Wastewater Treatment Using Biomaterials to Irrigate the Agricultural Space of Eco-Cities

Abstract

Egypt like many other countries suffers from a critical water scarcity that will affect all life aspects, especially the agriculture field. This suffering may increase in light of the effects of climate change, which requires the cities of the future to produce their food, which requires the provision of a large amount of water to achieve food security for cities in what is known as eco-cities. So, exploitation of resourcessuch as wastewater and agricultural wastes is the golden solution to provide sufficient water quantities instead of depending on freshwater. In this experimental study, employing fixed biofilm reactors (FBRs) as a wastewater treatment technologywas very effective in reducing organic pollutants and nutrient concentrations. In the FBR tank, agricultural wastes such as banana stem besides natural sedimentary rock such as Natural zeolite were used as bio-carriers. Two experimental models were established to maximize the efficiency of treated wastewater to be used for irrigation purposes. The first experimental model consists of sugarcane bagasse as a filter, an FBR tank, and a final settling tank. The second experimental model was upgradedto the first one by adding a unit that depends on Phragmites australis as a bio-sorbent. The second model's final COD, BOD, TSS, TN, and TP concentrations were 36.2, 17.4,49.1,7.4, and 2.9 mg/l, respectively. This final concentration shows a great indication for the reuse of the treated wastewater in irrigation fields such as oil crops (Sunflower, Soybean, and Rapeseed), wood trees, and by a slight improvement in the final effluent can be used for peeled fruits and oregano. This method can give eco-cities the ability to produce food with less consumption of fresh water and reduce agricultural waste and wastewater that may cause a burden on the environment if disposed of by traditional methods. This gives the research great importance to support the trend toward eco-cities in light of the benefit of technical progress for the use of biomaterials and wastewater treatment.