Use of vetiver grass for vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands for the DTRI-UPLB wastewater treatment

P. P. Velasco

Date

6-2016

Abstract

A very small percentage of small dairy farms in Philippines have wastewater treatment before disposal. One of which is the Dairy Training Research Institute at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (DTRI-UPLB). It is a small dairy farm with minimal treatment before disposal. Economic constraint is the main cause of the problem and Vetiver Reed Bed Systems could be a cheaper and environment-adapted alternative. With this, it is the aim of this study to determine the effect of using vertical subsurface constructed wetlands planted with Vetiver grass to treat DTRI-UPLB effluent. Also, a design of this kind of reed bed for DTRI-UPLB was provided. It was observed that the used set-up of vertical subsurface constructed wetlands planted with Vetiver grass is very effective in treating the dairy farm's wastewater. The average removal efficiency is 35.41% for Total Suspended Solids (TSS), 93.53% for BOD for 5 Days (BOD5), 64.93% for Total Phosphorus (TP), and 81.88% Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN). A trend between the removal efficiencies with the age of the Vetiver was established and the proposed design of the reed bed has a 4-hour retention time. Moreover, lifting-of some point values for comparison among the three scenarios: no plant, one set of vetiver grass and six sets of vetiver grass set-ups showed that there is no clear trend for this study due to the limitation in the data gathering. However, it can still be assumed given longer data gathering and additional testing, that the reed bed system will still perform better compare to simple filtration system.

Language

English

Document Type

Article

Pages /Collation

77 leaves

En – AGROVOC descriptors

VETIVERIA ZIZANIOIDES; WASTEWATER; WASTEWATER TREATMENT; WETLANDS; DAIRY FARMS; FILTRATION; PHILIPPINES

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS