Treatment of Wastewater from Bean Sprout Production for Reuse

Bean sprout production consumes a significant volume of municipal water and generates a similar amount of wastewater. Water costs become a serious concern for this food industry, therefore wastewater reuse is highly desired by many sprout producers. Bean sprout wastewater has a relatively low level of contamination, which gives a great potential for reuse. The objective of this study was to exam the treatment feasibility of sprout production wastewater using a membrane bioreactor. Real-world wastewater from a sprout producer was treated continuously for 35 days. Important water quality parameters were monitored closely including chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia, tannins, pH, total suspended solids (TSS), etc. Once the biological system was stabilized, the MBR’s effluent showed very low level of COD, ammonia, TSS and bacteria, which demonstrated that the reuse of sprout wastewater is achievable.