Abstract:
Water is a limited natural resource that is crucial to the world’s social and economic
growth. For industries, water is an essential factor. Lalan Rubber (Pvt) Ltd, situated
in the Seethawaka Export Processing Zone, requires a large volume of water for the
manufacturing of latex-based gloves. The required water is supplied by the BOI
(13,000m3/day), but this amount is not sufficient to increase the production. The
reuse of wastewater is one of the alternative solutions to increase the production
capacity. In this study, we attempted to reuse the wastewater produced from the
second rinsing (Cholornation section) of rubber products after filtrations. The
objectives of this study were to design and evaluate the ultrafiltration (UF) system,
and to perform a cost-benefit analysis after installation of the plant. A feasibility
test was performed before designing the plant. The flow rate and the particle size
distribution of second rise water were measured and then the UF system was
designed by using a software (DOW Water Application Value Engine, USA) and filter
size tables. The installed UF system was evaluated for three months using selected
wastewater properties (BOD5, COD, TSS, pH, and turbidity). The cost and benefits
were also determined. The results revealed that the UF system reduced BOD5, COD,
TSS, and turbidity to 76.08%, 66.16%, 98.4%, and 97.24%, respectively. The treated
water parameters were in the satisfactory range for glove production. The costbenefit
analysis revealed that the cost of production of the UF plant was Rs.
2,445,000 and it can be recovered within 186 days consuming the treated
wastewater. It can be concluded that UF systems can be used as a treatment system
for wastewater generated from rubber industries while using the treated water for
the production lines (chlorination section) as freshwater.
