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Bathroom Greywater Characterization and Potential Treatments for Reuse

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Abstract

With the emerging crisis of water, greywaters represent a significant resource of water if considering recycling for uses not requiring a drinking water quality. Samples of greywaters were taken from a few households. Their characterization led to results similar to those in literature. However, they showed a lack of phosphorus in C/N/P ratio. Nevertheless, it was shown that, in our study, median was more appropriate than mean. The potential treatment steps studied during this work were sand bed filtration, adsorption onto granular activated carbon (GAC), and sanitation by chlorine. The sand bed which was supplied with sequential feedings led to a very good removal of total suspended solids (TSS; and consequently of turbidity) as well as to a 30% COD decrease. However, the organic matter withdrawal was more efficient by adsorption onto GAC. The chlorination of greywaters was efficient to decrease the microbial population. Therefore, following the reclaimed water quality which would be required treatment might imply all steps or just one or two. This kind of low-cost device could thus be implemented for reuse such as irrigation, agricultural need, or urban use.

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Acknowledgment

This research has been partially realized within the framework of CYCLEAUX program (France), which is a program approved by the Competitiveness cluster EMC2, Direction Générale des Entreprises (DGE) and Région Bretagne.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes, CNRS, UMR 6226, Université Européenne de Bretagne, Avenue du Général Leclerc, CS 50837, 35708, Rennes Cedex 7, France

    Katell Chaillou & Dominique Wolbert

  2. Ecole des Mines de Nantes, GEPEA UMR CNRS 6144, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, BP 20722, 44307, Nantes cedex 03, France

    Claire Gérente & Yves Andrès

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  1. Katell Chaillou
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  2. Claire Gérente
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  3. Yves Andrès
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  4. Dominique Wolbert
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Correspondence to Katell Chaillou.

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Chaillou, K., Gérente, C., Andrès, Y. et al. Bathroom Greywater Characterization and Potential Treatments for Reuse. Water Air Soil Pollut 215, 31–42 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0454-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0454-5

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