Waste Characteristics

1
Waste Characteristics

• Major Concepts
• Wastes may be from domestic, industrial origin or
  may be generated by from urban and agricultural
  run-off
• The composition of a waste will vary depending on
  its origin. The detailed composition is used to
  determine the what environmental issues are
  relevant to the waste and the range of treatment
  processes (including biological) that are
  potentially available. A economic decision is
  then made. Effluent charges have a significant
  role to play in this process.
• To fully characterise a waste, standard methods
  are used. These are developed to ensure accuracy
  and reproducibility.

2
Waste Characteristics

• The more standards methods that are undertaken,
  the more expensive is the characterisation
• A limited number of simple tests (such a
  BOD,COD,TOC, VSS,SS etc) can be used to broadly
  characterise a waste and give some insight into
  whether it is biologically treatable and to what
  extent.
• These simple tests given individual information
  however, when combined together the amount of
  information obtained is multiplied