ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Synthetic Black Water Treatment by Aeroponic
Cultivation of Water Spinach: Effect
of the Pump Run Time
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1
School of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou325027, Zhejiang, China
2
Urban Water Pollution Ecological Treatment Technology Zhejiang Engineering Laboratory,
Wenzhou325027, Zhejiang, China
3
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Submission date: 2019-12-14
Final revision date: 2020-07-30
Acceptance date: 2020-07-31
Online publication date: 2020-11-24
Publication date: 2021-01-20
Corresponding author
Xiangyong Zheng
School of life and environmental science, Wenzhou University, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2021;30(2):1349-1359
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ABSTRACT
In this study, we report the treatment of simulated black water using a decentralised aeroponic
system for the cultivation of water spinach. The effect of the pump run time on the treatment efficiency
of black water at low temperature (15ºC±5ºC) in winter was systematically investigated. The results
show that aeroponic cultivation process yields average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of
90.04%, ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) reduction of 35.02%, total nitrogen (TN) abatement of 28.14%,
and total phosphorus (TP) elimination of 14.71%. The increase in the pump run time from stop time
(min) to spray time (s) ration of 45:30 (QW3) to 15:30 (QW1) significantly promotes the efficiency of
the COD, NH4+-N, TN, and TP removals. The sequence of the removal efficiency is as follows: QW1
(15:30)>QW2 (30:30)>QW3 (45:30). The higher efficiency of the COD and NH4+-N removals in QW1
is due to the enhanced action of aerobic microorganisms because of the increased amount of dissolved
oxygen. We believe that this study provides a simple and potential option for decentralised sewage.