ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Can Earthworms De-Clog Sand Filters?
Marcin Spychała1, Lesław Pilc2
 
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1Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Chair of Water and Wastewater Engineering,
Poznań University of Life Sciences, Piątkowska 94A, 60-649 Poznań, Poland
2Collegium Polonicum, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań,
Kościuszki 1, 69-100 Słubice, Poland
 
 
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2011;20(4):1037-1041
 
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ABSTRACT
Two species of earthworms, Lumbricus terrestris and Eisenia fetida, were used to de-clog sand filters purifying domestic sewage. The experimental set-up consisted of 6 filtration columns (4 research filters and 2 control filters) filled with fine sand (d60=0.2 mm, d10=0.1 mm). The sewage parameters at inflow to the filters were typical of the septic tank effluent. The filters were fed about 5.5 dm3/day at average doses of 31 cm/d. The TSS cumulative loading after three months was equal to 931.9 g/m2. At the start of filter operating the average outflow of filters was equal to 105.6 cm3/min; at the end (except for filter Nos. 2 and 6) it was 0.3 cm3/min per filter and the clogging was achieved. A significant increase in outflow rates was observed two weeks after the application of worms, and it was equal to 94.7±2.9 cm3/min on average (average value for control filters: 7.1±0.8). The content of organic matter in the clogging layer of filters 4 and 5 was equal to 9.6±0.5 mg of dry mass per 1 g of sand, on average, and was significantly lower than the content of organic matter in the clogging layer of control filters (28.2±1.0 mg dry mass per 1 g of sand). There was no difference between control and research filter treatment efficiency (COD and NH4-N). Four months after the worm application, the increase in average outflow from research filters was still observed, thus the de-clogging effect had been observed as long as the worms were alive.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
eISSN:2083-5906
ISSN:1230-1485
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