Technical and economical viability of a graywater recycling system employing an integrated preliminary settlement and filtration process

Abstract

The collection and reuse of graywater has become an important strategy for achieving the goal of sustainable development. In this work, an integrated preliminary settlement and filtration process was developed for treating shower water which was obtained from a college bathroom toilet. The system's pollutant removal efficiency was examined for three different filter media: manganese sand, quartz sand and ceramsite. The results showed that for ceramsite, the average removal of turbidity, CODcr, NH3-N, and anionic surfactant was 93.3%, 68.6%, 78.9, and 83.5% respectively. For manganese sand, the values were 84.6%, 61.5%, 57.8 and 59%, while for quartz, they were 88.9%, 47.9%, 39.5% and 51.9%. A cost–benefit analysis revealed that the payback period of graywater recycling systems ranges from 3.16–5.30 years and benefit–cost ratios are in the range of 1.23–1.67, depending on tank size. The proposed system provides a new strategy for enhancing water-use efficiency in buildings in a more decentralized way. HIGHLIGHTS An integrated preliminary settlement and filtration process was developed for shower water treatment.; Ceramsite filtering medium was found to be effective to filter graywater to meet the non-potable standard.; The graywater recycling system is economically viable when the potable water price is higher than 2.52 CNY/m3.;

Keywords

• cost benefits
• graywater reuse
• payback period
• removal efficiency