Bioremediation of Aldehyde-Rich Wastewater from a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Unit
Bioremediation of Aldehyde-Rich Wastewater from a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Unit
Background

A leading pharmaceutical company situated in Madhya Pradesh in India was facing challenges in treating its aldehyde-laden wastewater, particularly with glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde content.Bioremediation of aldehyde-rich wastewater emerged as a sustainable and effective solution to this issue. Contact Us to learn how we can transform your wastewater challenges into sustainable solutions.

These compounds, used in drug synthesis and as disinfectants, were found to be:

  • Inhibiting microbial activity in their conventional Activated Sludge Process (ASP), a common biological wastewater treatment method.
  • Causing non-compliance with regulatory COD/BOD limits—critical benchmarks in any sewage water treatment process.
  • Producing a persistent pungent odor at the ETP outlet, calling for odour control in wastewater treatment.
ETP details:

The industry had primary treatment, biological treatment, and then a tertiary treatment.

Flow (current) 900 KLD
Type of process ASP
No. of aeration tanks 2
Capacity of aeration tanks 3180 KL and 2840 KL
Challenges: 
Parameters  Avg. Inlet parameters(PPM) Avg. Outlet parameters(PPM)
COD 12000 1500
BOD 4500 880-500
TDS 4000 1200
Formaldehyde 200 145
Gluteraldehyde 210 182
Problem Statement:

Despite having a full-fledged ETP (Equalization → Primary → ASP → Clarifier), the system could not consistently bring down aldehyde levels due to their toxicity to standard microbial consortia. The system experienced:

  • Foaming and poor settling in the aeration tank.
  • Reduced BOD removal efficiency.
  • Increased sludge bulking and filamentous growth—issues typical in inefficient wastewater filtration and sludge management systems.
Objective:

To implement a cost-effective, eco-friendly bioremediation strategy that:

  1. Enhances degradation of formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde.
  2. Restores biological treatment efficiency.
  3. Achieves compliance with CPCB norms.
Solution: Bioaugmentation-Based Bioremediation
Step 1: Selection of Microbial Culture/Bioculture

A customized bio-culture T1B Aerobio blend was developed, containing aldehyde-degrading strains of:

  • Pseudomonas putida
  • Bacillus subtilis
  • Rhodococcus sp.

These microbes had been lab-tested for their aldehyde tolerance and metabolic capabilities..aerobio from t1b

Step 2: Dosing Plan in Full-Scale ETP
  • Initial Loading dose: For 1st 30 days to develop the population of bacteria and generate biomass 
  • Maintenance dose: For the next days and on, to maintain the population of biomass generated.
  • Nutrient balancing (C:N:P = 100:5:1) to promote growth.
Step 3: Acclimatization Phase (2 Days)
  • The culture was activated for two days separately for acclimatization.

Monitored DO, pH, and ORP to ensure a stable environment.

Results:

After 60 days of Bioculture addition/Bioremediation:

Parameters  Avg. Inlet parameters(PPM) Avg. Outlet parameters(PPM)
COD 12000 500
BOD 4500 280
TDS 4000 1200
Formaldehyde 200 >15
Gluteraldehyde 210 >30

60 days of Bioculture addition/ bioremediation of aldehyde-rich wastewater

60 days of Bioculture addition/ bioremediation of aldehyde-rich wastewater

Benefits Observed

✅ Rapid degradation of aldehydes without secondary pollutants
✅ Stabilized biomass and improved MLSS/MLVSS ratio
✅ Significant reduction in foaming and sludge bulking
✅ Odor control and improved air quality near the aeration tank
✅ Regulatory compliance achieved within 4 weeks

Conclusion

Bioremediation of aldehyde rich wastewater has proven to be a sustainable and economical solution for treating contaminated wastewater. With careful acclimatization, dosing, and nutrient balancing, the ETP was restored to optimal performance without requiring major infrastructure changes.This highlights the power of using the right wastewater treatment products and techniques to improve residential wastewater treatment systems and eco sewage treatment plants alike.

Contact Us to explore how our waste water engineering solutions can support your sewage treatment plant maintenance needs.

Email: sales@teamonebiotech.com

Visit: www.teamonebiotech.com

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Saving operational expenses for pharma business using bioremediation
Saving OPEX for a reputed Pharma Giant using Bioremediation
Introduction: 

The reputed pharmaceutical giant is known for contributing to the global pharmaceutical sector by using  bioremediation. This unit is one of the largest Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) producers that manufactures products such as Tamsulosin, Metformin, Esomeprazole, etc. The Unit has a full-fledged Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) which is a traditional Activated Sludge Process (ASP) system. The unit is committed to treating its industrial wastewater religiously. The unit had an Multi-Effect Evaporator (MEE) installed to treat high COD wastewater stream. Due to the production of multiple pharmaceutical products, the ETP received multiple effluent streams with tough-to-degrade pollutants like toluene, benzene, Metformin, Acetic Acid, Methanol, etc. Due to such high-strength wastewater streams, it was difficult for them to control ETP operations, using bioremediation which led to heavier expenses, specifically on the MEE operation, as it was receiving a heavier load than its designed capacity.

ETP details:

The industry had primary treatment, biological treatment, and then a tertiary treatment.

Flow (current) 450 KLD
Flow (design) 500 KLD
Type of process ASP
No. of aeration tanks 3 (in series)
Capacity of aeration tanks 500 KL, 450 KL, 300 KL  respectively
Retention Time 67 hours(combined)
MEE Details:
Capacity (current) 12 KLD
Current inflow 10 KLD
Inlet COD 150000 ppm
Inlet TDS 60000 ppm
Challenges:
Parameters (PPM) Avg. Inlet parameters  Avg. Outlet parameters 
COD 18000 9900
BOD 5000 3000
TDS 15000 9500
Operational Challenges:
  • The primary treatment system was working at 5% efficiency in terms of COD reduction.
  • The biological treatment system was working at an average 45% efficiency in terms of COD reduction.
  • They were struggling to effectively treat recalcitrant pollutants such as toluene, benzene, Metformin, Acetic Acid, and Methanol, which compelled them to run the ETP at 10% less hydraulic load.
  • A separate high COD stream was directed to MEE, leading to scaling and fouling in MEE.

Volume of stream to MEE: 10 KLD
COD: 150000 ppm
TDS: 80000 ppm

Financial Challenges:
  • Urea-DAP consumption: 2160 Kg/month of Urea and 1200 Kg/month of DAP were required to boost the poor biomass in the biological tanks.
  • Electricity consumption: Due to high COD effluent, the power requirement went up from a normal 14250 KWH to 20250 KWH monthly.
  • Raw Water Consumption: Due to high COD influent, there was a need for higher evaporation, hence around 100000 litres of water was used monthly for MEE.
  • Chemical Consumption: Due to high COD inflow in MEE, there was extensive scaling, due to which the MEE needed frequent cleaning with HCL: 22500 kg/month, EDTA: 11250 kg/month.
Extra Costs incurred per month:
Commodity Units required
Urea(in Biological tank) 2160 kg/month
DAP(in Biological tank) 1200 kg/month
Raw water consumption 100000 litres/ Month approx
HCL (10 % ) 5500 kg/month
EDTA 3200 kg /month
Electricity(MEE) 20250 KWH/month

The MEE cost per liter was coming to Rs. 1820/KL for 10 KLD capacity, while the overall WWTP (Wastewater Treatment Plant) cost to treat 450 KLD effluent swelled to Rs. 200/KLD.

The Approach:

The industry partnered with us to improve the efficiency of their biological units and to reduce operational costs using bioremediation in their WWTP.

We adopted a 3D approach that included:

  1. Research/Scrutiny:
    • Our team visited their manufacturing facility to examine the existing ETP process and scrutinize areas of improvement.
    • The visit helped us explore potential ETP optimization strategies in the biological treatment system.
  2. Analysis:
    • We analyzed the previous 3-month cumulative data of their ETP to observe trends in inlet-outlet parameters.
  3. Innovation (Bioaugmentation):
Desired Outcomes :
  1. Reduction of COD/BOD thereby improving the efficiency of biological tanks.
  2. Degradation of tough-to-degrade effluents and develop robust biomass to withstand shock loads.
  3. Reduction in scaling of MEE by reducing COD in biological systems and saving cost using bioremediation.
  4. Reducing consumption of UREA-DAP.
  5. Cost saving by treating high COD streams in main ETP.
Execution:

Our team selected two bioaugmentation products:

  1. T1B Aerobio:
    • A blend of specialized microbes that secrete enzymes capable of degrading tough pollutants like toluene, benzene, and Metformin.
    • Helps in reducing COD/BOD, stabilizing shock loads, and enhancing biomass stability.
  1. T1B MacMi:
    • A plant-based gel that acts as a nutrient source for bacteria.
    • Replaced UREA-DAP to provide essential macro and micronutrients for microbial growth.

                                       

Plan of Action:
  • Diverting 2 KLD of MEE inlet to the main ETP inlet with COD 150000 ppm.
  • Diverting 3 KLD of MEE reject to main ETP inlet with COD 25000 ppm.
  • Dosing of T1B Aerobio in all three biological tanks.
  • Dosing of T1B MacMi in all three tanks.

Average Inlet COD after the addition of streams: 18406 PPM

Results:
Parameters Inlet parameters  Secondary Outlet parameters (ppm)
COD 18406-19000 ppm 2200 ppm
BOD 9290 to 10000 ppm 1400 ppm 
Cost Saving :
Commodity Units required before treatment Units required after treatment
Urea 2160 kg/month 432 kg/month
DAP 1200 kg/month 240 kg/month
Raw water consumption 100000 litres/ Month approx 50000 litres/Month
HCL (10 % ) 5500 kg/month 4000 litres/month
EDTA 3200 kg /month 2050 litres/month
Electricity(Extra) 675 KWH/day 478 KWH/day

The MEE operational cost reduced to Rs. 1220/KLD, and the ETP cost was reduced to Rs. 160/KLD using bioremediation.

Key Achievements:

  • 85-89% COD & BOD reduction.
  • 20% reduction in ETP OPEX.
  • Full-capacity operations restored using bioremediation.
  • MEE dependency reduced.

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