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Membrane Water Treatment Volume 16, Number 1, January 2025 , pages 49-59 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/mwt.2025.16.1.049 |
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Exploring the potential of rhizosphere mediated removal of pollutants in wastewater: Insights from UV and DOC Analysis |
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Kanagaraj Blessy Monica, Muthunalliappan Maheswari, Periyasamy Dhevagi, Eswaran Kokiladevi, Thiyagarajan Chitdeshwari, Uthandi Sivakumar and Ganesan Karthikeyan
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| Abstract | ||
| Reed bed treatment systems utilize natural processes involving wetland vegetation, soils and their associated microbial assemblages to enhance the water quality for recycling. Reed plants are cost effective method of remediating the wastewater. In order to prove the removal mechanism from sewage and paper mill effluents, four different reed plant species, viz, Canna indica (Indian Shot), Colocassia esculenta (Taro), Typha domingensis (Southern Cattail) and Xanthosoma sagittifolium (Tannia), were compared for their removal efficacy. Up to 7 days, the screening was done with the effluents in four different reeds. The result shows that the Canna indica and Colocassia esculenta could be the better option for pollutant removal from the sewage and paper mill effluent, respectively. Canna indica showed the higher Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal by reducing the organic pollutant load due to presence of microbes near the rhizosphere which use oxygen as the source produced from the root's respiration process. This removal percentage was positively related to Radial Oxygen Loss (ROL) and microflora in the rhizosphere of reed plants. The highest ROL and the microbial population were recorded by the rhizosphere of Canna indica followed by Colocasia esculenta and Typha domingensis. Because of the high cost and limited effects of present physicochemical treatments in the wastewater treatment plant, this reed bed system can act as a cheaper process essential to remove the organic pollutants, thus making them suitable for agricultural and irrigation purposes. Therefore, it was concluded that Canna indica can be used as the best biological treatment choice for both the sewage and paper mill effluents. | ||
| Key Words | ||
| biofouling and reed bed system; pollutant removal; sewage reclamation; sustainability; wastewater treatment | ||
| Address | ||
| Kanagaraj Blessy Monica, Muthunalliappan Maheswari, Periyasamy Dhevagi and Ganesan Karthikeyan: Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641003, India Eswaran Kokiladevi: Department of Plant Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641003, India Thiyagarajan Chitdeshwari: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641003, India, Uthandi Sivakumar Uthandi Sivakumar: Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641003, India | ||
