Treatment of dairy waste by using water hyacinth

In the present study treatment of wastewater from a large dairy by using water hyacinth was studied in laboratory experiments. Effects of depth of the system, variations in area coverage, prior settling and of daily renewal of the plants was also studied on the efficacy of hyacinth in treating the dairy waste. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was found to grow exceptionally well in the waste (BOD 840.0 mg/L) and brought down the level of BOD from 840.0 to 121.0 mg/L; COD from 1,160.0 to 164.0 mg/L, total suspended solids from 359.0 mg/L to 245.0 mg/L, TDS from 848.0 mg/L to 352.0 mg/L, total nitrogen from 26.6 mg/L to 8.9 mg/L in 4 days. There was very little reduction, however in calcium, sodium and potassium concentration. Results of different experiments showed that systems with shallow depth were more efficient in removing dissolved solids, suspended solids, BOD, COD, nitrogen and phosphorus. Daily renewal of the plants led to slightly better reduction in suspended and dissolved solids, BOD, COD and nitrogen. Water hyacinth coverage was found to have a direct bearing on the treatment efficiency. Pretreatment (settling) of the waste was also found to be favourable as dissolved oxygen content increased rapidly in the experimental sets with pretreatment. Efficiency of removal of various parameters was also good in these sets. From the study it can be concluded that dairy waste can be effectively treated by water hyacinth. Consideration of above parameters and incorporating them in design factors can greatly increase the efficiency of the system.