The focus of this course is on management of industrial wastewater including topics such as cleaner production, industrial water management, toxicity, physical chemical processes, anaerobic industrial wastewater treatment, and sludge management and treatment. This online course includes lectures and several case studies of selected industries where best management practice in pollution prevention, wastewater and sludge treatment can be seen.

Learning objectives

Understand principles of pollution prevention and control including Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Understand principles of various processes applicable to industrial wastewater treatment.
Get insight in waste(water) generation within number of selected industries, and identify different technologies for the treatment of industrial effluents.
Understand different options for sludge treatment, disposal, and reuse.

Target group

Mid-career professionals dealing with the technical, environmental, and management aspects pertaining to industrial pollution control, wastewater treatment, residuals/waste minimization, and disposal and reuse.

Course structure

Participants complete the course in part-time, online learning mode with a total workload of approximately 140 hours (equivalent to a course of 3 weeks full-time). They spend about 9 hours per week on this course by reading, watching lectures, participating in discussions, asking questions to the teacher and to fellow classmates, and working on assignments. Upon successful completion of the course, participants will receive a Course Certificate issued by UNESCO-IHE.

Course content

Cleaner Production: i) Trend-setting introduction of industrial pollution; ii) Theoretical concept of Eco-efficiency; iii) What is cleaner production; iv) Financial benefits of cleaner production; and v) A future prospective.
Industrial Water Management: i) Impact of industry on water resources; ii) Industrial water quality; iii) Water audit; iv) Waste minimization; v) Treatment options; vi) Appropriate technology; and vii) Implementation.
Toxicity in Industrial Wastewater: i) Measures of toxicity; ii) Kinetics Models for toxic substrates; and iii) Dealing with toxicity.
Physical Chemical Processes: i) Contaminants/classes and process selection; ii) Physical‑chemical transformation processes; iii) Physical-chemical separation processes; and iv) Coagulation/flocculation.
Anaerobic Industrial Wastewater Treatment: i) Anaerobic high-rate treatment of industrial wastewater; ii) UASB reactors; iii) EGSB reactors; iv) EGSB/IC reactors; and v) Industrial treatment examples.
Sludge Management: i) Sludge conditioning; ii) Sludge thickening; iii) Sludge stabilization; and iv) Sludge dewatering.
Case studies: i) Steel industry; ii) Tannery; iii) Aquaculture; iv) Industrial practices: potato, sugar, tannery, and yeast; v) Sugar, steel, and water reclamation; vi) Resources recovery; vii) Water management/water reuse (membrane bioreactors); viii) Refinery; ix) Leachate treatment; x) Metal surface protection by advanced wastewater treatment; xi) Brewery industry; xii) Sludge drying; and xiii) Sludge incineration.