Start-up of a novel reed bed system for agricultural wastewater treatment

This paper describes the experimental investigation of a five-staged tidal flow reed bed system for the treatment of an agricultural wastewater from a pig farm. In particular, study focuses on the start-up of the reed bed treatment process. Initial investigation was concerned with batch operation of the system with addition of an artificial nutriment, commercial baby bio, to promote growth of the reeds; emphasis was placed on how to establish a healthy microorganism population within the bed matrix, i.e. period in which plants and microbes adjust to the hydrological conditions of the new living environment. Thereafter, diluted pig slurry was introduced into the reed bed system that adopted a novel operation of 'tidal flow'. Strength of the influent was progressively increased. Under a continuous operational condition, the reed bed system was successfully started up. Stable removal rates of 82.3% and 83.6% were established for BOD5 and COD, respectively, during the continuous operation.