RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONDUCTIVITY AND DISSOLVED SOLIDS OF TREATED WASTEWATERS

Abstract

Reclaimed water is the treated wastewater or impaired water that is utilized in different fields as resource water for the beneficial purposes. A research work was carried out for estimating the major materials which increased the conductivity of the industrial treated wastewater so that this water could be reused as reclaimed water in another industry. The second purpose of this research was finding the relationship between conductivity and total dissolved solids of an industrial treated wastewater. The data showed that there were diverse changes in the conductivity and solids concentrations of the S. food making industry?s wastewater and there was found no uniformity in the wastewater from different source points i.e MH#1, MH#3 and old plant while a curvilinear relationship was found at MH#2 and mixing tank. The total dissolved solids values were very fluctuating at each point while at the effluent point there was found stability in conductivity as well as solids data. The experimental results showed that cations (Ca2+ and Na+) were the main factors in TDS which increased the conductivity of the industrial wastewater samples. By controlling these factors the conductivity could be controlled and the treated wastewater could be supplied to the paper industry as raw process water. The relationships were developed between conductivity and dissolved solids at different sampling points of S. food making company. At the old plant and mixing tank, though conductivity values were very high and the data of the total dissolved solids were also undulating but a curvilinear relationship was found at MH#2 and in mixing tank while no clear relationship was seen between conductivity and TDS/conductivity at other points (MH#1,MH#3 and old plant). There was found a clear relationship between TDS and conductivity in the industrial treated wastewater at the effluent point with high coefficient (R2=0.98). It was proved that if the conductivity data (X) and TDS/conductivity (Y) ratios were plotted at the treated effluent point and if data was diverse and fluctuated then the regression equation (Y= 0.0429 + 705.33/X) was found feasible for estimating the TDS/conductivity ratio (0.58?0.67) and if the conductivity was uniform and higher than 1180 ?S/cm then TDS/conductivity ratio with a linear regression equation (Y= 1.437 ? 0.000652 X) was found feasible for TDS data prediction with an average value of 0.64. Sometimes the conductivity is the only practical method for the inspection of the salinity variations (dissolved solids or salts) so this relationship will be very helpful in that situation for a specific industry.