The efficiency of the infiltration treatment in removing the chemical load from the greywater in different hydraulic load and filter materials

Bayan Hamdan

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This research studied the efficiency of the infiltration treatment of greywater under two levels of saturation 70 and 30%, and five different types of biofilters (default, woodchip, mycorrhiza, biochar 5%, and biochar 10%). To examine their effect of the efficiency of the treatment a laboratory analysis was conducted that contains an analysis of pH, EC, TN, TP, ammonium nitrogen, heavy metals, TOC, surfactants, pharmaceuticals, and different ions such as sulphate chloride, fluoride, nitrite, and nitrate that gives a general indication of the water quality. It was found that greywater effluent has neutral pH and EC values that lie within water quality standards for irrigation (EPA, 2012). The maximum removal efficiency was observed at a 30% saturation level and the highest performance was biochar for the removal efficiency of TOC, TN, surfactants, DEET and diclofenac, and metals. The highest removal efficiencies of DEET and diclofenac were achieved in 30% saturation for biochar 5% with 91.6% and 98.1% respectively. The metals were successfully removed by the biofilters with removal efficiencies ranging between 90.6 – 95.93%. However, the boron was found leached. Biochar 10% and woodchip have the highest removal efficiency of ammonium nitrogen and phosphorus and the optimum saturation is 30%. Given results suggest the biochar is an effective biofilter, inexpensive and sustainable in addition to a low saturation level for optimum effluent quality.

Keywords

Greywater, Hydraulic load, Removal efficiency, Chemical load, Synthetic greywater

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 10. 3. 2022

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: prof. RNDr. Dana Komínková, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Master programme / odbor:
Landscape Engineering / Environmental Modelling