Chemical coagulation of greywater: modelling using artificial neural networks

Comparative evaluation of different pre-treatment alternatives for granular media filters treating greywater and their ranking using analytical hierarchy process

In this study, the performance of four different pre-treatment alternatives for granular media filtration, namely, settling, aeration, coarse media filtration and chemical coagulation were compared experimentally. Further, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to compare their performance based on economic, environmental, technical and performance criteria. Performance of settling and aeration were evaluated up to 24 h duration. The coarse media filter was intermittently operated with 10 L of greywater in downflow mode while alum was used for chemical coagulation. Experimental results showed that settling up to 6 h did not show significant removal of different pollutants whereas 24 h settling resulted in moderate removal of turbidity and organic content but was not efficient in the removal of nutrients and faecal coliforms. Chemical coagulation reduced 93, 66, 48 and 97% of turbidity, COD, NH4-N and faecal coliforms, respectively from greywater but resulted in excessive sludge generation and is difficult to adopt on-site and requires skilled supervision. Coarse filtration of greywater resulted in 61, 41, 36 and 35% removal of turbidity, COD, PO4-P and faecal coliforms, respectively. Considering different criteria AHP gave coarse filtration as the best pre-treatment option to the granular media filters treating greywater.

Determination and Removal of Selected Pharmaceuticals and Total Organic Carbon from Surface Water by Aluminum Chlorohydrate Coagulant

In the present research, the removal of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and erythromycin (ERY), fluoxetine (FLX), amoxicillin (AMO), colistin (COL), ethynylestradiol (EE), and diclofenac (DIC) from surface water by coagulation is studied. The concentration of selected pharmaceuticals in 24 surface water samples originating from some rivers located in Lesser Poland Voivodeship and Silesia Voivodeship, Poland, was determined. The removal of TOC and pharmaceuticals was carried out using the application of Design of Experiments (DOE), Response Surface Methodology (RSM), and by addition of aluminum chlorohydrate (ACH) as a coagulant. The study found that the concentration ranges of ERY, FLX, AMO, COL, EE, and DIC in analyzed water samples were 7.58−412.32, 1.21−72.52, 1.22−68.55, 1.28−32.01, 5.36−45.56, 2.20−182.22 ng/L, respectively. In some cases, concentrations lower than 1 ng/L were determined. In optimal conditions of coagulation process of spiked surface water (pH = 6.5 ± 0.1, ACH dose = 0.35 mL/L, Time = 30 min; R2 = 0.8799, R2adj = 0.7998), the concentration of TOC, ERY, FLX, AMO, COL, EE, and DIC was decreased by 88.7, 36.4, 24.7, 29.0, 25.5, 35.4, 30.4%, respectively. Simultaneously, turbidity, color, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Nitrogen (Total N), and Ammonium-Nitrogen (N-NH4) were decreased by 96.2%, >98.0%, 97.8%, 70.0%, 88.7%, 37.5%, respectively. These findings suggest that ACH may be an optional reagent to remove studied pharmaceuticals from contaminated water.

Granular media filtration for on-site treatment of greywater: A review

Rapid urbanization and industrialization have put pressure on water resources and centralized wastewater treatment facilities and the need for greywater treatment at decentralized levels is increasing. This paper reviews the studies that used granular filtration for the treatment of greywater. Filter media characteristics that helps in the selection of suitable sustainable and environmental friendly materials without compromising the quality of treated greywater is first reported. The effect of type of filter media, media size and media depth along with the effect of operating conditions are discussed in detail. The choice, role and effect of different pre-treatment alternatives to granular media filtration are also presented. The efficiency of the filters to remove different physicochemical and microbial parameters was compared with different reuse guidelines and standards. Reported studies indicate that not only filter media characteristics and operating conditions but also the quality of raw greywater significantly influence the filter performance. Based on the source of greywater and desired reuse option, different granular media filtration alternatives are suggested. Operation of filters with properly selected media at optimum conditions based on the source of greywater helps filter in achieve the different reuse standards.

Greywater as a sustainable source for development of green roofs: Characteristics, treatment technologies, reuse, case studies and future developments

Municipal activities are one of the most important water users worldwide; thus, the treatment and reuse of greywater for non-potable purposes helps to reduce a remarkable amount of consumed water within urban communities. To achieve greywater reuse standards, and remove surfactants, micropollutants, organic matters, microorganisms and other pollutants various methods including physical, chemical and biological processes have been used. Treated greywater can be used on site for different purposes: carwash, toilet flushing, fire protection, green roofs, green walls, non-food irrigation etc. Among them, the use of greywater is very important in the expansion of the green roofs. Green roofs offer many benefits to urban areas such as decreasing air pollution, reducing building cooling needs, promoting mental health of habitants, noise reduction and aesthetics improvement. Therefore, this article provides an overview mainly from two aspects, the possibilities of greywater reuse by studying the characteristics and available options for greywater treatment and its benefits toward the developing green roofs.

Effect of operating mode on the performance of sand filters treating greywater

A long-duration laboratory study spanning more than 6 months was conducted to evaluate the effect of operating mode on the performance of sand filters for greywater treatment. Performance of saturated and unsaturated filters operated in continuous or intermittent mode was evaluated using settled real greywater. Effects of pause period and higher loading rate on their performance were also evaluated. Furthermore, the effect of the depth of the filter medium on the performance of the filters was also assessed. The saturated filters operated continuously or intermittently performed significantly better than the respective unsaturated filters. Saturated continuous (SC) and unsaturated intermittent (UI) filters were the best and worst performers amongst the different filters. SC filter removed on an average 98% turbidity, 76% BOD, 88% COD, 84% ammonia-N (NH₄-N) and 95% phosphate (PO₄-P). Up to 99.68% (2.40 log) removal of faecal coliforms was also achieved by this filter. SC filter showed stable and reliable performance as its effluent quality was insensitive to fluctuations in influent quality. The pause period significantly affected the removal of some of the parameters. Doubling the hydraulic loading rate significantly affected the performance of continuous filters. Though most of the pollutant removal occurred in the top 10 cm in all the filters, a depth of 50 cm was found optimum for the removal of different pollutants. Whilst all the filters produced effluent conforming to different reuse standards except microbial standards, saturated continuous filter (SC) could also meet the faecal coliform standards towards the end of the filter operation.