Extended abstract

Abstract

Indonesia has known as one of the largest cassava producers in the words, and therefore cassava plays an important role in the Indonesian society and economy. In the past, cassava is an important food crop, mainly for the poor rural and urban sectors of the population. However, the use of cassava as a food is now declining, and in the other hand its use for industry is becoming more and more important. The tapioca industry in Indonesia, especially in Java, is mostly small to medium scale industries. Such factories play an important role in the rural community; however, these small and often simple industries create very serious environmental problems. The cassava factories generate a large volume solid and liquid waste, and due to its high cost and technology, these small to medium scale tapioca did not have efficient wastewater treatment and mostly directly drain their liquid waste into rivers. Therefore, a simple and low cost waste water treatment technology would be very helpful. Experiments were carried out to explore the potential use of Vetiver (Vetivera zizanoides L.) to remediate wastewater discharged from tapioca factory. The firs