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Treatment of secondary effluents by infiltration-percolation process using sand fortified with activated charcoal

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Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of sand/granular activated charcoal mixture medium to treat urban wastewater effluents. Several laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the best combination ratio of sand/activated charcoal which would allow the optimum water purification. A comparative study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of the addition of activated charcoal on infiltration-percolation efficiency. Experiments demonstrated that fortifying sand medium with granular activated charcoal improved the pollutants removal efficiencies. Results showed that a combination ratio of 3:1 (by volume) of sand and granular activated charcoal gave the best depuration efficiency regarding organic matter, nitrogen and orthophosphorous. The mean removal rates of COD, NH4–N and PO4–P were 83.29, 95.85 and 65.21%, respectively. Furthermore, experiments demonstrated that a mixture of sand/activated charcoal in a 3:1 ratio resulted in the optimum oxidation capacity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Research Unit of Applied Hydro-Sciences of Gabès for the technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Higher Institute of Sciences and Techniques of Waters, University of Gabès, Gabès, Tunisia

    M. Bali, H. Jridi, S. Farhat, B. Louhichi & R. Boukchina

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  1. M. Bali
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  2. H. Jridi
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  3. S. Farhat
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  4. B. Louhichi
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  5. R. Boukchina
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Correspondence to M. Bali.

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Editorial responsibility: Binbin Huang.

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Bali, M., Jridi, H., Farhat, S. et al. Treatment of secondary effluents by infiltration-percolation process using sand fortified with activated charcoal. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 14, 1209–1216 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-016-1222-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-016-1222-x

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