Physicochemical and microbiological characterization of cement kiln dust for potential reuse in wastewater treatment

Cement kiln dust (CKD), a byproduct of cement manufacturing process, was collected from Misr Cement Co. at Qena, Egypt. CKD was characterized by X-ray diffraction and FTIR analysis. This byproduct was investigated for its physical-chemical characters, antibacterial activities on sewage water and the presence of nematode, parasites and algae in the treated water. The efficiency of CKD-treated water was also examined on Hibiscus sabdarriffa seed germination. Total bacteria, total and fecal coliform, as well as fecal streptococci were completely inhibited by CKD. Interestingly, zinc, manganese, iron, nickel and lead were completely absent from sewage water as these metals precipitated after treatment with 10gl(-1) CKD. On the other hand, among all the tested plant criteria, only root length was significantly reduced by 55% and 15% after zero and 3 days of CKD addition respectively compared to control. Furthermore, plant lipid peroxidation showed no significant differences between treated sewage water and control after zero and 3 days time addition of CKD. Catalase enzyme activity showed significant decrease by 56% and 64%, while peroxidase activity significantly increased up to 49% and 63% compared to untreated sewage after zero and 3 days of treatment, respectively. The absorption of lead, iron and copper by treated and untreated plants showed no significant differences. Chromium ions were highly absorbed (0.075mgl(-1)) by plants irrigated only with treated sewage water at zero time, and decreased gradually to 0.018mgl(-1) after 3 days of CKD addition. This study highlighted the efficiency of cement kiln dust as an antibacterial agent and its ability of scavenging heavy metals leading to the use of treated sewage water in activities such as crop irrigation.