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Techniques for Remediation of Paper and Pulp Mill Effluents: Processes and Constraints

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Handbook of Environmental Materials Management

Abstract

Economic development of a nation is linked to industrialization, but should not take place at the expense of environmental degradation. The demand for paper and cardboard in packaging industries is continuously on increase. However, paper industry is extremely water intensive and also an obnoxious polluter of the environment, thereby being categorized under the red category of pollution control boards. Pulp and paper mill effluents consist of not only lignin and other naturally occurring polymers but also many xenobiotic compounds (chlorinated lignins, resin acids and phenols, dioxins, furans, chlorophenols, adsorbable organic halogens (AOX), extractable organic halogens (EOXs), polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, plasticizers, etc.), which can cause severe toxicity to aquatic life by bioaccumulation and may lead to biomagnification in food chains. Salt-rich black liquor can also deteriorate the soil structure, increase soil salinity, and cause nutrient imbalance in crops when used for irrigation without any prior treatment. Hence, appropriate treatment of this liquor prior to discharge into the environment is crucial. Although conventional treatments are quite effective in decolorization of paper mill effluents, all have severe setbacks such as high cost of treatment or unreliability in operation. Thus, this chapter deals with the recent developments in the technologies for treatment of wastewater generated from paper and pulp industries. Some of these include use of environmental biological agents with their enhanced enzymatic systems and new materials for cell immobilization that have received considerable attention in the recent years. The processes related to these technologies, their economic benefits, and constraints if any will be discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Studies, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India

    Smita Chaudhry & Rashmi Paliwal

Authors
  1. Smita Chaudhry
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  2. Rashmi Paliwal
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Chemistry and EVSC, New Jersey InstTech, 151 D Tiernan-NJIT Dept. of Chemistry and EVSC, Newark, New Jersey, USA

    Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA

    Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain Ph. D

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Chaudhry, S., Paliwal, R. (2018). Techniques for Remediation of Paper and Pulp Mill Effluents: Processes and Constraints. In: Hussain, C. (eds) Handbook of Environmental Materials Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58538-3_134-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58538-3_134-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58538-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58538-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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