Developing a Wetland-PBR-MFC system for Household Wastewater Treatment

Within the project BITS Pilani an BOKU aim to develop a wastewater treatment system combining a vertical flow (VF) wetland, a microalgae photobioreactor (PBR) and a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) for enhanced removal of nutrients and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from household wastewater. The combined Wetland-PBR-MFC treatment system that will be developed and tested in the project should be able to combine the advantages of all technologies, i.e. the already high treatment efficiencies of VF wetlands should be enhanced by PBR and MFC, respectively, especially for the removal of micropollutants. The combined use of the technology will be demonstrated in lab-scale. The combined treatment system will be then up-scaled and tested for a single household in India. Numerical modelling should be used as tool for optimizing the coupling of the technologies and thus the treatment performance of the combined system. Finally, a design guidance for the Wetland-PBR-MFC treatment system will be developed.