IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2014i10p6998-7012d41006.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

UASB followed by Sub-Surface Horizontal Flow Phytodepuration for the Treatment of the Sewage Generated by a Small Rural Community

Author

Listed:
  • Massimo Raboni

    (School of Industrial Engineering, University Carlo Cattaneo-LIUC, Corso Matteotti, 22, I–21053 Castellanza Varese, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Renato Gavasci

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Science Engineering, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Via Politecnico 1, I-00133 Roma, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Giordano Urbini

    (Department of Biotechnologies and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, Via G.B. Vico 46, I-21100 Varese, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an experimental process designed for the treatment of the sewage generated by a rural community located in the north-east of Brazil. The process consists of a preliminary mechanical treatment adopting coarse screens and grit traps, followed by a biological treatment in a UASB reactor and a sub-surface horizontal flow phytodepuration step. The use of a UASB reactor equipped with a top cover, as well as of the phytodepuration process employing a porous medium, showed to present important health advantages. In particular, there were no significant odor emissions and there was no evidence of the proliferation of insects and other disease vectors. The plant achieved the following mean abatement efficiencies: 92.9% for BOD 5 , 79.2% for COD and 94% for Suspended Solids. With regard to fecal indicators average efficiencies of 98.8% for fecal coliforms and 97.9% for fecal enterococci were achieved. The UASB reactor showed an important role in achieving this result. The research was also aimed at evaluating the optimal operating conditions for the UASB reactor in terms of hydraulic load and organic volumetric loading. The achieved results hence indicated that the process may be highly effective for small rural communities in tropical and sub-tropical areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimo Raboni & Renato Gavasci & Giordano Urbini, 2014. "UASB followed by Sub-Surface Horizontal Flow Phytodepuration for the Treatment of the Sewage Generated by a Small Rural Community," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-15, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:10:p:6998-7012:d:41006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/10/6998/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/10/6998/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Massimo Raboni & Vincenzo Torretta & Giordano Urbini, 2013. "Influence of Strong Diurnal Variations in Sewage Quality on the Performance of Biological Denitrification in Small Community Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(9), pages 1-11, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zohaib Ur Rehman Afridi & Wu Jing & Hassan Younas, 2019. "Biogas Production and Fundamental Mass Transfer Mechanism in Anaerobic Granular Sludge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Fabio Conti & Elena Cristina Rada & Paolo Viotti & Massimo Raboni, 2021. "Removal and Survival of Fecal Indicators in a Constructed Wetland after UASB Pre-Treatment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Stevo Lavrnić & Maribel Zapater Pereyra & Sandra Cristino & Domenico Cupido & Giovanni Lucchese & Maria Rosaria Pascale & Attilio Toscano & Maurizio Mancini, 2020. "The Potential Role of Hybrid Constructed Wetlands Treating University Wastewater—Experience from Northern Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Caiado Couto, Lilia & Campos, Luiza C. & da Fonseca-Zang, Warde & Zang, Joachim & Bleischwitz, Raimund, 2021. "Water, waste, energy and food nexus in Brazil: Identifying a resource interlinkage research agenda through a systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vincenzo Torretta & Marco Ragazzi & Ettore Trulli & Giovanni De Feo & Giordano Urbini & Massimo Raboni & Elena Cristina Rada, 2014. "Assessment of Biological Kinetics in a Conventional Municipal WWTP by Means of the Oxygen Uptake Rate Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Anna Turek & Kinga Wieczorek & Wojciech M. Wolf, 2019. "Digestion Procedure and Determination of Heavy Metals in Sewage Sludge—An Analytical Problem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-10, March.
    3. Giordano Urbini & Renato Gavasci & Paolo Viotti, 2015. "Oxygen Control and Improved Denitrification Efficiency by Means of a Post-Anoxic Reactor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-12, January.
    4. D. Marmanis & C. Emmanouil & J. G. Fantidis & A. Thysiadou & K. Marmani, 2022. "Description of a Fe/Al Electrocoagulation Method Powered by a Photovoltaic System, for the (Pre-)Treatment of Municipal Wastewater of a Small Community in Northern Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Christopher C. Azubuike & Fay Couceiro & Samuel C. Robson & Maya Z. Piccinni & Joy E. M. Watts & John B. Williams & Anastasia J. Callaghan & Thomas P. Howard, 2022. "Developing Biosensors for SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater-Based Epidemiology: A Systematic Review of Trends, Limitations and Future Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-23, December.
    6. Andrea Guerrini & Giulia Romano & Alessandro Indipendenza, 2017. "Energy Efficiency Drivers in Wastewater Treatment Plants: A Double Bootstrap DEA Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-13, June.
    7. Juan Francisco Morales Arteaga & Mojca Zupanc & Matevž Dular & Domen Lestan & Anela Kaurin, 2023. "Removal of Toxic Metals from Sewage Sludge by Acid Hydrolysis Coupled with EDTA Washing in a Closed-Loop Process," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-13, January.
    8. Cristiana Morosini & Milena Marsoni & Vincenzo Torretta & Fabio Conti & Marco Ragazzi & Elena Cristina Rada & Gabriela Cioca, 2017. "Factors Affecting Spatial and Temporal Concentration Variability of Pharmaceuticals: Comparison between Two WWTPs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Fabio Conti & Elena Cristina Rada & Paolo Viotti & Massimo Raboni, 2021. "Removal and Survival of Fecal Indicators in a Constructed Wetland after UASB Pre-Treatment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Massimo Raboni & Vincenzo Torretta & Paolo Viotti & Giordano Urbini, 2013. "Pilot Experimentation with Complete Mixing Anoxic Reactors to Improve Sewage Denitrification in Treatment Plants in Small Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:10:p:6998-7012:d:41006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.