Study of Treating Wastewater with a Laboratory Benchtop Septic Systems

Efficient wastewater treatment technologies are needed to curb water scarcities and prevent the spread of diseases and contamination of water sheds. Decentralized wastewater treatment systems or respectively septic systems are easy to afford and handle – especially in rural areas. In this research a developed 19.9 l (5 gal.) laboratory septic system containing 15 l (3.96 gal.) of liquid was operated at a temperature of 18°C (64.4°F) with wastewater collected from a primary clarifier of a local wastewater treatment plant. The laboratory study included a hydraulic retention time of 30-, 10- and 5-day with and without addition of bacteria from an anaerobic sludge blanket reactor and commercially available bacteria for enhancement of septic systems.

Operating the laboratory septic system at a 10-day HRT showed the best performance for all system operations with and without enhancement bacteria in comparison n to 30- and 5-day HRT.

The developed laboratory septic system proved to be a valuable way to investigate septic systems performance on a laboratory scale.