Sustainability and performance analysis of constructed wetland for treatment of greywater in batch process

Abstract

In the current scenario, there is a rising interest in the treatment of greywater to be used for non-potable purposes. However, there is a need to understand the role of plants in the treatment process. In this context, this paper addresses the comparison of the treatment efficiency of planted systems with the unplanted system. Thus, three gravel-based constructed wetlands were made, i.e., one without plants and two with plants (Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis). The wetland system was used in batch mode operation. The results suggested that the efficacy of the planted system was better than the unplanted system. The removal efficiency of different physicochemical parameters (Chemical oxygen demand, Biochemical oxygen demand, Solids and Total kjeldahl nitrogen) were observed to be more in planted system(61, 43,23 and 25% respectively for plant-1(P-1) system and; 51, 29, 23, and 27% respectively for plant-2 (P-2) system) as compared to the unplanted system(38, 15, 18, and 14% respectively). In addition, it was also observed that P. australis cannot sustain for a longer time in the treatment process but it recovers after some time.

Keywords:

• Constructed wetland
• greywater treatment
• macrophytes

Acknowledgements

The authors please acknowledge the other members of the department, who gave us support in constructing the setup, experimentation and technical suggestions regarding this work.