Radiotracer investigation of a pulp and paper mill effluent treatment plant

The pulp and paper industry is highly dependent on water for most of its processes, producing a significant amount of wastewater that should be treated to comply with environmental standards before its discharge into surface-water reservoirs. The wastewater generated primarily consists of substantial amounts of organic, inorganic, toxic and pathogenic compounds in addition to nutrients, which are treated in an effluent treatment plant that often combines primary, secondary, tertiary and advanced treatments. However, the treatment methods vary from industry to industry according to the process utilized. The effective performance of effluent treatment plants is crucial from both environmental and economic points of view. Radiotracer techniques can be effectively used to optimize performance and detect anomalies like dead zones, bypassing, channelling, etc. in wastewater treatment plants. Experiments on the distribution of residence time were performed on the aeration tank and secondary clarifier of a full-scale pulp and paper mill to study the flow behaviour as well as locate system anomalies and hence evaluate the performance of the treatment plants using the radiotracer I-131. The convolution method was applied to model the system with an imperfect impulse radiotracer input. The aeration tank was working efficiently in the absence of any dead zones or bypassing. Various hydrodynamic models available in the literature were applied on the aeration tank and secondary clarifier to obtain the hydraulic representation of the systems.