Application of the epuvalisation technology for the tertiary treatment of secondary treated effluents using geranium plant
Date
2019-12-18
Authors
Qurie, Mohannad
Daghra, Sabreen
Khamis, Mustafa
Kanan, Amer
Barghouthi, Zaher
Alimari, Abdallah
Karaman, Rafik
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
The effluent of secondary treatment process at Al-Quds University wastewater treatment plant was tertiary
treated using an Epuvalisation technique in which geranium plants (Pelargonium hortorum) was employed as a
treatment vehicle. The Epuvalisation system was installed in a greenhouse in which germanium was planted
hydroponically in a closed-loop mode using secondary treated wastewater (TWW) and fresh water (FW) as a
control. The water quality analysis results before and after the growing season of TWW showed a reduction of
23% and 41%, for BOD and COD, respectively. The electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS)
for TWW demonstrated a reduction of 52% and 53%, respectively. Similar trend was observed for FW in which
the reduction in EC and TDS were 48% and 49%, respectively. Furthermore, the percent reduction of the concentration
of suspended solids, phosphate ions (PO4
−3), chloride ion (Cl−), total nitrogen (TN), and potassium
ion (K+) in TWW were found to be 95%, 89%, 60% 98% and 59%, respectively. Plant growth parameters (plant
height, fresh and dry weight, number of branches and flowers number) of geranium revealed no significant
difference between irrigation with TWW and FW. The chemical plant analysis of roots, leaves, stems and flowers
revealed no significant difference between hydroponic plantation in TWW and in FW. From these results it is safe
to conclude that the Epuvalisation technique is a promising technique for advanced wastewater treatment using
ornamental plants such as geranium due to its simplicity, low cost and easy use.
Description
Keywords
Epuvalisation , Wastewater , Nutrients , Percentage removal , Secondary treatment , Geranium plants