Filtration characterisation of leather-fiber wastewater

The treatment of industrial sludge has been going on for a while now and there exists various treatment methods and techniques which differ in terms of financial (device, process, etc…) and practical (space and treatment volume) constraints. The discharge of industrial waste often results into harmful agents that negatively affect our environment and lifestyle. Leather treatment finds many applications to our daily life and its manufacturing process makes it one of the most important sources of pollution to the environment. The present work deals with the filtration characterisation and dewatering techniques applied to an industrial sludge made of leather-fibre particles. The raw sample was collected from leather factory and was tested. The study focuses on characterising particles’ physical and geometry properties obtained from the sedimentation rate, centrifuge machine, particle size and spectrophotometry measurements. Particle size analysis of the raw sample showed that it contained large size and nano-particles contaminants. The sedimentation rate result revealed the speed at which the particles settle at the bottom of the wastewater plant. Stoke's law applied to this result demonstrated the presence of both nanoparticles and micro-particles. Parameters such as the particles' density was estimated using the centrifuge machine. Following the obtained results, two different filter systems were applied to the raw sample to measure their efficiency: a 50 µm fabric filter and a foam-type ranging [80 - 120 µm]. Particle size results revealed that the foam-type filter was able to remove both the nanoparticles and microparticles. This work is a contribution to the development of relatively cheap and sustainable techniques for the dewatering of industrial sludge.