Treatment of laundry wastewater by constructed wetlands with Eichhornia crassipes

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and the increase in world population have led to the generation of substantial volumes of laundry wastewater. In the present research work, the efficiency of Eichhornia crassipes for the treatment of wastewater from domestic laundries was studied. It was created in a system of artificial floating islands and placed in polyethylene cells with a useful volume of 20 L of capacity, a hydraulic retention time of 21 d was established. During the treatment, the parameters of pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and phosphate–phosphorus ions (PO4 –P) were determined. All parameters decreased significantly. The pH decreased from 9.33 to 8.29, the EC from 3,999 to 1,745 mS/cm, TDS from 2,000 to 847 mg/L, as well 3– as the COD from 945 to 71 mg/L, and finally the PO4 ions of 202.5 to 5.7 mg/L. According to the results obtained, the system of artificial floating islands with E. crassipes is considered efficient and adequate for the removal of contaminants present in laundry wastewater.