PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ASMARA BREWERY EFFLUENTS

Abstract

Brewing industry is water intensive and consequently generates huge volumes of wastes. Bottle washing and brewing operations recognized as the major effluent sources of Asmara Brewery Corporation Share Company (ABCSC), Eritrea. Effluents of bottle cleaning and brewing sections and their mix of 2:1 characterized on weekly basis for the resemblance of national and international effluent standards. DO levels of wastes detected as low as 2.14 mg/L, which does not support any life and eventually poses severe environmental issues. TSS, COD and BOD5 levels have exceeded EU and EPA effluents standards. COD and BOD5 concentrations estimated were higher than other reported breweries and beyond the benchmarks of Brewer’s Association, USA. Brewery wastewater has a mean COD of 83240 mg/L and BOD5 of 11066 mg/L and highly contaminated than bottle cleaning and mixed effluents. Therefore, in order to reuse voluminous wastewater and to curb excessive COD levels, effluents from ABCSC require special attention prior to their discharge into the public sewer line.

Keywords

• industrial wastewater
• characterization
• breweries
• environmental pollution
• chemical oxygen demand
• biological oxygen demand