Evaluation and improvement of the WWTP performance of an agricultural cooperative by adsorption on inert biomaterial: case of orthophosphate, nitrate and sulfate ions

Abstract The study is carried out at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of an agricultural cooperative that operates according to the activated sludge process. Dairy industry is enlisted as one of the top-most industries in the food industry. Dairy wastewater treatment is a big issue as dairy wastewater releases a high amount of chemical oxygen demand, inorganic and organic particles, biological oxygen demand, and nutrients. But, these processes partly degrade wastewater containing fats and nutrients as dairy wastewater. The aim of this study was to evaluate the purification performance of this treatment process. The qualitative analysis of decanted raw wastewater (DRWW) and purified wastewater (PWW) shows that the concentration of orthophosphate, nitrate and sulfate ions is slightly higher. Such contaminated water if not handled appropriately, it pollutes water bodies and largely affects our ecosystem and biodiversity. Hence, our proposal is to improve the WWTP performances by using the adsorption process onto dried Carpobrotus edulis as an inert biomaterial. This adsorption process is recognized as one of the best water treatment techniques, more and more works are oriented towards the search for new materials, cheaper and having a good adsorbent potential. This study opens the path for the use of natural and abundant local material to remove orthophosphate, nitrate and sulfate ions using the C. edulis plant particles shred. The surface micromorphology of the biomaterial was investigated using a scanning electron microscope; while the qualitative element composition was analyzed using energy dispersive X-ray and infrared spectroscopies. The found results of DRWW was about 57% for orthophosphates, 67% for sulfates and 73% for nitrates ions. For PWW, the percentage removal was found to be 62%, 73% and 84% for orthophosphates, sulfates and nitrates respectively. These results indicate that dried C. edulis plant, as an environmentally friendly adsorbent could be recommended for the removal of mineral pollutants. In conclusion, the C. edulis adsorbent can be integrated into the activated sludge process for wastewater treatment after identifying the optimal hydraulic loads, associated sizes, and shapes in continuous operations.