28    TREATMENT OF A FRAGRANCE MANUFACTURING
WASTEWATER: A CASE HISTORY
Mervyn C. Goronszy, Director
Transenviro, Inc.
Aliso Viejo, California 92656
James Costello, Engineering Manager
Chesebrough Pond's
Clinton, Connecticut 06413
INTRODUCTION
The treatment of a fragrance manufacturing wastewater using a flowsheet which includes combined
equalization and organics stripping, biological treatment followed by catalyzed chemical oxidation
and waste sludge handling is described. Two biological processes were investigated for comparison.
The first was a conventional extended aeration process, using a bench-scale reactor; the second was a
cyclically operated activated sludge system batch reactor using a demonstration unit on-site. The
combined fragrance manufacturing waste stream was characterized by an initial COD of around
23000 mg/L. The treatment facility is required to meet a 300 mg/L COD, 175 mg/L BOD and 250
mg/L TSS effluent quality by the regulatory authorities. Secondary removal of residual COD using
activated carbon absorption proved to be negligible. Satisfactory removal of residual COD following
biological treatment was obtained in bench tests using catalyzed chemical oxidants. The design intent
of the full-scale facility is 38,000 L/day.
BACKGROUND
Chesebrough Pond's Inc. owns and operates a fragrance manufacturing facility in Las Piedras,
Puerto Rico. In order to discharge its wastewaters to the municipal sewer system, which is owned by
the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, it is necessary to meet the discharge limits shown in
Table I. The discharge will ultimately be directed to the new Humacao Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. Transenviro, Inc was retained to characterize and assess the treatability of the wastewaters and to subsequently provide a treatment facility to generally meet the effluent quality parameters summarized in Table I, with the exception of COD which was specified at 250 mg/L and BOD at
150 mg/L. Studies were conducted on the washwater stream to quantify the effectiveness of COD
removal by air stripping. Air stripping of a combined bottle crusher washwater combination was also
investigated. Parallel biological treatability studies were conducted using a bench-scale continuous
activated sludge reactor having a capacity of 177 liters and a demonstration cyclic activated sludge
unit having a working volume of 26,700 L. These studies were conducted on the washwater stream
after air stripping. The feed to the cyclic activated sludge unit was subsequently modified to include
the concentrated bottle crusher wastewater stream. Additional studies were conducted to assess the
practicability of meeting final effluent discharge requirements through activated carbon absorption
or catalyzed chemical oxidants.
NATURE OF THE WASTEWATER
The manufacturing facility has a number of production lines which include perfumes, colognes and
after shave lotions. Perfumes contain 22% fragrance oils while colognes contain 6% fragrance oils
together with alcohol, dye solutions, water and propylene glycol with extenders, fixers and stabilizers.
After shave lotions are similar to colognes with the addition of emollients and moisturizers. Various
base fragrance oils are formulated to generate specific olfactory effects in a perfume. Fragrances or
perfumes consist of a combination of numerous ingredients comprising single materials, complex
reaction mixtures, basic odor compounds and natural basically botanical or animal derived compounds. The actual formulae of fragrance compounds and the formulations that are used are generally closely guarded industrial secrets. Fragrance compounds used by the industry are often patented.
46th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1992 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
Printed in U.S.A.
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