Tertiary treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater by Subsurface flow (SSF) constructed wetland: case study in Iran Pharmaceutical Factory

Pharmaceutics has been considered as one the most important industries in Iran and the resulted wastewater are considered as one of important environmental contaminants, therefore determining the suitable method for treatment of this kind of wastewater is essential. In this experimental research, performance evaluation of pilot scale sub-surface flow constructed wetland was carried out in treating pharmaceutical wastewater from pharmaceutical factory. The constructed wetland was planted with Cyperus haspan with sand and gravel used as substrate media. The experiment was operated for two different retention time and during the experimentation, the influent and effluent samples were tested for its pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5). Obtaining results of tests showed that constructed wetland system in environment temperature is able to eliminate more than 90 percent of BOD5 and about 77 percent of existing COD that exist in antibiotic-making plant. The constructed wetland has made acidic pH of its wastewater into neutral values. Obtained results of wetland showed that with increase in HRT from 6 to 9 days, BOD5 removal efficiency increased from 72% to 92.5% and COD Removal efficiency increased from 53% to 77% respectively. High removal efficiencies in the study proved that pharmaceutical wastewater could be treated effectively using subsurface constructed wetlands with C. haspan plant.

کلیدواژه ها:

Sub-Surface Flow (SSF) ، Constructed Wetland ، Pharmaceutical Wastewater ، Tertiary Treatment ، Cyperus haspan