3.1 Introduction
One of the most important resources on planet Earth is water. It comprises 71% of
the Earth’s surface and is important for existence of all known forms of life.
However, only 2.5% of it is available as fresh water (Rajasulochana and Preethy
2016). The quality of natural water bodies is deteriorated by the wastewater
discharged during industrial processing and urbanization (Marshall et al. 2007).
Because of the poor treatment facilities, the wastewater generation and its treatment
has become a major problem in the developing nations (Singh et al. 2015; Sinha et al.
2010a, b, c). Numerous technologies for the treatment of wastewater have been
utilized, e.g., septic tanks, oxygen-consuming organic treatment units, fixed activated sludge treatments, constructed wetlands, soil infiltration trenches, vegetationbased wastewater treatment, and bioremediation through plants and others. Apart
from these technologies, vermifiltration have been reported to be an appropriate
technique for fairly efficient remedy for wastewater treatment (Choudhary and
Medok 2017; Jatin 2018).
Vermifiltration also known as “lumbri-filtration” is a liquid-state vermi-change
procedure through which domestic and industrial wastewater can be treated (Samal
et al. 2017a, b). In other words, vermifiltration is the involvement of earthworms in
filtration system with proper bedding materials to breakdown organic contaminants
(Tomar and Suthar 2011; Arora et al. 2016). It was first recommended by Prof. Jose
Toha at the University of Chile in 1992 and suggested to be an efficient alternative
technology as it is a nearly odorless procedure producing a stable, purified, detoxified, and profoundly nutritive effluent (Wang et al. 2010a, b; Xing et al. 2010).
Vermifiltration has a high effectiveness of removing contaminants from wastewater
(Singh et al. 2017). It has been reported to be an efficient technology for diminishing
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), as well as
suspended solids. Bobade and Ansari (2016) reported 5 days BOD (BOD 5 ) reduction by over 90%, COD by 80–90%, total dissolved solids (TDS) by 90–92%, and
the total suspended solids (TSS) by 90–95%. Table 3.1 depicts the potential of
vermifiltration in treatment of various types of wastewater.
In this chapter, we present a systematic scientific literature and review the data
with following objectives: (a) to study the prospects of vermifiltration technology in
wastewater remediation and their design; (b) to review the treatment efficiency of
different types of wastewater through vermifiltration; (c) to utilization of the treated
wastewater for further applications; (d) to assess the effectiveness of plants in
vermifiltration technology. The limitation and future perspectives have also been
discussed.
36
A. B. Chowdhary et al.
One of the most important resources on planet Earth is water. It comprises 71% of
the Earth’s surface and is important for existence of all known forms of life.
However, only 2.5% of it is available as fresh water (Rajasulochana and Preethy
2016). The quality of natural water bodies is deteriorated by the wastewater
discharged during industrial processing and urbanization (Marshall et al. 2007).
Because of the poor treatment facilities, the wastewater generation and its treatment
has become a major problem in the developing nations (Singh et al. 2015; Sinha et al.
2010a, b, c). Numerous technologies for the treatment of wastewater have been
utilized, e.g., septic tanks, oxygen-consuming organic treatment units, fixed activated sludge treatments, constructed wetlands, soil infiltration trenches, vegetationbased wastewater treatment, and bioremediation through plants and others. Apart
from these technologies, vermifiltration have been reported to be an appropriate
technique for fairly efficient remedy for wastewater treatment (Choudhary and
Medok 2017; Jatin 2018).
Vermifiltration also known as “lumbri-filtration” is a liquid-state vermi-change
procedure through which domestic and industrial wastewater can be treated (Samal
et al. 2017a, b). In other words, vermifiltration is the involvement of earthworms in
filtration system with proper bedding materials to breakdown organic contaminants
(Tomar and Suthar 2011; Arora et al. 2016). It was first recommended by Prof. Jose
Toha at the University of Chile in 1992 and suggested to be an efficient alternative
technology as it is a nearly odorless procedure producing a stable, purified, detoxified, and profoundly nutritive effluent (Wang et al. 2010a, b; Xing et al. 2010).
Vermifiltration has a high effectiveness of removing contaminants from wastewater
(Singh et al. 2017). It has been reported to be an efficient technology for diminishing
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), as well as
suspended solids. Bobade and Ansari (2016) reported 5 days BOD (BOD 5 ) reduction by over 90%, COD by 80–90%, total dissolved solids (TDS) by 90–92%, and
the total suspended solids (TSS) by 90–95%. Table 3.1 depicts the potential of
vermifiltration in treatment of various types of wastewater.
In this chapter, we present a systematic scientific literature and review the data
with following objectives: (a) to study the prospects of vermifiltration technology in
wastewater remediation and their design; (b) to review the treatment efficiency of
different types of wastewater through vermifiltration; (c) to utilization of the treated
wastewater for further applications; (d) to assess the effectiveness of plants in
vermifiltration technology. The limitation and future perspectives have also been
discussed.
36
A. B. Chowdhary et al.