreatment of pharmaceutical wastewaters},
author = {},
abstractNote = {The US Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) sponsors research and development (R D) to improve the energy efficiency of American industry and to provide for fuel flexibility. The pharmaceutical industry generates considerable amounts of wastewater that require extensive treatment before they are released. A common method of disposal is aerobic biological treatment, but this method is energy intensive and expensive. An alternative process--anaerobic digestion--costs less, saves energy, generates less sludge requiring disposal, and produces a usable fuel--methane. OIT and HydroQual, Inc., with Merck Co. recently completed a joint project that demonstrated the anaerobic biological treatment of wastewaters generated by the pharmaceutical industry. The objectives of the project were to demonstrate how the anaerobic biological process and the resulting energy savings can apply to the pharmaceutical industry and how effective and beneficial the process is to sludge management operations at pharmaceutical plants. This technical case study provides an overview of the DOE-HydroQual-Merck R D project and highlights the field tests done on pilot-scale anaerobic wastewater treatment units at a pharmaceutical plant. This document makes field test and data analysis results available to other researchers and private industry. It discusses project status; summarizes field-test efforts; and reviews potential technology impacts in terms of commercial applications, benefits, and full-scale system economics. 5 figs., 1 tab.},
doi = {10.2172/6160690},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6160690}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990},
month = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990}
}