TREATMENT OF SILK REELING INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATER BY BIOFILTRATION

RAJARAJESHWARI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

TREATMENT OF SILK REELING INDUSTRIAL WASTE

WATER BY BIOFILTRATION
Mrs. Babitha.M1, Akshaya Kumar.M2, Infanta Chandana.A3, K.M. Vishnu
Mohan4, Manoj Rao.S5
1-5
Department Of Civil Engineering, Rajarajeshwari College Of Engineering, Bangalore, India.

E-mail: akshayprabas27@gmail.com
Phone no : +91 74067 84115

Postal Address : #24 Thataguni, Thataguni Post, Kanakapura main Road, Bangalore-560082,
Karnataka, India.

ABSTRACT
Biofiltration is a relatively emerging new technology, applied to wastewater treatment and other toxic compounds. Since the
main purpose of the biofilter is to remove the dissolved organics, the suspended particles are removed in conventional filter
before subjecting the waste water. The parameters that can affect the performance of a biofilter are the characteristics of filter
media, hydraulic and organic loading rate, and filter backwash techniques. The mechanisms, which allow biofilters to work
and which must be controlled to ensure success, are complex. Ultimately, biotransformation converts the contaminant to
biomass, metabolic by-products or carbon dioxide and water. This review paper presents an overview of biofiltration
technologies for the control of water pollutants, functioning, mechanism and its Designed parameters. Biofilter is one of the
most important separation processes that can be employed to remove organic pollutants from air, water, and wastewater.
Even though, it has been used over a century, it is still difficult to explain theoretically all the biological processes occurring
in a biofilter.

Keywords: Bio Filter, Coir, Activated Carbon Balls

1. INTRODUCTION
Water is considered as the most important and priceless
commodity on planet Earth. Water on earth moves
continually through the water cycle of evaporation and
transpiration, condensation, precipitation and runoff, usually
reaching the sea. It is one of the most essential thing that is
required for every living being. In order to develop a healthy
and hygienic environment, water quality should be
monitored such that it lies within the respective standards.
Wastewater is liquid waste discharged by domestic
residences, commercial properties, industry, agriculture,
which often contains some contaminants that result from the
mixing of wastewater from different sources. Wastewater
obtained from various sources need to be treated very
effectively in order to create a hygienic environment. If
proper arrangements for collection, treatment and disposal of
all the waste produce from city or town are not made, they
will go on accumulating and create a foul condition that the
safety of the structures such that building, roads will be
damaged due to accumulation of wastewater in the
foundations. In addition to this, disease causing bacteria will
breed up in the stagnant water and the health of the public
will be in danger.
The principal aim of wastewater treatment is generally to
allow human and industrial effluents to be disposed of
without danger to human health or unacceptable damage to
the natural environment. Therefore in the interest of the
community of the town or city it is most essential to collect,
treat and dispose of all the wastewater of the city in such a
way that it may not cause harm to the people residing in the
town. The extent and the type of treatment required, however
depends on the character and quality of both sewage and
sources of disposal available.
The Wastewater after treatment may be disposed either into
a water body such as lakes, streams, river, estuary and ocean
or into land. It may be used for several purposes such as
conservation, industrial use or reclaimed sewage effluent in
cooling systems, boiler feed, process water, reuse in
agriculture, horticulture, sericulture, watering of lawns.
Wastewater

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Water is vital to the existence of all living organisms, but this
valued resource is increasingly being threatened as human
populations grow and demand more water of high quality for
domestic purposes and economic activities. Among the
various environmental challenges of that India is facing this
century, fresh water scarcity ranks very high. The key
challenges to better management of the water quality in India
are temporal and spatial variation of rainfall, improper
management of surface runoff , uneven geographic
distribution of surface water resources, persistent droughts,
overuse of groundwater, and contamination, drainage, and
salinization and water quality problems due to treated,
partially treated, and untreated wastewater from urban
settlements, industrial establishments, and run-off from the
irrigation sector besides poor management of municipal solid
waste and animal dung in rural areas.
Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in
quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste
discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties,
industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range
of potential contaminants and concentrations. In the most
common usage, it refers to the municipal wastewater that
contains a broad spectrum of contaminants resulting from the
mixing of wastewaters from different sources. Wastewater
also known as sewage originates from residential commercial
and industrial area.
Wastewater engineering is that branch of environmental
engineering in which the basic principles of science and
engineering are applied to solving the issues associated with
the treatment and reuse of wastewater. The ultimate goal of
wastewater engineering is the protection of public health in a
manner commensurate with environmental, economic, social,
and political concerns. When untreated wastewater
accumulates and is allowed to go septic, the decomposition
of the organic matter it contains will lead to nuisance
conditions including the production of malodorous gases. In
addition, untreated wastewater contains numerous pathogenic
microorganisms that dwell in the human intestinal tract.
Wastewater also contains nutrients, which can stimulate the
growth of aquatic plants, and may contain toxic compounds
or compounds that potentially may be mutagenic or
carcinogenic. For these reasons, the immediate and nuisance-
free removal of wastewater from its sources of generation,
followed by treatment, reuse, or dispersal into the
environment is necessary to protect public health and the
environment.
Besides that, the purpose of wastewater treatment is to
remove pollutants that can harm the aquatic environment if
they are discharged into it. Because of the deleterious effects
of low dissolved oxygen concentrations on aquatics life,
wastewater treatment engineers historically focused on the
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Akshaya et al
removal of pollutant that would deplete the DO in receiving
waters.
Biological treatment is an important and integral part of any
wastewater treatment plant that treats wastewater from either
municipality or industry having soluble organic impurities or
a mix of the two types of wastewater sources. The obvious
economic advantage, both in terms of capital investment and
operating costs, of biological treatment over other treatment
processes like chemical oxidation; thermal oxidation etc. has
cemented its place in any integrated wastewater treatment
plant affected in quality by anthropogenic influence.
Itcomprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences,
commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can
encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and
concentrations. In the most common usage, it refers to the
municipal wastewater that contains a broad spectrum of
contaminants resulting from the mixing of wastewaters from
different sources. Wastewater also known as sewage
originates from residential commercial and industrial area.
2.1 BIOFLTRATION
Filtration is one of the most important treatment processes
used in water and wastewater treatment. In water treatment,
it is used to purify the surface water for potable use whereas
in wastewater treatment, the main purpose of filtration is to
produce effluent of high quality so that it can be reused for
various purposes.
Any type of filter with attached biomass on the filter-media
can be defined as a biofilter. It can be the trickling filter in
the wastewater treatment plant, or horizontal rock filter in a
polluted stream, or granular activated carbon (GAC) or sand
filter in water treatment plant.
Biofilter has been successfully used for air, water, and
wastewater treatment. It was first introduced in England in
1893 as a trickling filter in wastewater treatment [Metcalf
and Eddy, 1991], and since then, it has been successfully
used for the treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater.
Originally, biofilter was developed using rock or slag as
filter media, however at present, several types and shapes of
plastic media are also used. There are a number of small
package treatment plants with different brand names
currently available in the market in which different shaped
plastic materials are packed as filter media and are mainly
used for treating small amount of wastewater (e.g. from
household or hotel).
Irrespective of its different names usually given based on
operational mode, the basic principle in a biofilter is the
same: biodegradations of pollutants by the micro-organisms
attached onto the filter media.
Use of a biofilter in drinking water treatment (especially with
granular activated carbon as filter media) was felt necessary
only after the discovery of the re-growth of micro organisms
in water distribution pipe lines few decades ago. It has been
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observed that the inner surface of water distribution pipelines
carrying potable water is coated with layers of biomass in
few years of service period [Van der Kooij et al., 1982;
LeChevallier and Lowry, 1990; Bouwer and Crowe, 1988].
The biodegradable organic matter (BOM), NH4+, Fe2+, Mn2+,
NO2 , dissolved H2 and several other reduced species of
sulfur are the most pertinent components that can cause
bacterial regrowth on the water distribution pipelines
[Rittmann and Huck, 1989]. Due to the “regrowth” of the
microbial mass in the pipelines, the drinking water is
considered biologically not stable. Even though there is no
direct evidence of its instant health and hazardous side
effects, use of such drinking water in long run cannot be
assured to be safe. Besides the by-products of chlorine
disinfection, disinfections by-products (DBPs) are often
carcinogenic and harmful.
Table 2.0 - Estimated global production volume averages
of different natural fi bres (in million metric tons per
year average over the recent years).
3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 MATERIALS
3.1.1Gravel
The primary roles of gravel in the bio-sand filter is to prevent
clogging of the PVC pipe with sand. For house hold
intermitted sand filter, two layer of gravels are usually
employed: on the bottom a 5cm layer of 10-20mm gravel.
Next 5cm layer consists of 6-10mm gravel. The
gravels (optional , depending on under drain selection) serves
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Akshaya et al
as a support layer for the sand and GAC. It also prohibits the
sand from obstructing the under drains.
3.1.2 Sand
Sand is used for the removal of suspended matter, as well as
floating sinkable particles. The waste water flows vertically
through a fine bed of sand. Particles are removed by the way
of absorption. It’s size varies from 2.36-4.75mm. This layer
of sand laid above the gravel layers.
3.1.3 Activated Carbon
This are versatile adsorbents. Their adsorptive properties are
due to their high surface area, a microporous structure, and
high degree of surface reactivity. They are, used, therefore,
to purify, decolorized, deodorized, dechlorinate, separate,
and concentrate in order to prevent recovery and to filter
remove or modify the harmfull constituents from gases and
liquid solutions. Consiquently, activated carbon adsorption is
of interest to many econommic sectors and concern areas
diverse as food pharamacetical, chemical, petroluem, nuclear,
automobiles, and vacuum industries as well as for the
treatment of drinking water, industrial and urban waste water
and industrial flue gases.
3.1.4 Coconut Coir
Coconut Fiber is an extremely light and a porosity material,
it is a material with a high rate of adsorption of odors. For
use as a single filter it is necessary to remove the bed
periodically to prevent compaction. The bio-filter coir can
last 3 to 6 years depending on the treatment suffered by the
material.
3.2 METHODOLOGY
Laboratory scale waste water treatment system was designed
for 10 liters capacity. Filtration unit of 27 liters capacity
containing bio balls (activated carbon) pebbles/rock and
storing unit for treated waste water of 27 liters capacity.The
easily available and natural materials were used such as bio
balls (activated carbon) , pebbles/rock which is the natural
materials used for experiment. The gravitational flow was
used for flow of water from waste water unit to storing unit
of treated waste water.The samples were collected from
Textile Industry for analysis. These samples are analysed by
standard method at laboratory.The parameters such as
Chlorides, Acidity, Alkalinity,Total hardness, Total
suspended solids (TSS) ,Total dissolved solids (TDS),
Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Biolchemical oxygen
demand (BOD), pH are determined from waste water and
treated water sample for the study of waste water treatment
system Bio-filters have three separate layers bio balls, sand,
gravel. In this process, testing facilities, experimental
procedures and experimental programs are included. Design
of experimental set up is done based on the basic desing of
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biofilter. As per the literature review the desing of set-up is

done. The fig showa the experimental setup of bio-filter with ACTI
activated carbons. VATE
D
CARB ACTIVATED
ON CARBON
COIR +
CONVE BALL BALLS
PARAME WASTE CONVENTI
NTIONA S + +CONVENTI
TERS WATER ONAL
L LAYER CON ONAL
LAYER
VENT LAYER +
IONA COIR
L
LAYE
R

pH 7.2 7.4 7.3 7.4 7.5

ALKALINI
30 32.4 32.3 32.69 33.8
TY

712.1
FLOW CHART OF FILTRATION PROCESS COD 1200 1000 860.78 515.28
7

BOD 252 209.5 180.17 149.1 107.83

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
TURBIDIT
100 82.6 70.98 57.3 42.3
PARAMETERS VALUES Y

pH 7.2 1040.
TSS 2600 2000 1392.6 898.86
4
ALKALINITY 30 mg/l
TDS 500 385 353.8 292.9 240.92
COD 1200 mg/l
CHLORID
850 760 674.3 576.4 352
BOD 252 mg/l ES

TURBIDITY 100 mg/l

TSS 2600 mg/l

TDS 500 mg/l

CHLORIDES 850 mg/l

The above values were obtained by testing raw silk reeling

wastewater. And Grab samples were collected in plastic cans
rinsed with distilled water. Sample was collected from the
open drain channels, in SSM Silk Reeling Industry

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 Along with conventional filter media 5cm layer of
activated carbon balls are used
 The carbon balls are versatile adsorbent. Their
adsorptive properties are due to their high surface area a
micro porous structure, and high degree of surface
reactivity.
 They are used therefore, to purify, decolorize, deodorize,
dechlorinate, separate and concentrate in order to
prevent recovery and to remove the harmfull
constituents
 M. Campinas, E. Mesquita, M.J. Rosa “Using activated
carbon based technologies for removal of emerging
contaminants from wastewater”.
 Christian Baresel, Mila harding And Johan Fang
“Ultrafiltration/Granulated Active Carbon- Biofilter:
Efficient Removal of a Broad Range of Micro
Pollutants”.
 Suprihatin, Bunga Cahyaputri, Muhammad Romli “Use
of biofilter as pre-treatment of polluted river water for
drinking water supply”.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS
Considerable reduction in BOD, COD, chlorides were
achieved.The removal efficiency of BOD and COD by using
Conventional filter bed as filter media was found to be
17.93%. The removal efficiency of BOD and COD by using
Conventional filter bed and Coconut Coir as filter media was
found to be 30.35%. The removal efficiency of BOD and
COD by using Conventional filter bed and Activated carbon
balls as filter media was found to be 42.96%. The removal
efficiency of BOD and COD by using Conventional filter
bed and Activated carbon balls with Coconut Coir as filter
media was found to be 58%. The treated wastewater can be
used for gardening and other domestic purposes like washing
and cleaning purposes. The Activated Carbon Balls is an
renewable resource.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Any achievement, be it scholastic or otherwise does not depend

solely on the individual efforts but on the guidance,
encouragement and cooperation of intellectuals, elders and
friends. A number of personalities, in their own capacities have
helped me in carrying out this project work. I would like to take
this opportunity to thank them all.
I thank my Parents, and all the teaching and non-teaching
faculty members of Department of Civil Engineering for
their constant support and encouragement. Last, but not the
least, I would like to thank my friends who provided me with
valuable suggestions to my work during project work.

REFERENCES

 Gopan Mukkulath and Santosh G. Thampi

“Biodegradation of Coir Geotextiles Attached Media in
Aerobic Biological Wastewater Treatment”.
 Nashita Moona, Kathleen R. Murphy, Mia Bondelind
“Partial renewal of granular activated carbon biofilters
for improved drinking water treatment”.
 Durgananda Singh Chaudhary, Saravanamuthu
Vigneswaran “Biofilter in Water and Wastewater
Treatment”.

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Department of Civil Engineering RRCE