Performance of a modified and intermittently operated slow sand filter with two different mediums in removing turbidity, ammonia, and phosphate with varying acclimatization periods

Nurina Fitriani; Ledy Theresia; Timothy Tjahja Nugraha O'Marga; Setyo Budi Kurniawan; Agus Supriyanto; Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah; Luuk C Rietveld

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22577

Performance of a modified and intermittently operated slow sand filter with two different mediums in removing turbidity, ammonia, and phosphate with varying acclimatization periods

Heliyon. 2023 Nov 20;9(12):e22577. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22577. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Nurina Fitriani¹, Ledy Theresia¹, Timothy Tjahja Nugraha O'Marga¹, Setyo Budi Kurniawan², Agus Supriyanto¹, Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah³, Luuk C Rietveld⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Kampus C UNAIR, Jalan Mulyorejo, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia.
² Laboratory of Algal Biotechnology, Centre Algatech, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Opatovický mlýn, Novohradská 237, 379 81 Třeboň, Czech Republic.
³ Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, CN Delft 2628, Netherlands.

Abstract

The present study investigated the utilization of blood clam shells as a potential substitute for conventional media, as well as the influence of the acclimation time on the efficacy of an intermittent slow sand filter (ISSF) in the treatment of real domestic wastewater. ISSF was operated with 16 h on and 8 h off, focusing on the parameters of turbidity, ammonia, and phosphate. Two media combinations (only blood clam shells [CC] and sand + blood clam shells [SC]) were operated under two different acclimatization periods (14 and 28 d). Results showed that SC medium exhibited significantly higher removal of turbidity (p < 0.05) as compared to CC medium (45.99 ± 26.84 % vs. 3.79 ± 9.35 %), while CC exhibited slightly higher (p > 0.05) removal of ammonia (23.12 ± 20.2 % vs. 16.77 ± 16.8 %) and phosphate (18.03 ± 11.96 % vs 13.48 ± 12 %). Comparing the acclimatization periods, the 28 d of acclimatization period showed higher overall performances than the 14 d. Further optimizations need to be conducted to obtain an effluent value below the national permissible limit, since the ammonia and phosphate parameters are still slightly higher. SEM analysis confirmed the formation of biofilm on both mediums after 28 d of acclimatization; with further analysis of schmutzdecke formation need to be carried out to enrich the results.

Keywords: Filtration; Wastewater; Water treatment; biofilm; schmutzdecke.