Performance assessment of personal care products industrial effluent treatment plant and its impacts on the environment

Personal care products (PCPs) are emerging pollutants (EPs) that are capable of inducing adverse physiological effects on human health. PCPs industries generate a large volume of EPs that pose a significant threat to the aquatic environment. This study assessed PCPs industrial wastewater for physicochemical parameters, EPs, heavy metals (HMs), and the removal efficiency of a biochemical wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in three different seasons. The study also assessed the environmental impacts using several indices, such as the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment water quality index (CCME-WQI), heavy metal pollution index (HPI), heavy metal evaluation index (HEI), and risk quotients index (RQs). The analysis results showed that the WWTP could reduce only 15.5 % and 24.4 % of COD and BOD₅, respectively, leaving a very high value of 468.3 and 249.9 mg/L, respectively, compared to the ECR (2023) standard. The removal rates for the HMs were in the order of Mn (5.7 %) < Cr (10.4 %) < Zn (20.0 %) < Ni (23.5 %) < Cd (59.4 %) < Cu (61.9 %) < Fe (73.1 %) < Pb (88.7 %). The discharged effluent contained a number of EPs and HMs, which were poor in quality, unsafe for consumption, and high in environmental risk. Acidic pH and low phosphate concentration in the biological process were found to be the key determining factors for the worst performance of the WWTP, though metal–ligand interaction was assumed to have some contribution. The phosphate recovery concept formulated in this study is assumed to be simple and straight-forward.

The study argued that if some important parameters, such as pH, phosphate concentration, etc. are maintained properly, the studied biochemical treatment process can be effective for removing both PCPs and HMs.