7th International Conference on Environment (ICENV2021) – Virtual Conference

6-7th October 2021, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang

Comparative Study of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment

System for Domestic Wastewater
Borin Heang1,2, Saret Bun1, Rathborey Chan1,3
1
Faculty of Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering,
Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh 12156, Cambodia
2
Water and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School,
Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh 12156, Cambodia
3
Water and Environment Research Unit, Research and Innovation Center,
Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh 12156, Cambodia
e-mail: saret@itc.edu.kh

Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System is determined to be promising technologies

which is appropriate and effective for sustainable sanitation and wastewater management
especially for developing countries with limited resources [1]. Commonly known in form of
Septic Tank (ST), there are alternative designs include Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR)
and Anaerobic Filter (AF) which are considered as improvement systems with potential as
replacement with extended investigations [2]. This study aims to provide comprehensive
performance analysis of each of the three systems with further comparison on the
performance among the systems limited to Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Chemical
Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency on medium strength wastewater condition. The
experiment was conducted over for conditions with combined variation of HRT (24-48h) as
well as sludge concentration (approximately 10-20g/L of MLSS) while sponge filter media
(25ppi) is selected for AF system. ST provide overall removal rate of COD and TSS
approximately 71 ± 9% and TSS around 65 ± 20%, while ABR achieved 83±5% and 73±15%,
whereas AF reactor attained 85±4% and 76±11% respectively. There has been presented
Inorganic nitrogen removal, however it is diminutive as anaerobic system is not an efficient
designed for nutrient removal [3]. Extended HRT from 24 to 48h provides boost in removal
efficiency to all three systems over COD removal but little to no for TSS removal. AF prove to
be the best system among the three options follow by ABR then ST. Both AF and ABR
provide considerably high treatment efficiency with HRT of 24h. In term of COD removal, ST
following far behind and still see increase with prolong HRT, a clear indication of HRT for
48h or longer is recommended/required. The concentration of approximately 10g/L of MLSS
in system (first compartment) could probably high enough for all three system to provide
satisfied treatment efficiency in term of COD while higher concentration would increase TSS
removal efficiency but not COD.

This work was supported by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Higher
Education Improvement Project (HEIP) of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS)
of Kingdom of Cambodia for the scholarship and research financial support.

References
[1] Singh, A., Sawant, M., Kamble, S. J., Herlekar, M., Starkl, M., Aymerich, E., & Kazmi, A.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26, 21172-21188. (2019).
[2] Stazi, V., & Tomei, M. C. Science of The Total Environment, 635, 78-91. (2018).
[3] Foresti, E. Water Science and Technology, 45, 181-186. (2002).