2026-04-14T03:49:54Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2117/4492772026-01-21T04:28:29Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950

Sequential treatment of domestic wastewater in rural zones applying aloe vera extract as coagulant (preliminar), E. crassipes in a horizontal biofilter (secondary), and activated carbon from soursop seeds (tertiary) Gómez, Franco Hernán Collivignarelli, Maria Cristina Bellazzi, Stefano Torres, Kelly Cristina Abbà, Alessandro Sorlini, Sabrina Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Física Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Degradació ambiental::Contaminació de l'aigua Domestic wastewater Eichhornia crassipes Nature-based solutions Horizontal flow biofilter Circular economy Natural coagulant Natural adsorbent The absence of domestic wastewater (DWW) treatment in impoverished rural communities of the global south remains a pressing challenge for both public health and environmental sustainability. This study presents a simplified and decentralized treatment chain at laboratory-scale designed under the principles of nature-based solutions (NBS) and the circular economy (CE), emphasizing the integration of the macrophyte Eichhornia crassipes (EC) and bioproducts derived from aloe vera waste (AVW) and soursop seed waste (SSW). The system comprises three sequential stages: (1) coagulation using AVW, which achieved up to 39.9% turbidity reduction; (2) a horizontal flow biofilter system (HFB) employing the aquatic macrophyte EC, which removed 97.9% of fecal coliforms, 82.4% of Escherichia coli, and 99.9% of heterotrophic bacteria; and (3) a tertiary treatment step employing adsorbent derived from SSW, which attained 99.7% methylene blue removal in preliminary tests and an average 97.5% turbidity reduction in DWW. The integrated configuration demonstrates a practical, effective, and replicable approach for decentralized domestic wastewater treatment, fostering local waste valorization, reducing reliance on commercial chemicals, and enhancing water quality in resource-limited rural areas, with potential for scaling to pilot applications in rural communities. Peer Reviewed Postprint (published version) 2025-11-24 Article Gomez, F. [et al.]. Sequential treatment of domestic wastewater in rural zones applying aloe vera extract as coagulant (preliminar), E. crassipes in a horizontal biofilter (secondary), and activated carbon from soursop seeds (tertiary). «Clean technologies (Basel)», 24 Novembre 2025, vol. 7, núm. 4, article 105. 2571-8797 https://hdl.handle.net/2117/449277 10.3390/cleantechnol7040105 eng https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/7/4/105 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access Attribution 4.0 International application/pdf Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)