Performance of a Small Aquatic Plant Wastewater Treatment System under Caribbean Conditions

✍ Scribed by Sharon A. Bramwell; P.V. Devi Prasad

• Book ID: 102587691
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 87 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0301-4797
• DOI: 10.1006/jema.1995.0041

✦ Synopsis

The performance of an aquatic plant wastewater treatment system under Jamaican conditions has been investigated. Eichhornia crassipes was used to determine nutrient removal capacity at a pilot scale. The experiments were conducted in a series of six tanks each of volume 5•4×10 3 l containing E. crassipes, with secondary treated effluent supplied at a rate of 16 200 l/day for seven days.

Over seven days, the mean decrease in total N in the effluent as it flowed between tanks one and six was 27•6%. Total P increased by an average of 4•48%. Potassium showed a mean reduction of 20•2% but Na increased slightly (0•88%). Nitrogen content of the plant tissue increased by 2•9% after seven days and P by 6•7%.

This removal of nutrients was reflected in the increase in the plant's tissue. Removal of N and P was dependent on the N:P concentration ratio of both the nutrient medium and the plant tissue.

The design of the aquatic treatment system in the present study could treat sewage from a community of an average population of 5000 people. The nutrient levels of the water produced were suitable for irrigation purposes.