Performance Evaluation of Wastewater Treatment Plant Using AAS-Based Quantification of Heavy Metals in Effluents of Industrial and Healthcare Sector

Almost 80–90% of raw water used for any industrial process gets transmuted into wastewater and only about 10% is recycled. Hence, provision of efficient wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) becomes a cardinal demand for every industry, may it be any sector. The objective of this study was to carry out performance evaluation of WWTP based on the presence of hazardous heavy metals in the effluents. The sample of effluents was collected from the industries from three different sectors, namely, Packaging (Electroplating), Dyeing and Healthcare (Hospital). Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (FAAS) was used for quantification of heavy metals in the collected samples of effluent. Totally 10 samples were collected from the inlet and outlet WWTPs installed at the selected sites. From the results, it was found the inlet effluent sample from packaging industry had the highest quantity of heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Ni, and Pb) present in it. The inlet samples of healthcare sector had trace amount of heavy metals such as Pb, Ni, and Cr. The heavy metals were not detected in the samples collected from the outlet of the WWTPs of electroplating industry and healthcare sectors, thus proving acceptable efficiency of the WWTP in terms of heavy metal treatment. However, untreated trace of chromium metal was detected in the outlet sample of dyeing industry. This provides an indication of possibility for improving the heavy metal treatment scheme of WWTP.