In recent years the availability of high quality water is becoming a constraint in several countries. Agriculture represents the main world water user therefore, wastewater reuse in this area could increase the water availability for other needs. However conventional approach for wastewater treatment and reuse requires large and complex plants which include tertiary disinfection processes (i.e. NaClO, UV radiation). The aim of this research was to provide a compact scheme for treatment and reuse of municipal wastewater based on Sequencing Batch Biofilter Granular Reactors (SBBGR). Particular attention was dedicated to microbiological quality of water monitoring a wide group of indicators (Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Somatic coliphages, Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum). The possibility of SBBGR enhancement with sand filtration was also evaluated. The SBBGR removed more than 90% of suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand (COD), and about 80% and 50% of total nitrogen and phosphorous respectively. SBBGR resulted effective also towards microbial indicators removing from 1 up to 4 log units of these microorganisms. The addition of sand filtration increased the disinfection efficiency of the system obtaining an additional removal of 1-2 log units. In conclusion, the biological treatment by SBBGR produced an effluent with properties already compatible with its agricultural reuse according to the WHO's quality criteria. Furthermore, combining SBBGR and sand filtration the plant effluent could even comply more restrictive reuse criteria.

WATEWATER REUSE BY AN INNOVATIVE BIOLOGICAL REACTOR COMBINED WITH SAND FILTRATION

De Sanctis Marco;Del Moro Guido;Di Iaconi Claudio;Lopez Antonio
2016

Abstract

In recent years the availability of high quality water is becoming a constraint in several countries. Agriculture represents the main world water user therefore, wastewater reuse in this area could increase the water availability for other needs. However conventional approach for wastewater treatment and reuse requires large and complex plants which include tertiary disinfection processes (i.e. NaClO, UV radiation). The aim of this research was to provide a compact scheme for treatment and reuse of municipal wastewater based on Sequencing Batch Biofilter Granular Reactors (SBBGR). Particular attention was dedicated to microbiological quality of water monitoring a wide group of indicators (Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Somatic coliphages, Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum). The possibility of SBBGR enhancement with sand filtration was also evaluated. The SBBGR removed more than 90% of suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand (COD), and about 80% and 50% of total nitrogen and phosphorous respectively. SBBGR resulted effective also towards microbial indicators removing from 1 up to 4 log units of these microorganisms. The addition of sand filtration increased the disinfection efficiency of the system obtaining an additional removal of 1-2 log units. In conclusion, the biological treatment by SBBGR produced an effluent with properties already compatible with its agricultural reuse according to the WHO's quality criteria. Furthermore, combining SBBGR and sand filtration the plant effluent could even comply more restrictive reuse criteria.
2016
Istituto di Ricerca Sulle Acque - IRSA
Wastewater reuse
Pathogens
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14243/357420
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