Humedar I: an innovative, low-cost alternative for treating wastewater in developing countries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24054/aaas.vi1.2053Keywords:
HUMEDAR - I®, macrophytes, biofilms, specific surface area, artificial wetlands, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), specific surface areaAbstract
A simple and efficient prototype for the treatment of domestic wastewater called HUMEDAR-I® has been designed and researched on a laboratory scale. Several full-scale models have subsequently been built in various communities and human settlements in Colombia. Its configuration involves a parallel-chamber anaerobic piston flow reactor (RACFP), followed by a high-rate constructed wetland.
treatment of domestic wastewater called HUMEDAR - I®, whose configuration involves a parallel-chamber anaerobic reactor with piston flow (RACFP), followed by a high-rate constructed wetland consisting of native macrophytes
and common materials supported on recycled plastic media with a special design of approximately 300 m²/m³ of specific surface area. This scheme has shown advantages over similar processes in terms of cost and achievement of the expected efficiencies for contaminant removal. HUMEDAR - I® does not require routine or continuous maintenance, does not consume electricity, does not require specialized personnel for its operation, and can be used in small towns, agro-industrial and similar industries, camps, neighborhoods, slaughterhouses, and similar facilities that discharge organic loads comparable to those generated in communities of up to 5,000 equivalent inhabitants per unit built. The results obtained from the research carried out confirm that HUMEDAR - I® achieves the required purification of contaminants present in domestic wastewater beyond the levels required by current Colombian regulations (80% organic load). Efficiency values of 92 to 95% have been obtained in the removal of BOD5 and SS, 74 to 79% in nutrients (N and P), and up to four logarithmic orders of magnitude of coliforms in full-scale systems with continuous flow for a total retention time of 18 hours. The effective area used ranges from 0.1 to 0.47 m2/inhabitant equivalent, depending on the population served, which represents a reduction of at least 90% or more compared to the dem
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