Hospital wastewater treatment using aerated fixed film biofilter - Ozonation (Af2b/O3)

In Indonesia, most hospital wastewater treatment use biological processes followed by chlorination. Biological processes are efficient in reducing organic matter but less for pollutant toxic (phenol, Pb) while chlorination is not environmentally friendly. Differently, ozonation process offers more advantages such as heavy metals oxidation (Pb), killing pathogenic microorganisms, colour and phenols removal, and being safe for the environment. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the capability of Aerated Fixed Film Biofilter - Ozonation (AF2B/O3) reactor in reducing BOD5, fecal coli, phenol and Pb pollutants discharged from hospital wastewater. This study used AF2B/O3 reactor consisting of Aerated Fixed Film Biofilter Reactor (AF2B reactor) and Ozone Reactor (O3 Reactor). The hospital wastewater used in this experiment was taken from hospitals in Malang City, Indonesia which have characteristics of containing BOD5 as much as 240.25 mg/L, phenol 0.04 mg/L, fecal coli 2,400 MPN/100 ml, and Pb 0.025 mg/L. The microorganisms used were Mixed Bacterial Culture (MBC) obtained from the isolated bacteria in hospital wastewater. The wastewater flowed into the AF2B reactor with circulation flow and countercurrent flow in the O3 reactor. Experiment data were obtained through measuring the concentration of BOD5, fecal coli, phenol, and Pb at effluent reactor, using APHA (American Public Health Association) method. Results showed that AF2B reactor was very capable in removing organic matter (BOD5) up to 91.59% while the O3 reactor was very capable to remove fecal coli, phenol, and Pb up to 94.8%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. For the whole process, AF2B/O3 reactor could reduce BOD5, fecal coli, phenol and Pb were 97.92%, 99.23%, 100%, 100%, respectively. Thus it can be concluded that AF2B/O3 process has large capability of pollutants removal in hospital wastewater such as BOD, fecal coli, phenol, Pb.