REMOVAL OF CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (COD), TOTAL ORGANIC CHEMICAL (TOC) AND TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS) USING ANAEROBIC AND AEROBIC DEGRADATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL WASTEWATER

The purpose of this study is to determine the removal of Chemical Oxygen Demand
(COD), Total Organic Chemical (TOC) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) from an
influent and effluent by using a biological degradation of pharmaceutical wastewater. The
selected pharmaceutical wastewater was obtained from the Satire Pharmaceuticals (M)
Sdn. Bhd which is located at Bandar Baru Seri Iskandar, Perak. This project was divided
by two (2) phases, Phase I and Phase II. For Phase I, the treatment system involved is
only an aerobic treatment and two reactors have been used. These reactors are Reactor A
(short sludge age) and Reactor B (long sludge age). The parameters involved are COD
and TOC. COD is a method to measure the chemical oxygen demand equivalent of the
organic material in wastewater that can be oxidized chemically using dichromate in acid
solution. The Total Organic Chemical (TOC) can be used as a measure of wastewater
pollution characteristics. For Phase II, both aerobic and anaerobic treatment systems were
performed but the author focus only on anaerobic treatment system. The parameters
involved were COD and TSS. TSS is· a measure of the settleable solids. and non-settleable
solids in wastewater. The average differences of COD values between influents and
effluents for both reactors Reactor A and Reactor B after addition of new influent (on 5
October) was 1743 mg!L and 1540 mg!L. Moreover, the percentage(%) removal of COD
for both Reactor A and Reactor B were 85% and 75% respectively. The average
differences of TOC between influents and effluents for both reactors Reactor A and
Reactor B were 545 mg!L and 501 mg/L. In addition, the percentage (%) removal of
TOC for both Reactor A and Reactor B were 85% and 78% respectively. For Phase II, the
average difference of COD between influent and effluent was 834 mg/1. The percentage
(%)removal of COD was 90%. For TSS, the average values for both influent and effluent
were 19 mg/1 and 66 mg/1 respectively. There was no removal in TSS since the values of
effluent were higher than influent. Additionally, after its undergoing aerobic treatment
system, the results were better. This has shown that both treatment systems are the best
method to treat the pharmaceutical waste water efficiently and effectively.