CHARACTERISATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF BIOPROCESSING EFFLUENTS FROM COFFEE, DAIRY AND TANNERYPLANTS

There is an increasing rate of environmental pollution resulting from high emission rates from bioprocessing industries in Kenya. This study provides information on the characterization of bioprocessing effluents from 3 industries in Kenya. To achieve this, samples of effluents were collected from the 3 industries and then transported using plastic containers to JKUAT chemistry laboratories within 24 hours for analysis. Each sample was divided into 3 different 500 ml bottles, and the experiment was replicated 3 times. Physico-chemical parameters such as total dissolved solids (TDS), biological oxygen demand in 5 days at 20°C (BOD 5 ), pH, total solids (TS), total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and electrical conductivity (EC) of collected samples were analysed. The mean concentration levels were found to be (118±5, 176±10, and 128±3) for COD and (1200±2,800±1 and 700±6) for BOD 5 for dairy, coffee, and tannery effluents, respectively. These values were found to be slightly higher than the standard removal levels. The pollutant levels noticed at the different industries were notably high in tannery with 286 mg/l and least in the dairy effluents with 28mg/l. Based on the results obtained, there is need to treat effluents before discharging to water bodies.