General Vision of Phytoremediation Treatment for Sludge Derived of Wastewater

• Main Authors: Yanneth Parra Martínez, Roberto Rafael Balda Ayala
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia 2011-04-01
• Series: Publicaciones e Investigación
• Subjects: lodo orgánico; metales pesados; macrófitas; contaminantes.
• Online Access: http://hemeroteca.unad.edu.co/index.php/publicaciones-e-investigacion/article/view/597

Wastewater coming from industrial processes requires special treatment either physical and/or biological. Their resulting problem is the sludge being produced, whose components are mainly inorganic with some organic content, and in the most unfavorable case, with the inclusion of toxic contents, i.e. heavy metals. In certain industries, the problem has to do with the accumulation of sludge in containers, before being disposed of in an appropriate way. However, sludge disposal by other non-environmentalist industries is carried out directly to the sewer or even, to water bodies. For developing this project, the water and soil pollution scope was taken into account, together with the poor disposal of sludge generated from wastewater treatment plants; hence, sludge with high heavy metal content and other pollutants coming from three wastewater treatment plants were characterized and treated: the first one, coming from an automobile industry; the second one, from a dairy industry (sludge with organic and fat content); and a third group coming from a municipality. When comparing the results of these analysis with the Colombian standards ( Decree 1594 of 1984), a higher pollution content was found. Therefore, a phytoremediation treatment was achieved with two species of microphytes. During the development of this process, pollutant migration was observed from the sludge toward one of the parts of the microphyte. Effectiveness of the process was tested for the removal of pollutants of sanitary interest: for example, cyanide, phenols, zinc, and nickel.