The DOI matches its Crossref record; 34 of the 34 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
On-site domestic wastewater treatment system using shredded waste plastic bottles as biofilter media: Pilot-scale study on effluent standards in Bhutan
Abstract
In this study, a 1000 L/d capacity one-off on-site wastewater treatment system was operated for over a year as a pilot alternative to the conventional on-site treatment as currently used in urban Bhutan. An up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) was used for blackwater treatment (to replace "septic tank followed by an anaerobic biofilter (ABF) (to replace soak pits) for the treatment of a mixture of greywater and UASB effluent. Shredded waste plastic bottles were used as the novel biofilter media in the ABF. During a yearlong operation, the pilot system produced a final treated effluent from ABF with average BOD 5 28 mg/L, COD 38 mg/L, TSS 85 mg/L and 5 log units of Escherichia coli. These effluents met three out of four of the national effluent discharge limits of Bhutan, but unsuccessful to meet the Escherichia coli standard over a yearlong operation. Further, process optimisation may enable more significant Escherichia coli removal. An economic analysis indicates that the total unit cost (capital and operating expenditures) of this alternative wastewater treatment system for more than 50 users range between USD 0.27-0.37/person/month comparable to USD 0.29-0.42/person/month for the current predominant on-site system, i.e., "septic tanks". This pilot study, therefore, indicates that this wastewater treatment system using shredded waste plastic biofilter media has high potential to replace the current conventional treatment, i.e., "septic tanks", which are often overloaded with greywater and discharging effluents which does not meet the national standards.
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“A pilot study by Dorji et al. [58] found that shredded waste plastic, used as anerobic biofilter media in a wastewater treatment system, could serve as an effective alternative to traditional septic tanks, which often struggle with greywater overload and fail to meet regulatory effluent standards.”
From Transforming Plastic Waste into Value: A Review of Management Strategies and Innovative Applications in Sustainable Construction (2025) · cites this paper as [58]
Citations
Cites
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
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Haba, B., Djellali, S., Abdelouahed, Y., Boudjelida, S., Faleschini, F., & Carraro, M. (2025) · Polymers · doi:10.3390/polym17070881 · Cited by 68
Metadata
- Authors
- Dorji, U., Dorji, P., Shon, H., Badeti, U., Dorji, C., Wangmo, C., Tijing, L., Kandasamy, J., Vigneswaran, S., Chanan, A., & Phuntsho, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- College of Science and Technology (BT)
- Corresponding author
- Phuntsho, Sherub
- ORCID
- Venue
- Chemosphere
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-01
- Volume
- 286
- Issue
- Pt 2
- Pages
- 131729
- ISSN
- 0045-6535 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3192212010
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 2.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Chemosphere (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation (MB0167Y16)
- University of Technology Sydney
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Production
- Keywords
- on-site wastewater treatment, domestic wastewater, biofilter media, anaerobic biofilter, upflow anaerobic sludge blanket, blackwater treatment, greywater, Escherichia coli removal, wastewater discharge standards, economic analysis, Bhutan
- MeSH terms
- Anaerobiosis, Bhutan, Humans, Pilot Projects, Plastics, Sewage, Waste Disposal, Fluid, Water Purification, Bioreactors, Wastewater
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Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
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- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: On-site domestic wastewater treatment system using shredded waste plastic bottles as biofilter media: Pilot-scale study on effluent standards in Bhutan. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131729
- The paper
- Dorji, U., Dorji, P., Shon, H., Badeti, U., Dorji, C., Wangmo, C., Tijing, L., Kandasamy, J., Vigneswaran, S., Chanan, A., & Phuntsho, S. (2022). On-site domestic wastewater treatment system using shredded waste plastic bottles as biofilter media: Pilot-scale study on effluent standards in Bhutan. Chemosphere. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131729
