EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF A WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM UTILIZING MAIZE COB AS TRICKLING FILTER MEDIA

Requirement for the wastewater (WW) treatment has increased from the viewpoints of environmental safety and water shortage. The WW treatment is usually a costly process, however, trickling filter (TF) based WW treatment systems can be lowcost options. Therefore, maize cob trickling filter (MCTF) WW treatment system is designed and developed using indigenous materials. A TF based WW treatment system containing indigenous material can be easy to operate and more adaptable for domestic and industrial application. The operation of the MCTF system was studied for 140 days at different field loading rates varying 27, 37, 58 and 71 m3/m2/day (flow rate 50, 70, 108 and 132 m3/day) successfully. The obtained removal efficiency of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were accomplished between 74 to 84% and 72 to 83%, respectively. The observed solids removal was 32 to 65% for total suspended solids (TSS) and 33 to 45% for total dissolved solids (TDS). Furthermore; the study evaluates the MCTF media degradation on a weekly basis. Only 20.5 cm (17.5%) in MCTF media reduction was observed from its total height of 116 cm during entire evaluation period (140 days). The MCTF continued to operate without significant loss in performance. The MCTF system successfully treated the WW at field loadings/flow rates. The MCTF treatment system not only minimize the pollution load to the receiving environment but also helps to elevate the reusing potential of WW by providing relatively safe irrigation water supplement for agricultural lands.