Treatment of potato farm wastewater with sand filtration

ABSTRACT

This study examined sand filtration as a component of a potato farm wastewater treatment system. Two different sand filter designs, saturated flow and unsaturated flow, were evaluated at three different loading rates: 34, 68, and 136 L m⁻² d⁻¹. Filter design had a significant effect, with unsaturated flow sand filters having significantly (p < .05) better total suspended solids (TSS) removal (89%) than saturated flow sand filters did (79%). Loading rate also had a significant (p < .05) effect, given that the lowest loading rate had higher mass removal for TSS than the higher loading rates did. Overall, all sand filters removed TSS, 5-d biochemical oxygen demand, and total phosphorus well (62–99%). Total nitrogen removal was twice as high in unsaturated flow filters (53%) than in saturated flow filters (27%), because of the recurring cycle of aerobic and anaerobic conditions during sand saturation and drying in unsaturated flow sand filters.

KEYWORDS:

• Wastewater treatment
• sand filtration
• total suspended solids
• potato wastewater
• vegetable wastewater

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

A.C. VanderZaag http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1912-898X

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), with support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) of the University of Guelph.