Using A Subsurface Vertical Flow System to Remediate Municipal Wastewater

The goal of this study is to determine the efficacy of plants in the treatment of municipal wastewater (MWW) utilizing the aquatic plant common reed, also known as Phragmites australis. Two glass basins with dimensions of (60 cm x 26 cm) and a height of (60 cm x 26 cm) have been developed for this purpose (30 cm). In this investigation, two basins were employed: one served as a reference, while the other was used to conduct tests using synthetic and actual city wastewater. The plant treatment basins with vertical subsurface flow (VSSF) system was used in this investigation because it provides greater ventilation. Furthermore, the retention duration is many hours due to water molecules penetrating the basin's layers of packing materials, which have a rather high hydraulic conductivity. Three layers of aggregates, sand, and agricultural sand were used to cover the basins' bases: the first layer was 3 cm of aggregates, the second was 3 cm of sand, and the final layer was 4 cm of agricultural sand. Before beginning the experiment, the plants were acclimated for two weeks. To imitate municipal wastewater, lab-created synthetic wastewater was employed. Samples were collected and tests were performed after four weeks of running the trials to determine certain significant pollution indicators and their elimination percentage. TDS= 20.6 %, TSS= 65 %, BOD5=75 percent, COD=64.1 %, and TH= 47.2 % were the findings. The capacity of Phragmites australis to function as a biofilter in the treatment process was demonstrated by its use in the phytoremediation of municipal wastewater

Minimizing the Fluoride Load in Water Using the Electrocoagulation Method: An Experimental Approach

The abundant presence of fluoride (F-) in surface water bodies is an environmental concern because of its effects on human health; medical reports confirmed that fluoride intake above 1.5 mg/L leads to many health complications, including but not limited to weak bones and enamel fluorosis. Thus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines 1.20 mg/L as the maximum permissible F- concentration in drinking water. The electrocoagulation method (EC) is globally practised to remove many pollutants from water due to its cost-effectiveness, safety, and ease of use. However, EC has some drawbacks, such as the lack of reactors’ design. In this study, a new EC reactor, which uses four drilled aluminium electrodes and a variant cross-section section container, was designed and used to remove F- from water. The design of the new EC eliminated the need for water mixers. The ability of the new EC unit to remove F- from synthetic water was evaluated at different current densities (CD) (1–3 mA/cm2), electrode distances (ELD) (5–15 mm), pH of the solution (pHoS) (4–10), and initial F- concentrations (IFC) (5–20 mg/L). The outcomes of this study prove that the new reactor could remove as much as 98.3% of 20 mg/l of F- at CD, ELD, pHoS, and IFC of 2 mA/cm2, 5 mm, and 4 and 10 mg/L, respectively