The use of diatometes for different water and wastewater treatment

Abstract

Diatoms are living beings that have the ability to live in different aquatic and wastewater envi-ronments, with a shell and a special gel-like fat under this shell, and also can produce and refine oxygen. It is possible to use different kinds of diatoms to decontaminate the pollution in waste-water, dams, and lakes that provide drinking water; and to eliminate moss and intensive algae on sea coasts. This study uses these diatoms which are not harmful to water and human health, to eliminate/decontaminate pollution instead of various chemicals; and also investigates the changes in the aquatic ecosystem. The study examines particularly the decontamination of urban wastewater in Istanbul on a laboratory scale along with the possible cost and efficiency of decontamination of diatoms. However, the most significant part of the study is concerned with applications done for pol-luting algae and moss which are in the polluted lakes and rivers caused by household wastewater. The field of application is the Pınarbaşı Lake in Elbistan and the Ceyhan River that this lake feeds; we have added solutions that contain the right amount of diatoms for the mass of the lake on certain proportions, continuously for 4 d. We used natural light during the day and a number of lamps that give out 250 W of light at night. The special diatom mix is 1:2,000–1:5,000 ratio for urban wastewater and 1:10,000–1:50,000 dilution ratio for lake water. As a result of the decontamination application, we obtained 14 (94.2%) for suspended solid matter, 25 (93%) for chemical oxygen demand, 1.1 (97.6%) for N, and 0.3 (91.7%) for P. As a result, we have determined that this application can be successfully used in lakes and dams that provide water but with biological or algal contamination; however, even though the decontamination result for urban wastewater is good, the operating cost is relatively high compared to biological wastewater purification systems. © 2021 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.