EVALUATION OF A NEW METHOD FOR TREATING COFFEE EFFLUENT

Coffee fruits are processed by either wet method or dry method at the estate level to obtain the coffee bean. Of these two methods, coffee processing by wet method requires large amount of water and thus generates enormous amount of effluent which needs to be treated extensively before discharge. Currently, the effluent treatment plant (ETP) module developed by Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI) in collaboration with National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) during 1980 is employed for treating the coffee effluent. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has recommended CCRI-NEERI ETP module for adoption at the estate level to treat the coffee effluent. In the present investigation, a new method viz., Acidification-Neutralization-Sedimentation-Filtration (ANSF) developed recently by CCRI was evaluated for treating the coffee effluent for four consecutive seasons (2017-2018 to 2020-2021) under field conditions. The results indicated that the BOD reduction by ANSF method is comparatively higher than the BOD reduction by CCRI-NEERI method. Further, ANSF method is relatively simple, as it does not require any chemical (or) biological inputs for treating the coffee effluent, excepting calcium oxide and biochar.