Characterisation and Quantification of Bioprocessing Effluents from Coffee, Dairy and Tannery Plants

Abstract

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 collected from the dairy, coffee, and tannery industries in Kenya. To achieve this, 20-litres containers were used to collect samples of effluents 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 to minimise analytical errors. The pollutant levels noticed at the different industries were notably high in tannery and least in the dairy effluents. The study also found that tannery effluents had the highest concentrations of various cations, followed by coffee effluents. Dairy effluents showed the lowest quantities of cations when compared to tannery and coffee effluents. The concentrations of CO32− were the highest in tannery effluents (286 mg/l), while those in dairy were the least (28 mg/l). Based on the results obtained, there is need to treat the bioprocessing effluents before discharge to the water body. Keywords: Bioprocessing effluents, BOD5, COD, Cations, EC TDS, and TSS