Overview

The approach used to develop systems to treat and dispose of industrial wastes is distinctly different from the approach used for municipal wastes. There is a lot of similarity in the characteristics of wastes from one municipality, or one region, to another. Because of this, the best approach to designing a treatment system for municipal wastes is to analyze the performance characteristics of many existing municipal systems and deduce an optimal set of design parameters for the system under consideration. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of other systems, rather than on the waste stream under consideration. In the case of industrial waste, however, few industrial plants have a high degree of similarity between products produced and wastes generated. Therefore, emphasis is placed on analysis of the wastes under consideration, rather than on what is taking place at other industrial locations. This is not to say that there is little value in analyzing the performance of treatment systems at other more or less similar industrial locations. Quite the opposite is true. It is simply a matter of emphasis.

Wastes from industries are customarily produced as liquid wastes (such as process wastes, which go to an on-site or off-site wastewater treatment system), solid wastes (including hazardous wastes, which include some liquids), or air pollutants; often, the three are managed by different people or departments. These wastes are managed and regulated differently, depending on the characteristics of the wastes and the process producing them. They are regulated by separate and distinct...