Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 4 (2021) 100061

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/journals/
current-research-in-green-and-sustainable-chemistry/2666-0865

Vermifiltration as a natural, sustainable and green technology for

environmental remediation: A new paradigm for wastewater
treatment process
Sudipti Arora a, *, Sakshi Saraswat b
a
Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, Malaviya Industrial Area, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur, 302017, India
b
Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming University, Taiwan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Wastewater treatment and reuse is one of the most promising efforts to stem global water crisis. With the present
Biofilter shift towards sustainable development as a priority, the wastewater companies should respond to this require-
Earthworms ment. To downturn, the negative impact of anthropogenic activities, advanced green technologies (AGTs) are
Green technology
being practiced. AGTs refer to a group of natural, green technologies that includes practical methodologies and
Vermifiltration
Wastewater treatment process
materials based on non-toxic chemical processes, clean energies, and environmental monitoring to slow down the
negative impact induced by human activities. The main motive of green technologies is to provide high end
results without compromising on environmental sustainability. Among all the existing options, green technology
such as vermifiltration is the natural & sustainable choice. Vermifiltration is an extension of the vermicomposting
process. It is a biofilter with earthworms, where the earthworms digest the suspended particles screened on the
filter bed, and degrade organic matter through enzymatic activity, and in the process of ingestion; they passively
aerate the system by burrowing action and removes pathogens. In this context, the present graphical review
envisages the current state of the technical knowledge of the vermifiltration process, factors affecting the process
and performance of vermifilters under different scenarios related to the treatment mechanisms and effective
applications and advantages of the technology. This technology is a stand-alone technology providing tremendous
benefits such as decentralized solution and high value end products like vermicompost and can be considered as a
new paradigm for wastewater treatment processes.

1. Introduction be a potential resource. A variety of centralised and decentralized

According to the UN World Water Development Report 2020, water
use has increased six-fold over the past century and is rising by about 1%
a year. However, it is estimated that climate change, along with the
increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events – storms, floods and
droughts, will worsen the situation in developing nations which are
already experiencing ‘water stress’ and may generate parallel problems
in regions that have not been severely affected. Water quality is said to be
affected by increased water temperatures and a decrease in dissolved
oxygen. This will, in turn, deteriorate the marine life and will result in
loss of their habitat by phenomenon like eutrophication. To deal with the
problem of water scarcity, the treatment of wastewater is considered as a
possible alternative. Wastewater acts as a source of various valuable
nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus and if treated properly, it can
wastewater treatment technologies exists and is under implementation
for the treatment and nutrients recovery. The capital cost, and operation
and maintenance costs of centralised wastewater treatment facilities like
activated sludge process, trickling filter, aerated lagoon, ozone oxidation,
floatation and sedimentation are high as compared to decentralized fa-
cilities due to huge setup for machineries. These treatment facilities are
generally divided into primary, secondary and tertiary treatment di-
visions. Fig. 1 describes a typical wastewater treatment process which
includes preliminary screening (with mechanical grits) to exclude large
floating material, followed by bars, fine screens, to remove grit. This is
followed by the primary treatment that involves the settlement and
sedimentation of fine solids resulting in the removal of suspended
organic solid content from the water by 50%. Oxidation and biodegra-
dation is the fundamental basis of biological wastewater treatment.

* Corresponding author. Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, 6E, Malviya Industrial Area, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur, 302017, India.
E-mail address: sudiptiarora@gmail.com (S. Arora).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crgsc.2021.100061
Received 31 October 2020; Received in revised form 22 December 2020; Accepted 22 January 2021
Available online 27 January 2021
2666-0865/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
S. Arora, S. Saraswat Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 4 (2021) 100061

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a typical sewage treatment process as compared to a vermifiltration treatment process.

Fig. 2. Schematic representation along with design parameters of a vermifilter unit.

2
S. Arora, S. Saraswat
Fig. 3. Mechanism involved in the treatment of wastewater through vermifiltration technology.
Aerobic bacteria, sustaining in the optimized conditions, are responsible
for the significant reduction of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD),
chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrogen and ammonia (NHþ 4 -N) levels
in the effluent. This is the main biological aspect of the process and in-
volves the two essentially linked steps of initial bio-processing and the
subsequent removal of solids due to enhanced biological activity. The
high concentrations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) lead to eutro-
phication of waterways. Therefore, to achieve an effective reduction, the
effluent after the secondary treatment is passed to a tertiary treatment
unit. In most cases, tertiary treatment is required as an advanced final
step to remove trace organics, remove high nutrient loads or to disinfect
effluent, which adds significantly to the cost of wastewater treatment. At
the end of the process, the treated water may be suitable for reuse but
there can be difficulty in finding suitable outlets for the concentrated
sludge produced. Sludge management is another issue, requiring a
separate treatment unit. Furthermore, centralised wastewater treatment
also contributes to climate change as it generates greenhouse gases which
account for an estimated 3%–7% of all emissions. It is not suitable in
areas with low population densities and dispersed households, especially
in rural and hilly areas. In the face of these challenges, innovative
wastewater treatment and management interventions are being focused
upon. The new trend is inclined towards advanced green technologies
(AGTs) such as decentralized, natural, green & sustainable on-site
treatment systems where there is scope for flexibility in management
and simplicity in operation. It is presumed that by adaptation of decen-
tralized wastewater treatment technologies, reliable and effective long-
term solutions can be introduced. Major decentralized technologies
include membrane filtration, microbial fuel cells, nanotechnology,
development of biological treatments and natural treatment systems such
as wetlands and vermifilters.
Among all other AGTs, vermifiltration technology is one such inno-
vative and emerging green technology which incorporates earthworms
3
Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 4 (2021) 100061
inside a biofilter which helps in removing the contaminants especially
organics and pathogens with the help of indigenous microorganisms.
Vermifiltration technology encompasses all forms of treatment, i.e. pri-
mary (removal of grit, silt, etc.), secondary (biological degradation and
nutrients removal) and tertiary (nutrients recovery) treatment technol-
ogy into one unit. It is a compact biological wastewater treatment system
as compared to other conventional systems (Fig. 1). Vermifiltration re-
sults in useful end products: treated effluent for reuse purposes and
vermicompost. This vermicompost can be used in agricultural fields as
organic manure. Moreover, total nitrogen and total phosphorus were
reported to be declined by 10% more in vermifilters compared to acti-
vated sludge systems; NHþ 4 N was also removed three times more in
vermifilters.
2. Design of a vermifilter
The schematic diagram of a typical vermifilter is described in Fig. 2.
The successful design and operation of the vermifilter are very crucial to
achieve efficient treatment performance in this technology. The effi-
ciency of any biological system is greatly influenced by the flow rate of
wastewater, which needs to be optimized. The optimal design of HLR
(Hydraulic Loading Rate) and HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time) plays a
key role in maintaining high removal efficiency in a vermifilter. HRT is
the time of interaction of wastewater with the filter media in which
earthworms reside, whereas HLR is the rate of application of wastewater
to the unit area of vermibed for unit time. An appropriate microbial
community can only be established in the vermifilter when adequate
contact time is offered by providing longer HRT. Higher HLR reduces the
contact time for the biochemical reactions involved in the treatment
process. Both these parameters are dependent on the area, volume of the
filter media bed and porosity of filter media layer. Thus, HLR and HRT
are calculated based on the size of the treatment system and may range
S. Arora, S. Saraswat
Fig. 4. Applications of vermifiltration technology for various kinds of wastewater treatment over the past decades [10–23].
between 3.5 and 8 h of HRT and 1.5–2.5 m3 m2 d1 of HLR, depending
on the vermifilter dimensions.
Other design parameters include stocking density, health and matu-
ration conditions of earthworms. Stocking density refers to the population
of worms applied to the bed. There is always a need to maintain optimum
earthworm concentration, as low density of earthworms may not stimu-
late and enhance microbial activities effectively. Moreover, earthworms
those are bigger in size can treat more efficiently compared to the smaller
one due to their voracious eating habits. The optimum stocking density
lies between 15,000 and 20,000 worms/m3. Certain environmental con-
ditions such as pH, Temperature, ammonia and sodium, may affect the
earthworm’s survival and the treatment performance of wastewater.
Earthworms survive best at the pH range of 6.2–9. They are poikilothermic
in nature thus their body temperature is significantly associated with the
outside temperature. 25–27  C is the optimum temperature range for the
activity, growth and reproduction of epigenic earthworm species. From
several studies, it is observed that the earthworms that are capable of
treating wastewater at higher moisture levels are Eisenia fetida, Perionyx
sansibaricus, Lumbricus rubellus, Eudrilus eugeniae and Eisenia hortensis.
Earthworms also need a suitable dwelling habitat to thrive upon and
perform its activity and functions so filter media or earthworm bedding, is
another vital design parameter. For designing the ideal filter media,
different materials have been utilized such as river bed gravels, sand,
cobblestone, glass beads and quartz sand. The characteristics of this filter
media layer also influence the establishment of microbial biofilms and the
microbial community structure within the complex vermi-ecosystems, as
well as, on the treatment performance. Filter bed media also affects the
retention of wastewater and hydraulic conductivity. The operational and
environmental conditions play a very important role in vermifiltration
process. It may be necessary to operate vermifilter in presence of high
moisture and sometimes under water-logged conditions.
4
Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 4 (2021) 100061
3. Mechanisms
Vermifiltration is an extension of soil filtration or a biofilter with
earthworms to speed up the decomposition processes, to utilize organics
to produce fresh manure which can be utilized in agriculture to support
healthy plant production. Wastewater passes through the active layer,
where the organic matter is converted into humus enriched vermicom-
post by the earthworms. This is followed by the filtration through filter
media. Filter media supports the growth of microorganisms and subse-
quently, secondary treatment occurs. The grinding activity of the earth-
worms helps in increasing the total specific surface area present in the
filter media, enabling higher absorption of the organic and inorganic
contaminants from the wastewater. Dissolved and suspended particles
are trapped in the filter media as they percolate and are stabilized
through complex bioprocesses that take place in the active layer. Dis-
solved components of wastewater move further down in the profiles,
adsorbed into the surface matrix of media and are degraded by symbiotic
action of earthworms released enzymes and microbes. The vermifilter
does not clog because earthworms improve aeration by the burrowing
action and accelerate microbial activity by increasing the population of
soil microorganisms, thus increase speedy utilization of absorbed or-
ganics. This symbiotic and synergetic activity of earthworms and
microorganism also change the physicochemical properties of the
wastewater. This treatment mechanism is explicitly described in Fig. 3.
4. Applications
The vermifiltration technology has been applied as an environmental
friendly technique for the treatment of a wide range of wastewater ef-
fluents as described in Fig. 4 [1]. Found that the removal efficiency of
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD)
S. Arora, S. Saraswat
Fig. 5. Advantages of vermifiltration technology.
for domestic wastewater, within the vermifilter were 92% and 74% as
compared to a geofilter where it was observed to be 74% and 68%
respectively. A report focusing on the seasonal effects on vermifiltration
stated that higher BOD and COD removal was accomplished during
spring and autumn seasons. Additionally, during summer, the indicator
bacteria removal was found to be 99.9%, Salmonella reduction by 96.9%
and E. coli by 99.3% [2]. In a study conducted by Ref. [3] for urban
wastewater, treatment efficiencies for BOD5, COD, total suspended solids
(TSS) and NHþ 4 were found to be 91.3%, 87.6%, 98.4% and 76.5%
respectively. It was concluded that earthworms contributed to reduce
NHþ 
4 and total nitrogen removal and increase NO3 concentration in the
treated effluent. Lately, the traditional vermifilters have been integrated
with other technologies for obtaining better removal and performance
efficacies [4]. Analysed the potential of vermifiltration for the combined
treatment of wastewater and organic fraction of municipal solid waste
(OFMSW). OFMSW was placed as a top layer over the filter media and
earthworms were found to convert it into organic manure [5]. Designed a
tower vermifilter system by the addition of one anaerobic biofilter for
pre-treatment, followed by two stages of vermifilters. They discovered
that this was a versatile system that could work effectively under a va-
riety of natural and socioeconomic conditions at a reasonable cost. Ver-
mifilters have also been attested to plants like Carex frankii [6], Cyprus
rotundus [7] and Canna indica [8]. It was found that plants and earth-
worms together play a vital role in the enhancement of the nutrient
removal efficacies and overall performance efficiency of the system. The
effect of treated effluent on Allium cepa was investigated by Ref. [9] and
they found that the treated effluent was safe to be used for irrigation and
agricultural practices. Recently, this technology has also been extended
for the treatment of hospital and clinical laboratory wastewaters.
5. Advantages
The advantages of vermifiltration technology include cost-
effectiveness, socially acceptable, odour free technology with high-
performance efficacy as described in Fig. 5.
5
Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 4 (2021) 100061
6. Conclusions
Vermifiltration coupled with other technologies have been thor-
oughly researched upon, especially in the past two decades as the need
for water reuse and wastewater treatment is increasing in line with
climate change. Earthworms change the properties of biofilm present in
the active layer by their burrowing activity and ingestion. They also help
in the degradation of organic matter by symbiotic and synergistic in-
teractions with the indigenous microbes. It has been successfully applied
for the treatment of municipal and industrial sewage. Some recent studies
also point towards its worth for treating hospital and clinical laboratory
wastewater. Taking into account the pro-environmental politics world-
wide, it may be considered an interesting eco-innovation in wastewater
treatment. If applied on a full scale, vermifiltration technology would
help society reach the triple bottom line of sustainability: good for the
environment, good for the economy, and good for the people.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Sudipti Arora:(Corresponding author): Conceptualization, investi-
gation, resources, manuscript review and editing, corresponding author.
Sakshi Saraswat: Data analysis, Writing -original draft of
manuscript.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
References
[1] S. Arora, et al., Antibacterial and enzymatic activity of microbial community during
wastewater treatment by pilot scale vermifiltration system, Bioresour. Technol.
(2014), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.05.041.
S. Arora, S. Saraswat
[2] S. Arora, A.A. Kazmi, The effect of seasonal temperature on pathogen removal
efficacy of vermifilter for wastewater treatment, Water Res. (2015), https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.02.001.
[3] N. Lourenço, L.M. Nunes, Is filter packing important in a small-scale vermifiltration
process of urban wastewater? Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2017) https://doi.org/
10.1007/s13762-017-1323-1.
[4] A. Rajpal, et al., Co-treatment of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW)
and sewage by vermireactor, Ecol. Eng. (2014), https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.ecoleng.2014.09.012.
[5] E. Nie, et al., Tower bio-vermifilter system for rural wastewater treatment: bench-
scale, pilot-scale, and engineering applications, Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2015),
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-013-0479-6.
[6] R. Singh, et al., Development and performance assessment of an integrated
vermifiltration based treatment system for the treatment of feedlot runoff, J. Clean.
Prod. (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123355.
[7] P. Tomar, S. Suthar, Urban wastewater treatment using vermi-biofiltration system,
Desalination (2011), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2011.09.007.
[8] K. Samal, R.R. Dash, P. Bhunia, Performance assessment of a Canna indica assisted
vermifilter for synthetic dairy wastewater treatment, Process Saf. Environ. Protect.
(2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2017.07.027.
[9] C. Kumar, A.K. Ghosh, Fabrication of a vermifiltration unit for wastewater recycling
and performance of vermifiltered water (vermiaqua) on onion (Allium cepa), Int. J.
Recycl. Org. Waste Agric. (2019), https://doi.org/10.1007/s40093-019-0247-9.
[10] S. Arora, et al., Effect of earthworms in removal and fate of antibiotic resistant
bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistant genes (ARG) during clinical laboratory
wastewater treatment by vermifiltration, Available at: https://www.biorxiv.org/
content/10.1101/2020.10.01.321885v1, 2020.
[11] S.A. Azuar, H.M. Hassan, H.M. Ibrahim, Phytotoxicity effect of palm oil mill effluent
(POME) on lettuce seed (L. sativa L.) after vermifiltration treatment 5 (6) (2015)
1–5.
[12] S. Dhadse, et al., Vermifilters: a tool for aerobic biological treatment of herbal
pharmaceutical wastewater, Water Sci. Technol. (2010), https://doi.org/10.2166/
wst.2010.523.
Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 4 (2021) 100061
[13] C. Furlong, et al., The development of an onsite sanitation system based on
vermifiltration: the “Tiger Toilet”, J. Water, Sanit. Hyg. Dev. (2015) https://
doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2015.167.
[14] Ghatnekar, et al., Application of vermi-filter-based effluent treatment plant (pilot
scale) for biomanagement of liquid effluents from the gelatine industry, Dyn. Soil
Dyn. Plant 4 (1) (2010) 83–88.
[15] N. Ghobadi, et al., Performance of A Pilot-Scale vermifilter for the treatment of A
real hospital wastewater, Avicenna J. Environ. Health Eng. (2016), https://doi.org/
10.5812/ajehe-7585.
[16] Y.S. Li, et al., Vermifiltration as a stage in reuse of swine wastewater: monitoring
methodology on an experimental farm, Ecol. Eng. (2008), https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.ecoleng.2007.11.010.
[17] M.M. Manyuchi, et al., Treatment of wastewater using vermifiltration technology,
in: Water Conservation, Recycling and Reuse: Issues and Challenges, 2019, https://
doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3179-4_12.
[18] M.M. Manyuchi, C. Mbohwa, E. Muzenda, Biological treatment of distillery
wastewater by application of the vermifiltration technology, S. Afr. J. Chem. Eng.
(2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajce.2017.12.002.
[19] N. Natarajan, N. Kannadasan, Reuse potential OF textile dyeing wastewater through
vermifiltration, Int. J. Curr. Res. 6 (02) (2014) 4936–4939.
[20] K. Samal, R.R. Dash, P. Bhunia, Design and development of a hybrid macrophyte
assisted vermifilter for the treatment of dairy wastewater: a statistical and kinetic
modelling approach, Sci. Total Environ. (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.scitotenv.2018.07.118.
[21] R. Singh, P. Bhunia, R.R. Dash, Optimization of organics removal and
understanding the impact of HRT on vermifiltration of brewery wastewater, Sci.
Total Environ. (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.307.
[22] R.K. Sinha, et al., Earthworms: nature’s chemical managers and detoxifying agents
in the environment: an innovative study on treatment of toxic wastewaters from the
petroleum industry by vermifiltration technology, Environmentalist (2012),
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-012-9409-2.
[23] R.K. Sinha, G. Bharambe, U. Chaudhari, Sewage treatment by vermifiltration with
synchronous treatment of sludge by earthworms: a low-cost sustainable technology
over conventional systems with potential for decentralization, Environmentalist
(2008), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-008-9162-8.