Treatment of Kitchen Wastewater using Aerobic Biological Method and Sand-Bed Filtration

Abstract

Increased global demand for freshwater far exceeds the quantity available for human sustenance. Wastewater recycling processes are necessary and capable of producing large volumes of water for reuse. In this study, raw kitchen wastewater was analyzed for physicochemical and microbiological characteristics before and after biological treatment and sand-bed filtration. The results revealed a reduction in the mean values of the following parameters: turbidity (from 6.9 to 6 NTU, a 13.04% reduction), conductivity (365 to 311 µS/cm, a 14.79% reduction), total dissolved solids (141 to 121 mg/L, a 14.18% reduction), total suspended solids (5 to 2 mg/L, a 60% reduction), biochemical oxygen demand (5.5 to 1.82 mg/L, a 66.9% reduction), chemical oxygen demand (36 to 32 mg/L, an 11.11% reduction), and total bacterial count (286 x 10-4 to 16 x 10-4 CFU, a 94.41% reduction). The kitchen wastewater was suitable for non-potable reuse. Biological treatment and sand-bed filtration rendered the kitchen wastewater useful for secondary applications such as irrigation.