Treatment of a Soybean Flour Processing Plant Wastewater

Algal assay studies and laboratory bench scale studies on treating the effluent further by biological augmentation with bacteria that degrade lignin and with white rot fungus were conducted on a soybean flour processing wastewater. The wastewater is treated by biological means by a series of anaerobic, aerated and facultative lagoons. The treated effluent still has high organic nitrogen and other aromatic organic s that are highly resistant to biological treatment. The wastewater has a high buffering capacity which makes pH adjustment difficult. With the pH of the wastewater effluent in the 8–9 range, further biological treatment would be difficult and expensive. Both biological augmentation with commercial bacteria and treatment with white rot fungus do not appear to be feasible.