Use of an external organic carbon source in the  removal of nitrates in bio-sand filters (BSFs)

Mutsvangwa, Crispen; Matope, Evans

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/dwes-10-119-2017

Articles | Volume 10, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/dwes-10-119-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/dwes-10-119-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 2

Research article

|

16 Nov 2017

Research article |

| 16 Nov 2017

Use of an external organic carbon source in the removal of nitrates in bio-sand filters (BSFs)

Crispen Mutsvangwa and Evans Matope

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Final revised paper (published on 16 Nov 2017)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 18 Aug 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

RC1: 'Comment from Reviewer', Nor Amani Filzah Mohd Kamil, 19 Aug 2017
- AC1: 'Reviewer's comments', Crispen Mutsvangwa, 11 Sep 2017
RC2: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Aug 2017
- AC2: 'Response to Anonymous comments', Crispen Mutsvangwa, 11 Sep 2017
  - RC3: 'Re: Response to Reviewer 2', Anonymous Referee #2, 15 Sep 2017
RC4: 'Review Comments (dwes-2017-26)- From Stanslaus Mtavangu', Anonymous Referee #3, 28 Sep 2017
- AC3: 'Response to Anonymous Referee #3', Crispen Mutsvangwa, 03 Oct 2017

Short summary

Low-income countries lack the capacity to remove chemical contaminants like nitrates. Hence, an economical water filtration technology was explored, which is bio-sand filtration. In order to enhance the removal of nitrates through denitrification, a modified bio-sand filter with ethanol as an external carbon source at C / N ratios of 1.1 and 1.8 was investigated. The results of the research showed a removal rate of 53 % at a C / N ratio of 1.8.