Comparative Study of RBC-based Dairy Wastewater Treatment with and without Aeration

In this paper, the dairy sector in India is a major contributor to water pollution, as it generates high organic load wastewater from production and processing operations, resulting in severe environmental issues. This paper presents a comparative analysis of a laboratory-scale Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC) system with coir rope as a new low-cost biome dial material for treating Amul dairy wastewater. The experimental setup was operated at a constant disc speed of 4.5 rpm, and the experiments were carried out under two different conditions: with and without aeration. The key performance parameters, such as chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) reduction, and overall treatment efficiency, were analysed in depth. The results clearly show that the coir rope RBC system outperformed the conventional systems and has great potential as a sustainable and economical treatment solution for dairy wastewater.