Influence of Cellulose on the Anoxic Treatment of Domestic Wastewater in Septic Tanks: Statistical Analysis of the Chemical and Physico-Chemical Parameters

Denisa Djordjevićová, Marco Carnevale Miino (), Jakub Raček, Petr Hlavínek, Tomáš Chorazy, Vladana Rajaković-Ognjanović and Nada Cvijetić
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Denisa Djordjevićová: AdMaS Research Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 651/139, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Marco Carnevale Miino: AdMaS Research Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 651/139, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Jakub Raček: AdMaS Research Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 651/139, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Petr Hlavínek: AdMaS Research Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 651/139, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Tomáš Chorazy: AdMaS Research Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 651/139, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Vladana Rajaković-Ognjanović: Laboratory for Water Quality, Belgrade Faculty of Civil Engineering, Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 73, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Nada Cvijetić: Laboratory for Water Quality, Belgrade Faculty of Civil Engineering, Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 73, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: Cellulose is a very common polymer in domestic wastewater (WW), representing a not negligible part of the organic substance contained in sewage. To date, many studies have highlighted the feasibility of reusing this compound in several ways (e.g., building sector, wastewater treatment, energy production, etc.) after its separation from domestic WW. However, studies about the impact of the absence of cellulose on the chemical and physico-chemical parameters of a biological process are still lacking. In this work, two pilot-scale plants were used to simulate an anoxic treatment of WW in septic tanks, with and without cellulose (CWW and NCWW, respectively), for three months. The results of the monitoring highlighted that T, pH, and electrical conductivity (EC) remained almost constants, in both cases. The Spearman correlation coefficients (SCC) for turbidity (TUR), total suspended solids (TSS), and color (COL) indicated a higher removal in the case of CWW (65%, 66%, and 56%, respectively). Organic substance and nitrogen forms showed a similar behavior with and without cellulose, but in the case of CWW, N-NH 3 was highly negatively correlated with TUR (SCC: −0.54), TSS (−0.49), and COL (−0.39). A biological denitrification process was highlighted in both cases. Despite these differences, when statistically analyzing the trends of the chemical and physico-chemical parameters for CWW and NCWW, a significant difference due to the absence of cellulose was excluded. These results will be useful to the scientific community, as they exclude that the operational parameters of anoxic treatments and the effectiveness on pollutants removal can be affected in the case of preliminary cellulose separation from domestic WW for recovery/reuse purposes.

Keywords: domestic wastewater; toilet paper; cellulose; anoxic degradation; septic tank (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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