Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Potential use of treated domestic sewage for cultivation of biofuel crops in Egypt

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sewage treatment in a biological compact unit and effluent reuse for cultivation of Jojoba, Jatropha and Castor beans was examined. The biological compact unit includes three zones: settling and anaerobic, aerobic biofilm and final sedimentation. Quality of raw sewage and treated effluents was monitored. Impact of water quality on growth rate of biofuel crops and soil properties was investigated. Reuse of raw sewage for irrigation of biofuel crops has major impact on microbial quality and heavy metals concentration of irrigated soil. Sequence of heavy metals accumulation in the soil was Zn > Cu > Cr > Pb. Castor beans irrigated with the final effluent has the highest growth rate and crop yield followed by Jatropha and Jojoba. Growing Castor beans using treated sewage is economically feasible since the plant produces harvestable seeds during the first year and thereafter. Castor beans yield was highest (1.78 ton/ha) with the final effluent. Estimated market price is $1241/ha.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achten WMJ, Verchot L, Franken YJ, Mathijs E, Singh VP, Aerts R, Muys B (2008) Jatropha bio-diesel production and use. Biomass Bioenergy 32:1063–1084

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • APHA (2015) Standard methods for water and wastewater examination, 23rd edn. American Public Health Association, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateni H, Karimi K, Zamani A, Benakashani F (2014) Castor plant for biodiesel, biogas, and ethanol production with a biorefinery processing perspective. Appl Energy 136:14–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brix H, Arias CA (2005) The use of vertical flow constructed wetlands for on-site treatment of domestic wastewater: new Danish guidelines. Ecol Eng 25:491–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burubai W, Akor A, Lilly M, Ayawari D (2007) An evaluation of septic tank performance in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Agric Eng Int CIGR Ej. Volume IX, p 9

  • Da Schio A (2010) Jatropha curcas L., a potential bioenergy crop. On field research in Belize. M.Sc. dissertation. Padua University, Italy and Wageningen University and Research centre, Plant Research International, The Netherlands

  • Danlami JM, Agus Arsad A, Zaini MAA (2015) Characterization and process optimization of castor oil (Ricinus communis L.) extracted by the soxhlet method using polar and non-polar solvents. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 47:99–104

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Divakara BN, Upadhyaya HD, Wani SP, Laxmipathi Gowda CL (2010) Biology and genetic improvement of Jatropha curcas L.: a review. Appl Energy 87:732–742

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dunstone RL, Begg JE (1982) Direct Seeding of Jojoba Under Dryland Conditions in Australia. In: Jojoba and its uses through 1982; proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Jojoba and Its Uses 11–15 October 1982, Tucson, Arizona

  • Earth Gen-BioFuel Inc. (2016) Sees World Castor Bean Demand Exceeding Its Expectations. Earth Gen Biofuel Inc.

  • El-Mogy NS (1999) Egyptian experience in planting Jojoba. In: Fourth international water technology conference IWTC 99, Alexandria, Egypt, p 431

  • Gašpariková E, Kapusta S (2005) Evaluation of anaerobic–aerobic wastewater treatment plant operation. J Environ Stud 14:29–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghokale D (2008) Jatropha: experience of agro-forestry and wasteland development foundation, Nashik, India. In: International Consultation on Pro-poor Jatropha Development. Syngenta International: Rome. http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1219e/i1219e04.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Ichinari T, Ohtsubo A, Ozawa T, Hasegawa K, Oguchi T, Kiso T, Teduka K (2008) Wastewater treatment performance and sludge reduction properties of a household wastewater treatment system combined with an aerobic sludge digestion unit. Process Biochem 43(7):722–728

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jechallce S, Broszat M, Lang F, Siebe C, Smalla K, Grohnann E (2015) Effects of 100 years wastewater irrigation on resistance genes class 1 integrons and Incp-1 plasmid in Mexican soil. Front Microbiol 6:163

    Google Scholar 

  • Keera ST, El Sabagh SM, Taman AR (2018) Castor oil biodiesel production and optimization. Egypt J Pet. https://ac.els-cdn.com/S1110062117304105/1-s2.0-S1110062117304105-main.pdf?_tid=e84e8710-a3f9-4db8-9e3b-8f19a82ee01b&acdnat=1541675738_946d1d54d45634a8d6e10bde491013bb

  • Kundu P, Pramanik A, Dasgupta A, Mukherjee S, Mukherjee J (2014) Simultaneous heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification by chryseobacterium sp. R31 isolated from abattoir wastewater. BioMed Res Inter 2014:12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/436056

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalf and Eddy Inc. (2003) Wastewater engineering-treatment, disposal and reuse, 4th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Mireles A, Solı́s C, Andrade E, Lagunas-Solar M, Piña C, Flocchini RG (2004) Solis Heavy metal accumulation in plants and soil irrigated with wastewater from Mexico City. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect B Beam Interact Mater Atoms 219–220:187–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohamed MH, Mursy HM (2015) Improving quantity and quality of castor bean oil for biofuel growing under severe conditions in Egypt. Energy Procedia 68:117–121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nasr FA, Mikhaeil B (2015) Treatment of domestic wastewater using modified septic tank. Desalin Water Treat 56(8):2073–2081

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nasr FA, Doma HS, Nassar HF (2009) Treatment of domestic wastewater using an anaerobic baffled reactor followed by a duckweed pond for agricultural purposes. Environmentalist 29:270–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NCDEX (2017) Castor seed price live, as on 22 October 2017. https://www.ncdex.com/MarketData/LiveFuturesQuotes.aspx

  • Nour El-Din N (2016) Egypt’s food needs. Al-Ahram Weekly, issue 1321, 24–30 Nov 2016

  • Riera O, Swinnen J (2016) Household level spillover effects from biofuels: evidence from castor in Ethiopia. Food Policy 59:55–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma MK, Kazmi AA (2016) Performance evaluation of a single household anaerobic packaged system for onsite domestic wastewater treatment. Desalin Water Treat 57(20):9216–9225

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Siebe C (1995) Heavy metal availability to plants in soils irrigated with wastewater from Mexico City. Water Sci Technol 32(12):29–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suriharn B, Sanitchon J, Songsri P, Kesmala T (2011) Effects of pruning levels and fertilizer rates on yield of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.). Asian J Plant Sci 10:52–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Maltitz G, Gasparatos A, Fabricius C (2014) The rise, fall and potential resilience benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa. Sustainability 2014(6):3615–3643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang K (1994) Integrated anaerobic and aerobic treatment of sewage. Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

  • Watanabe T (2003) Operation, maintenance and examination of johkasou system. In: 3rd World water forum—proceedings of Johkassou Session, Kyoto, Japan, JECES

  • Weiss EA (2005) Castor in oilseed crops, 2nd edn. Blackwell Scientific Ltd, Oxford, pp 13–52

    Google Scholar 

  • World Water Development Report (2014) Volume 1 (water and energy) and volume 2 (facing the challenges)

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by National Research Centre (NRC) within the framework of the NRC Scientific Research Plan 10/2013-2016: Project Number 10080304. The authors of this research work would like to acknowledge the NRC for funding this work. Great thanks have to be extended for the vice president of the NRC for research affair.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Pollution Research Department, National Research Centre, 33 EL Bohouth St., P.O. Box 12622, Cairo, Egypt

    F. A. Nasr, S. A. El-Shafai, A. S. Abdelfadil, H. S. Ibrahim & B. A. Hemdan

Authors
  1. F. A. Nasr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. A. El-Shafai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. S. Abdelfadil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H. S. Ibrahim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. B. A. Hemdan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. A. El-Shafai.

Additional information

Editorial responsibility: M. Abbaspour.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nasr, F.A., El-Shafai, S.A., Abdelfadil, A.S. et al. Potential use of treated domestic sewage for cultivation of biofuel crops in Egypt. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 16, 7433–7442 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-2101-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-2101-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation