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Title: Artificial marsh treats industrial wastewater

Journal Article · · BioCycle; (USA)
OSTI ID:6556913

When a chemical plant in Alabama wished to expand operations, state requirements for wastewater discharged from their facility appeared to be impossible to be met. It was to have a BOD of only 4 milligrams/liter. This paper describes an artificial marshland, known as microbial rock-reed plant filters, used to treat these industrial wastewaters. An oxidation ditch and clarifiers reduce BOD from 3000 mg/l to 30 mg/l in five days. The water flows then to a settling pond covered with floating aquatic plants where it stays for three days. It then flows from opposite sides into a central channel in the middle of the artificial marsh where it spends 1-2 days trickling through the 3.4-acre marsh where the BOD is reduced to below the required 4 mg/l.

OSTI ID:
6556913
Journal Information:
BioCycle; (USA), Vol. 30:2; ISSN 0276-5055
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English