Impact of Sugar Cane Industry Effluents on The Environment of its Surroundings

Abstract

Pakistan's sweetener sector is mostly comprised of sugarcane cultivation, manufacturing and commercialization of white sugar. Pakistan is an agricultural country, with agriculture serving as the foundation of the economy. The sugar industry accounts for 4.2% of total manufacturing. Sugarcane is farmed on over a million hectares of land in Pakistan, providing raw material for the country's sugar mills, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Since many chemicals are employed during the processing, the effluent is frequently tainted with contaminants. Burnt sugar odor, low pH, black hue, high ash concentration, and 50 percent organic and inorganic particles are all present in this wastewater. Normally, sugar industrial effluents are not treated before discharge and hence pollute both land and aquatic habitats. When not adequately handled, they emit an unpleasant stench when released into the environment. The study's goal was to assess the effects of sugar mills’ effluent on the ecology near the mills. Water effluent samples were collected from Layyah sugar mills, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan and evaluated for pH, total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and several heavy metals for the current study. TSS, BOD, COD, pH, conductivity, nitrates, phosphates, chlorides, Ca, Mg, Hg, Cd, Ni, Zn, Cu, Fe, were all found to be greater than Pakistan's National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS). The investigation discovered that the discharge of untreated effluents from sugar mills affected the surface water, groundwater, and soil, substantially degrading the ecosystem of the locations.