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M. S. Miswan et al.
water bodies may lead to eutrophication problems due to the high levels of nitrogen
and phosphorus (Yaakob et al. 2018). It was estimated that 90% of all wastewater in
developing countries is discharged untreated directly into rivers, lakes or the oceans
(Naidoo and Olaniran 2014). Therefore, a treatment for fresh market wastewater
shall be taken to prevent high organic loading into the water bodies system.
Many nutrient removal technologies have been applied for fresh market wastewater treatment such as ion exchange process, completely autotrophic nitrogen removal
over nitrite (CANON) process and simultaneous nitrification, anammox and denitrification (SNAD) (Rahmani and Mahvi 2006). These approaches are mostly performed
for nutrient removal. CANON, for example, has been used to remove ammonium
nitrogen and total nitrogen. Based on the studies in the literature, the method can
remove up to 93% of ammonium nitrogen and 81% of total nitrogen in wastewater. However, this method requires a long retention time to prevent washout of the
suspended nitrifiers from the reactor. Thus, the biological treatment of wastewater
using plant need to be highlighted in order to overcome problems related to conventional treatment of nutrient removal technologies in fresh market wastewater. This
is due to the capability of the biological treatment method which is considered as
environmentally friendly and cheap in terms of maintenance and operating cost. It
is also known to be effective for the removal of nutrients and heavy metals for the
prevention of environmental pollution (Nandeshwar and Satpute 2014; Al-Gheethi
et al. 2015). This chapter aims to review the possible application of aquaponics system to treat fresh market wastewater with the intention to highlight the mechanism
of phytoremediation occurs in aquaponics system.
8.2 Interpretation of Fresh Market Wastewater
Fresh market wastewater is a combination of one or more domestic effluents consisting of water from commercial establishments including industrial effluents either as
dissolved or suspended matter. The sources of wastewater include washing water
(floors cleaning, industrial processing waters, urban runoff). Besides, the main
wastewater from fresh market distributed by the blood (including fish gut and others innard organs) from edible animals contain high nutrient and direct discharge
to water bodies. The composition of wastewater varies widely. The fresh market
wastes water that contains a number of contaminants and pollutants, which include
nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium); pathogenic microorganisms (viruses,
bacteria and protozoa); heavy metals (cadmium, lead, mercury and zinc); organic
pollutants (pesticide and herbicide); biodegradable organics (Biochemical Oxygen
Demand, BOD and Chemical Oxygen Demand, COD), and micro-pollutants such
as medicines and cleaning agents (Al-Gheethi et al. 2016; Jais et al. 2017). Hence,
environmental conditions arising from inefficient wastewater management can pose
a major threat to human health, wellbeing and economic activity (Noman et al. 2019).
M. S. Miswan et al.
water bodies may lead to eutrophication problems due to the high levels of nitrogen
and phosphorus (Yaakob et al. 2018). It was estimated that 90% of all wastewater in
developing countries is discharged untreated directly into rivers, lakes or the oceans
(Naidoo and Olaniran 2014). Therefore, a treatment for fresh market wastewater
shall be taken to prevent high organic loading into the water bodies system.
Many nutrient removal technologies have been applied for fresh market wastewater treatment such as ion exchange process, completely autotrophic nitrogen removal
over nitrite (CANON) process and simultaneous nitrification, anammox and denitrification (SNAD) (Rahmani and Mahvi 2006). These approaches are mostly performed
for nutrient removal. CANON, for example, has been used to remove ammonium
nitrogen and total nitrogen. Based on the studies in the literature, the method can
remove up to 93% of ammonium nitrogen and 81% of total nitrogen in wastewater. However, this method requires a long retention time to prevent washout of the
suspended nitrifiers from the reactor. Thus, the biological treatment of wastewater
using plant need to be highlighted in order to overcome problems related to conventional treatment of nutrient removal technologies in fresh market wastewater. This
is due to the capability of the biological treatment method which is considered as
environmentally friendly and cheap in terms of maintenance and operating cost. It
is also known to be effective for the removal of nutrients and heavy metals for the
prevention of environmental pollution (Nandeshwar and Satpute 2014; Al-Gheethi
et al. 2015). This chapter aims to review the possible application of aquaponics system to treat fresh market wastewater with the intention to highlight the mechanism
of phytoremediation occurs in aquaponics system.
8.2 Interpretation of Fresh Market Wastewater
Fresh market wastewater is a combination of one or more domestic effluents consisting of water from commercial establishments including industrial effluents either as
dissolved or suspended matter. The sources of wastewater include washing water
(floors cleaning, industrial processing waters, urban runoff). Besides, the main
wastewater from fresh market distributed by the blood (including fish gut and others innard organs) from edible animals contain high nutrient and direct discharge
to water bodies. The composition of wastewater varies widely. The fresh market
wastes water that contains a number of contaminants and pollutants, which include
nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium); pathogenic microorganisms (viruses,
bacteria and protozoa); heavy metals (cadmium, lead, mercury and zinc); organic
pollutants (pesticide and herbicide); biodegradable organics (Biochemical Oxygen
Demand, BOD and Chemical Oxygen Demand, COD), and micro-pollutants such
as medicines and cleaning agents (Al-Gheethi et al. 2016; Jais et al. 2017). Hence,
environmental conditions arising from inefficient wastewater management can pose
a major threat to human health, wellbeing and economic activity (Noman et al. 2019).