An Overview of Wastewater from Traditional Tofu Industries in Sugihmanik Village, Grobogan Regency and its Appropriate Treatment Alternative

Abstract

Most traditional food industries in Indonesia are not complying with the expected environmental standard due to a lack of knowledge and environmental behaviour. Environmental damage in Sugihmanik, Purwodadi Regency, is one of the examples of the side effect of tofu industrial activities. At least 98,120 l of wastewater is disposed directly into the river daily. This manuscript presents the current situation of traditional tofu industries in Sugihmanik Village and analyses the most appropriate treatment design for tofu industrial wastewater. The descriptive method was used to identify the current practice to protect the environment. A hierarchical analytical process (AHP) was used to choose which wastewater treatment is suitable to be implemented there. This research also presents a practical method to identify the current flow of wastewater. The result shows that the wastewater produced by each tofu industry is 29.7 m3/ton of soybean used in the process, which less than the recent literature. AHP result also shows that up-flow anaerobic sludge bioreactor (UASB) has become the most appropriate wastewater treatment for the tofu industries.