ABSTRACT
A fruit fly facility on the island of Oahu, Hawaii was investigated for its wastewater characteristics and treatment/disposal alternatives. Based on wastewater characteristics and bench-scale study, an on-site intermittently-aerated batch operated treatment was installed to treat the fruit fly wastewater. With F/M ratios maintained at the level of 0.2 g COD/g MLSS/day or below, a more than 90% removal of influent COD can be achieved. The system also achieved average total nitrogen, total phosphorus, BOD5, TSS removal efficiencies of 86%, 60%, 98%, and 92%, respectively. The overall system performance and cost analysis showed that this treatment system had very stable and excellent operational performance while physically it was very simple, economical, and land saving for an on-site small wastewater treatment system. This treatment system integrated with the existing irrigation system successfully provides the most effective wastewater treatment/reuse management solution among all alternatives currently available to the fruit fly facility.
