Feasibility of Typha and Canna for pulp and paper mill wastewater treatment through small wetlands

The bucket reactors based wetland system were adopted for the treatment of pulp and paper mill wastewater using two macrophytes namely Typha angustifolia and Canna indica. The study was carried out for the treatment of wastewater collected from primary clarifier overflow (E1) and wastewater after the partial aerobic treatment of primary clarifier overflow (E2). Effectiveness of the two macrophytes was studied and compared for the removal of COD, BOD5, TS, and Colour at two hydraulic retention times (HRT). The comparison of inlet and outlet concentrations showed high removals of Color, TS, BOD5 and COD during summer season. The best removals were obtained at 3.5 days HRT. Also the treatment efficiency of both plants was compared where Typha showed significant removal efficiency than Canna. However, the aerobic treatment provided showed the significant improvements in the removal efficiency of Canna. The aerobic treatment provided to the wastewater also showed significant increase in removal of BOD5 in case of both macrophytes during summer as well as winters. According to these results, it can be concluded that wetland system utilised in this research could be a suitable solution for industrial wastewater treatment.