Application of selected indigenous plants for dairy effluent treatment through a phytoremediation approach

Process Sewage generated from the dairy processing industry authorities includes high ranges of organic material, suspended solids, nutrients and dissolved solids and can cause adverse impacts to receiving water. The present study aimed at checking the efficiency of native aquatic plants for the bioconversion of dairy wastewater on both laboratory and pilot-scale. Laboratory-scale treatment system have been set up with Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) and Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce) with a HRT of 15 days and the performances were assessed by following the parameters such as pH, turbidity, TDS, BOD, and COD. The loads of each wastewater were observed at initial BOD and COD concentrations of 800-1300 mg/L and 1700-2999 mg/L, respectively. Macrophytes performance on treatment efficiency was the highest for Eichhornia crassipes followed by Egeria densa for reduction of BOD, followed by Hippostegon couchii followed by Salvinia molesta on the COD reduction, and up to 58.5% by Eichhornia crassipes on reducing TDS values after 15 days of treatment. The present results show that the phytoremediation process is an effective method for enhancing the physicochemical properties of the dairy wastewater and is a cost-effective, pollution-free, and ecological treatment process for small scale dairy industries and rural communities.