Descriptive and multivariate analyses of four Tunisian wastewater treatment plants: A comparison between different treatment processes and their efficiency improvement

Ines Boujelben; Youssef Samet; Mouna Messaoud; Mohamed Ben Makhlouf; Sami Maalej

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.11.023

Descriptive and multivariate analyses of four Tunisian wastewater treatment plants: A comparison between different treatment processes and their efficiency improvement

J Environ Manage. 2017 Feb 1:187:63-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.11.023. Epub 2016 Nov 21.

Authors

Ines Boujelben¹, Youssef Samet², Mouna Messaoud³, Mohamed Ben Makhlouf³, Sami Maalej⁴

Affiliations

¹ Unité Biodiversité et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques Environnementaux (UR11ES/72), Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Université de Sfax, B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia; Office National de l'Assainissement (ONAS), Rue Ahmed Aloulou, 3028 Sfax, Tunisia.
² Unité de recherche Toxicologie Microbiologie Environnementale et Santé (UR11ES70), Faculté des Sciences, Université de Sfax, B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia. Electronic address: youssef.samet@fss.rnu.tn.
³ Office National de l'Assainissement (ONAS), Rue Ahmed Aloulou, 3028 Sfax, Tunisia.
⁴ Unité Biodiversité et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques Environnementaux (UR11ES/72), Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Université de Sfax, B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia.

PMID: 27883940
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.11.023

Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of four wastewater treatment plants/processes over a 4 year period. The wastewater flow evolution, energy consumption, and quality indicator parameters (BOD₅, COD and TSS) at the inlet and outlet sites of the plants were determined. In comparing three domestic WWTPs with different wastewater treatment processes, the multivariate analyses (RDA and ANOVA) showed that although the Agareb plant received the highest pollution load, it displayed a high level of removal efficiency especially for COD, BOD, TSS, TKN and NH₄⁺. It also revealed that the fluctuations in the wastewater composition and its contamination by varied industrial discharge could lead to the decrease in performance of the WWTP with activated sludge process as observed for the Southern Sfax plant. However, the electrolysis of the outlet water of Southern Sfax plant showed a significant improvement in COD removal.

Keywords: ANOVA; COD; Electrochemical; Electrolysis; RDA; Sludge; Wastewater.

Publication types

Comparative Study

MeSH terms

Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Geologic Sediments / analysis
Multivariate Analysis
Nitrogen / analysis
Phosphorus / analysis
Tunisia
Waste Disposal Facilities
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods*
Wastewater / analysis*
Water Purification / methods*
Water Quality*

Substances

Waste Water
Phosphorus
Nitrogen