Title: Ultrasonic impact on bacterial population in sewage sample

Authors: Kavindra Kumar Kesari, Jitendra Behari

Addresses: School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India. ' School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India

Abstract: Nine samples of sewage sludge from different paper mills of New Delhi were treated with ultrasonic waves of two different frequencies, viz., 35 kHz and 130 kHz for different time periods (5, 10, 20 and 30 min). Treated sewage sludge was then evaluated with different parameters, viz., Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Total Ammonia and Total Viable Count. Bacterial colonies were analysed after staining with Gram stain. Low-frequency ultrasonication was found to be very effective in decreasing the amount of bacterial population in sewage sludge. As the frequency and time period increases, the bacterial populations decrease. Gram-negative bacteria were found to survive in the samples even after treatment.

Keywords: ultrasound waves; sewage water; sonication; bacterial population; sewage sludge; paper mills; India; ultrasonication; wastewater treatment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2008.018245

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2008 Vol.2 No.3, pp.233 - 244

Published online: 13 May 2008 *

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