Vol. 1, Issue 10, Part C (2015)

Abstract
A comparison of chemical versus biological package grey water treatment systems was undertaken using a new laboratory based protocol that included a synthetic grey water formulation that mimics average bathroom and laundry grey water in Australia. The results for chemical, nutrient and metals removal showed that the treatment systems behaved very differently under the test conditions. The chemical system was able to remove most of the components of grey water that could be detrimental to the environment and produced high quality product water. The biological system was only able to remove some of the components of the grey water, and did not produce the same quality of product water. However, the product water quality was found to improve continually over the duration of testing. It was concluded that for the current composition of Indian grey water the chemical based technology produced the highest quality product but that other environmental costs, such as chemical use and energy also need to be assessed. If grey water compositions change with the use of more biodegradable, low environmental impact personal care and cleaning products, biological treatment systems may be better suited to treating grey water in the future.