Abstract

                                Paperboard mills are abundant user of water resource and there by produce large amount of wastewater from the process of paper manufacturing. The wastewater is rich in organic matter and nutrients which could pollute the water bodies and it can also affect the crops when releasing it for irrigation. Here an attempt was made to treat and polish the paperboard mill effluent by using vetiver in hydroponics setup. The vetiver based treatment studies on quality parameters of wastewater revealed that the total nitrogen, total phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, carbonate, bicarbonate and chloride were reduced significantly. Among the treatments, a significant reduction of total nitrogen (59.24 %), total phosphorus (47.78 %), potassium (54.64 %), sodium (30.04 %), calcium (26.27 %), magnesium (40.12 %), carbonate (33.5 %), bicarbonate (12.88 %) and chloride (23.36 %) were recorded in treated effluent + aeration + vetiver system (T6). The lead and cadmium content in the wastewater were decreased significantly by 65.63 % and 64.29 % respectively in T6 (Treated effluent + Aeration + Vetiver system). The growth parameters viz., number of leaves and dry matter production were favourably influenced by the paperboard mill wastewater. The incremental growth performance of vetiver was recorded in treated effluent which was aerated. The higher proline activity was noticed in vetiver shoot grown in untreated effluent, whereas, the higher electrolyte leakage rate of vetiver shoot and root was recorded in treated effluent + aeration + vetiver system.

Key words : Vetiver system, Paperboard mill, Hydroponics, Treated effluent, Aeration, Lead and Cadmium.