REMOVAL OF AMMONIACAL NITROGEN (NH3-N), PHOSPHORUS (P04),CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (COD) AND TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLID(TSS) USING ANAEROBIC AND AEROBIC DEGRADATION OFPHARMACEUTICAL WASTEWATER

The current treatment system of Safire Pharmaceuticals (M) Sdn. Bhd was not really effective and the operational cost of the wastewater treatment was high. The purpose of this project for the first phase was to investigate the removal efficiency of ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-:N) and phosphorus (P04) from Satire's pharmaceutical wastewater using aerobic treatment. For the second phase, the project was executed to investigate the removal efficiency of total suspended solid (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) using anaerobic-aerobic treatment. The pharmaceutical wastewater was taken from a company which is Safire Pharmaceuticals (M) Sdn. Bhd located at Bandar Baru Seri Iskandar, near Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. The wastewater influent and effluent samples were analyzed to determine the parameters such as influent and effluent of ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-:N), phosphorus (P04), total suspended solid (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). For the first phase of aerobic treatment, two reactors had been used to treat the pharmaceutical wastewater. The difference between the reactors was sludge age. One of the reactors had been used short sludge age for the aerobic treatment and the other one we use long sludge age. Sludge age is a measure of the length of time a particle of suspended solids has been retained in the activated sludge process. For the second phase of the aerobic and anaerobic treatment, three reactors had been used to treat the pharmaceutical wastewater. One reactor used for anaerobic treatment and the other two were used for aerobic treatment. From the experiment at the first phase, the maximum percentage removal of the ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3 N) quite high which was 54.3%. But, there was no change between the influent and effluent Of phosphorus (P04) which means no removal of phosphorus using aerobic treatment. For the second phase, the maximum percentage removal of COD for pharmaceutical wastewater was 98.1% which quite high. Meanwhile, the maximum percentage removal of TSS for pharmaceutical wastewater was 46.8%. So, it can be concluded that the aerobic treatment could treat ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3 N) but could not treat phosphorus (P04). However, the anaerobic-aerobic treatment could successfully treat both the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solid (TSS).