Constructed Wetlands for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

16Treatment of Wastewater from Tanneries and the Textile Industry using Constructed Wetland Systems

Christos S. Akratos⁴, A.G. Tekerlekopoulou¹ and Dimitrios V. Vayenas^2,3

¹Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, Agrinio, Greece

²Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

³Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes (FORTH/ ICE-HT), Platani, Patras, Greece

⁴Department of Civil Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece

16.1 Introduction

The production and use of chemical compounds has increased tremendously worldwide and many of these compounds are biologically non-degradable. Effluents discharged from industrial and agricultural activities are high in volume and contain high concentrations of heavy metals and organic compounds. However, wastewaters are not treated properly and this negatively affects water and soil quality [1, 2]. Therefore, the major concern is to treat these wastewaters before they are discharged into the environment.

Wastewater is categorized and defined according to its sources of origin. Wastewaters discharged principally from residential sources and generated by such activities as food preparation, laundry, cleaning and personal hygiene, are termed as “domestic wastewater”. Industrial/commercial wastewaters originate and are released from manufacturing processing industries and commercial activities such as printing, textile, steel, food and ...