Abstract

Greywater treatment at the source using an enzyme-based reaction mechanism is a faster and more cost-effective approach compared to conventional biological treatment methods. In this study, the feasibility of using enzymes such as protease, lipase, and amylase for treating commercial kitchen wastewater (KWW) was investigated. The dosages of protease, lipase, and amylase were varied under standard pH and ambient temperature conditions to determine the optimum enzyme concentrations capable of reducing effluent parameters to environmentally acceptable discharge limits. The results showed that, for non-vegetarian wastewater samples, removal efficiencies of 97.8%, 97.7%, and 97.9% for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD); 98.4%, 97.3%, and 98.4% for chemical oxygen demand (COD); and 98.6%, 98.7%, and 98.6% for total suspended solids (TSS) were achieved using 0.3 g of protease, 0.5 g of amylase, and 0.5 g of lipase, respectively. For wastewater samples collected from vegetarian restaurants, removal efficiencies of 91.8%, 92.0%, and 92.2% for BOD; 96.7%, 96.2%, and 96.7% for COD; and 96.8%, 98.0%, and 97.0% for TSS were achieved using 0.5 g of protease, 0.3 g of amylase, and 0.5 g of lipase, respectively. The treatment durations required for effective BOD reduction in non-vegetarian samples were 5, 4, and 5 days using the optimum dosages of protease, amylase, and lipase, respectively. In contrast, treatment durations of 24, 36, and 48 hours were sufficient for vegetarian samples using protease, amylase, and lipase, respectively. It was observed that protease at a dosage of 0.5 g per 100 mL of vegetarian KWW exhibited superior treatment performance compared to amylase and lipase. Conversely, amylase at a dosage of 0.5 g per 100 mL of non-vegetarian KWW demonstrated better treatment efficiency than protease and lipase.

Keywords

Enzyme-based wastewater treatment, Commercial kitchen wastewater, Greywater management, Biochemical oxygen demand, Chemical oxygen demand, Total suspended solids.

Cite this article

Nazim F, Pawels R, B S. Experimental analysis of protease, amylase, and lipase enzymes for the treatment of vegetarian and non-vegetarian commercial kitchen wastewater. International Journal of Advanced Technology and Engineering Exploration. 2025;12(133):1882-1900. DOI : 10.19101/IJATEE.2025.121220261

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