Artificial wetland planted with Limonium Perezzi, for the treatment of wastewater from tanning

Abstract

The wastewater from leather tanning contains different types of pollutants depending on the internal process that is carried out, in particular, the riparian and tanning stages provide the greatest contaminant load within the process, in terms of organic matter, grease and oils, chlorides, chromium, sulfides among other substances. This study analyzed the efficiency of a biological treatment system, consisting of artificial wetlands of horizontal subsurface flow, in order to evaluate the removal of salinity and organic load present in the water produced during the process of soaking leathers. Two prototypes were tested, one planted with Limonium perezzi and the other unplanted as a control parameter, the wetlands were operated for 32 days. The results show that the planted wetland removes 49.2% of the initial chloride present (44,414.8 mgCl-/L) in the water and 86.2% of the total organic carbon (755.9 mgC/L). It was demonstrated that artificial wetlands are still a viable and efficient alternative in terms of organic load removal, on the other hand, the selected plant showed a very good performance in the treatment of wastewater because of its high tolerance to high concentrations of salt dissolved in the water, reaching perspiration of sodium chloride crystals through the leaves and stem.