NEWS

2023.09.22

【Report】The 59th AJI Frontier Seminar on “Grey Water Treatment Using Trickling Filters and Constructed Wetlands Planted with Edible Plants”

On September 12, 2023, from 13:30~14:30, the 59th AJI Research Frontier Seminar took place online. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuong, a researcher at Asia-Japan Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University, gave a presentation entitled, “Grey Water Treatment Using Trickling Filters (TF) and Constructed Wetlands (CW) Planted with Edible Plants.”

Grey water, or lightly used wastewater discharged from homes, should be treated to prevent pollution of the natural environment. Many developing countries are facing water pollution due to the lack of wastewater treatment facilities and so devising an energy-saving wastewater treatment system is very necessary. Dr. Thuong is conducting research on recycling wastewater using TFs and CWs as one of the easiest ways to fulfill the growing need for freshwater.

The objectives of her present research were 1) to demonstrate the performance of a small-scale greywater treatment system using a TF and CWs filled with recycled foamed glass gravel, 2) to provide an additional value to CWs by planting with edible plants, and 3) to evaluate the effects of the plants on the removal of organic matter and nutrients. Her results showed that the treatment system combining TFs and CWs had a high ability to decontaminate greywater during 4.5 months of operation, that foamed glass is an excellent material for growing plants and microbes for pollutant decontamination, that CWs planted with edible plants showed high nutrient removal and carbon source utilization potential of microbes and the plants could be utilized to offset running costs.

Dr. Thuong’s interesting presentation was followed by a Q&A session in which she provided the audience with thoughtful answers to questions on coping with heavy rainfall, the effective CW life cycle, a village sized CW and the skills needed to maintain one. The listeners’ understanding and enjoyment of this session was certainly enhanced by Dr. Thuong’s use of clear and colorful diagrams and figures. We wish her success with the implementation of her project.

Dr. Thuong delivering her presentation

Please visit the following link for previous AJI Frontier Seminars:
https://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/research/aji/young_researcher/seminar/archive/