ISHS Acta Horticulturae 549: International Symposium on Composting of Organic Matter
THE USE OF SEWAGE SLUDGE COMPOST FOR IMPROVING REEDBEDS PERFORMANCE IN REMOVING COD AND NH3-N FROM WASTEWATER |
| Authors: | T. Manios, P. Millner, E.I. Stentiford |
| Keywords: | reedbed, compost, COD, Typhus |
| Abstract:
Reedbeds were designed and built based on a combination of two design methodologies, that of the WRc and Seven Trent Water plc and that of the USA, EPA. Four different growing-media were used with a combination of top soil, gravel, river sand and mature sewage sludge compost. Eight units were constructed, two for each material. One bed of each material was planted with 8 to 10, Typha latifolia plants commonly known as cattails. The removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia (NH3-N) were used in order to evaluate the beds’ performance. The best performance was achieved by the gravel reedbed with an almost constant removal rate above 80 % for NH3-N and 60 % for COD. The reedbeds containing compost in their substrate achieved the lowest removal percentage mainly due to leaching of organic substances from the compost itself, but in which plant growth was best. | |
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