Application of an aquatic plant ecosystem for swine wastewater polishment: a full-scale study

AbstractIn Taiwan, swine wastewater has become one of the major causes of the deterioration of surface water quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using aquatic plant ecosystem to polish the treated swine wastewater. In this study, a hog farm was selected as the case study site. The daily wastewater of the studied farm was approximately 40 m3/d. Eichhornia crassipes was used as the aquatic plant for water polishment in the aquatic plant basin. Influent and effluent samples from each treatment unit were collected for water quality analyses. Results show that although the conventional three-stage system (solid separation followed by anaerobic and aerobic treatment) was effective to remove more than 97% of suspended solid (SS), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), BOD and COD in effluents still could not meet the discharge standards. The full-scale study shows that the aquatic plant ecosystem played an important role in th...