ARTI KATIYAR

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Tannery effluents (TE) are the major hazardous chemical wastes generated by the leather or tannery industries during the processing and finishing of the leather. Across the globe, India has secured second rank in leather industries, contributing to producing hazardous chemical wastes/tannery effluents that disturb the ecological balance. The conventional microbial treatment strategy is one of the options, which decreases the level of hazardous chemical wastes from tannery effluents. This study aims to evaluate TE’s chemical composition, organic texture, and metabolites using GC-MS, ICP-MS and other physiochemical analyses after the conventional microbial treatment process at a common effluent treatment plant (CETP). The results showed that most of the pollutant parameters like COD, BOD, metal ions, sulphate, chromium, and organic pollutants were significantly reduced in TE after the microbial treatment. Moreover, results also showed that chlorophenols and phthalate derivatives could not be biodegraded by the indigenous microbial population in the aeration pond/tank of CETP. Dichlorodihydrofluorescein (DCF) assay on cell line showed that untreated TE extract has the highest reactive oxygen species (ROS) production than other samples (all p<0.01). The genotoxicity of TE was reduced significantly in terms of Olive Tail Moment (OTM) and % tail DNA after the conventional treatment process at CETP by 58.4% and 36.45% in aerated tanks 1 and 2, respectively. However, TE samples had higher pollution parameters and toxic effluents even after conversion through microbial treatment. Therefore, results suggested that adequate treatment of TE is crucial before its final disposal/discharge into the environment.