Tertiary treatment of abattoir wastewater in a horizontal subsurface flow-constructed wetland under tropical conditions
by Robinson Odong; Frank Kansiime; John Omara; Joseph Kyambadde
International Journal of Environment and Waste Management (IJEWM), Vol. 15, No. 3, 2015

Abstract: A horizontal subsurface flow-constructed wetland (HSSF-CW) system planted with Cyperus papyrus was used to polish abattoir wastewater pre-treated in anaerobic and aerobic sequencing batch reactors at City Abattoir, Kampala. The HSSF-CW was 13 m long, 5 m wide, and was filled with gravel up to a depth of 0.6 m, of which 0.55 m was saturated with wastewater at hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 1.16 days. The percentage removals for turbidity, ammonium-nitrogen (NH₄-N), total nitrogen (TN), orthophosphate (o-PO₄-P), total phosphorus (TP), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and faecal coliform were 76, 48, 46, 74, 63, 60, and 100, respectively. Among different plant tissues investigated (roots, culm, sheath and umbel), nitrogen concentration was highest in the sheath. The different parts of plants also had different concentrations of phosphorus, with the culm having the highest concentration. Compared to literature, the percentage removals for organic matter, nutrients and faecal coliforms reported in this paper were high. Therefore, C. papyrus based constructed wetlands could potentially be used for tertiary treatment of abattoir effluents.

Online publication date: Thu, 30-Apr-2015

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