INDUSTRIAL WASTES: REVIEW OF SOURCES, HAZARDS AND MITIGATION

Abstract

Industrial wastes are unwanted materials generated by human activities in various industries such as mining, contract on, petroleum and metal/food processing. Industrial wastes may be classified on the basis of nature as solid, liquid and gaseous wastes; on the basis of pollution characteristics as hazardous and non hazardous wastes; and on the basis of industrial sector / processes as mine wastes, construction wastes, petroleum/petrol chemical wastes, brewery pharmaceutical wastes; and metallurgical wastes. Hazardous industrial wastes are those wastes that could be harmful or have the potential to be harmful to the health of humous, other organisms or the environment, and requires special precaution in its collection, storage, transpiration, treatment and/or disposal to prevent damage to persons, properties or other organisms. Generally, industrial hazardous wastes have one or more of the following identifiable characteristics, namely: flammable, reactive explosive, corrosive and toxic. Some examples of industrial hazardous wastes and their sources/health hazards include: particulate and acid mine drainage (associated with mine wastes due to coal mining may cause black lung cancer, and water pollution, respectively); drilling mud waste from petroleum crude production may cause pollution of water bodies and land, and hence affect human / aquatic life and land usage; and CO/CO2 , NH3 and H2S associated with gaseous wastes of petroleum crude refinery/processing may contribute to climate change, pollution of surrounding air as well as being toxic to humans). The mitigation measures concerning the generation of industrial hazardous wastes and reduction of their health hazards include: waste minimization; waste recovery and reuse; and waste treatment and disposal.