Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

S. A. Abbasi ¹, G. Ponni ¹, S. M. Taussef ²

Affiliations
1 Centre for Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Chinakalapet Puducherry-605 014, IN
2 Environmental Research Institute, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248 007, IN

Abstract

The Indian pennywort Hydrocotyle asiatica (synonym Centella asiatica) is a commonly occurring plant which is native to Asian wetlands. It is a keystone medicine in the Ayurvedic system where it is referred as brahmi. Yet it grows much more in nature than can be put to use and is often found where it is unwelcome such as in drainage channels and paddy fields, and is considered a weed. In this paper we report studies which show that H. asiatica can very efficiently treat sewage of varying strength when used as the main bioagent in SHEFROL^® bioreactors. It affects primary and secondary treatment in terms of suspended solids, BOD and COD removal as also significant tertiary treatment vis-a-vis nitrogen and phosphorus removal, in a single process unit. This raises the prospect that monumental volumes of sewage that are discharged untreated in most developing counties could be phytoremedied with H. asiatica because the SHEFROL^® technology is itself very inexpensive and clean-green, yet simple and efficient.

Keywords

Hydrocotyle asiatica, Sewage Treatment, Shefrol^® System, Bioreactor.

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