Onsite Wastewater Treatment Upgrade for Water Reuse in Cooling Towers and Toilets

Author(s)

Papp, Luiz Antonio ; Rodrigues, Flavio Aparecido ; de Souza Judice, Wagner Alves ; Araujo, Welington Luiz

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: WATER; v. 14, n. 10, p. 14-pg., 2022-05-01.

Abstract

The increasing population size and housing density are responsible for greater consumption of water resources, causing drinking water shortages in many regions. To reduce water consumption, it is essential to perform wastewater treatment, particularly in onsite non-potable water systems (ONWS). This article discusses the performance of a wastewater treatment system in a shopping mall in Brazil (City of Guarulhos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil), using data collected over 3 years (2015-2018) that resulted in water reuse ranging from 12 to 42 m(3) per day. The strategy used for this wastewater treatment and further reuse in cooling towers and toilets initially included nine steps; after adjustments, an additional step (tertiary decanter) was added. All steps were named as follows: (1) railing; (2) fats boxes; (3) aerobic reactors with selector tank; (4) denitrification; (5) flocculation; (6) secondary decanter; (7) ultrafiltration; (8) disinfection; (9) filtration by zeolites; and (10) tertiary decanter. Based on using FeCl3 as a flocculant followed by filtration by zeolites (SFM) for ion adsorption and removing above 99% of the biological oxygen demand (BOD5), generating a final BOD5 of <2.0 mg/L, total dissolved solids of 130 to 594 mg/L, pH ranging from 6.75 to 7.79, and remaining pathogen-free. This treatment demonstrated the feasibility of reusing water in air conditioning cooling towers and toilets, generating up to 797 m(3)/month of treated water for reuse with savings of up to 27% in drinking water consumption at the mall. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/12510-4 - Endophytic microorganisms and the host plant: genes and metabolites involved in the interaction
• Grantee: Welington Luiz de Araújo
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 21/01503-2 - Evaluation of the effects of glycosaminoglycans on the activity of cysteine protease catatepsin inhibitors
• Grantee: Wagner Alves de Souza Júdice
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 14/02205-1 - Study of kinetic behavior of convertases
• Grantee: Wagner Alves de Souza Júdice
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 16/25112-4 - Evaluation of modulators of the activity of proteases involved in pathological processes
• Grantee: Wagner Alves de Souza Júdice
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants