Treatment of domestic wastewater using an anaerobic baffled reactor followed by a duckweed pond for agricultural purposes

The treatment and reuse of domestic wastewater using an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) followed by a duckweed pond (DWP) were the main theme of the present study. The ABR was fed continuously with domestic wastewater at four HRTs ranging from 8 to 24 h and corresponds to organic loading rates ranging from 0.67 to 2.1 kg COD/m³/day. The ABR effluent was fed to a DWP operating at 10 and 15 days. The performance of the ABR at the four HRTs gave satisfactory results. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was between 68 and 82%. Fecal coliform removal was between 1 to 2 logs. The 12- and 18-h hydraulic retention times (HRTs) gave close results, as indication of the possible selection of the 12-h HRT as the optimum operation for the ABR based on economic advantage. The ABR compartmentalized structure gave results higher than those produced by the one-stage digester and similar to those produced by the two-phase anaerobic digestion process. Duckweed ponds as post-treatment operated at 10 days and 15 days gave the best results at 15-day HRT, where it was possible to remove 73.4% of nitrogen and 65% of phosphorus and produce protein-rich dry duckweed of 105 kg/ha/day on average. The removal of fecal coliform (FC) in duckweed ponds was 3–4 logs. The final treated domestic sewage characteristics proved its compliance with the Egyptian standards for reuse in restricted irrigation.