This document discusses vermifiltration, a low-cost wastewater treatment technique using earthworms. It describes how earthworms and their gut microbes remove 90% or more of BOD, COD, TDS and TSS from wastewater through ingestion and biodegradation. The document outlines the vermifiltration process, comparing it to a control biofilter bed without worms. It also lists several advantages of vermifiltration over conventional wastewater treatment, such as low energy needs, value-added vermicompost byproduct, and no foul odors.

1. UTTARANCHAL
UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF APPLIED AND
LIFE SCIENCES
VERMIFILTRATION
Ravindra Kr. Kachhap Oraon
B.Sc (H) Biotechnology 5th sem.
180500028

2. VERMIFILTRATION
• Many developing countries or Nations cannot
afford the waste water treatment
• As they are costly need more space to construct
the treatment plant and in addition use of
chemicals for the treatment.

3. VERMIFILTRATION
• Vermifiltration is a new Technique approach
towards wastewater treatment to save cost
,energy and eliminate chemical usage.
• Vermifiltration needs no external energy, except
pumping.
• It’s a known biotechnological aerobic process of
treatment of waste water which is carried out
with the use of epigenic earthworms.

4. VERMIFILTRATION
• Earthworms body work as a 'biofilter' and
they have been found to remove the 5 days
BOD by 90%,COD by 80-90%,TDS by 90-
92% and TSS by 90-95% from wastewater by
the general mechanism of 'ingestion' and
biodegradation of organic wastes,heavy
metals and solids from wastewater and also by
absorbation through body walls.

5. Earthworm
The earthworms have around 600 million years of
experience in waste and environmental
management.
Charles Darwin called them as the “unheralded soldiers of
mankind”, and the Greek philosopher Aristotle called them as
the “intestine of earth”, meaning digesting a widevariety of
organic materials including the waste organics, from earth. [7, 8]
Earthworms are long, cylindrical, narrow,
bilaterally symmetrical, segmented animals
without
bones.
The body is dark brown, glistening, and covered by all of
delicate cuticle. They weigh
around 1,400–1,500 mg after 8–10 weeks.

6. Earthworm
On an average, 2,000 adult worms weigh 1 kg and one
million worms weigh approximately 1 ton.
Usually the life span of an earthworm is practically 3–7 years
depending upon the type of species and the ecological situation.
Earthworms nourish millions of nitrogen-fixing
and decomposer microbes in their gut. They
have chemoreceptors which help in search of
food.
The distribution of earthworms in soil depends on factors
like availability of organic matter, soil moisture and pH of
the soil. They develop in different habitats especially those
which are dark and moist.

7. • As worms breathe through their skin significant ventilation of air in soil medium is necessary.
• They can tolerate a temperature range between 5 and 29˚C. A temperature of 20–25˚C and moisture of 60–
75% are optimum for good worm function.
• Earthworms are bisexual animals and multiply literally rapidly.
• The total life cycle of the worms is closely around 220 days.
• They produce 300–400 young ones within this life period.
• Earthworms are very sensitive to light, touch, and dryness.
• Low temperature is not a big problem for them as the high temperature.
• Their movement is significantly slowed down in winter, but heat can kill them instantly

11. Hydraulic retention time (HRT) is a measure of the average length of time that a compound (in this case
wastewater) remains in a treatment tank or unit
The volume of the aeration tank divided by the influent flowrate is τ (tau), the hyraulic retention time.
Hydraulic loading rate means the rate at which wastes or wastewaters are discharged to a land
disposal or land treatment system, expressed in volume per unit area per unit time or depth of water
per unit area per unit.
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) represents the amount of oxygen consumed by
bacteria and other microorganisms while they decompose organic matter under aerobic
(oxygen is present) conditions at a specified temperature.

12. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) is a measure of water and wastewater quality.
The COD test is often used to monitor water treatment plant efficiency.
FAS – Ferrous Ammonium Sulfate

13. Mechanism of action of earthworms in Vermifiltration of wastewater
Microbes present in the gut of earthworms and enzymes present in secreted coelomic fluid stimulate
biodegradation process. The sand and pebble layers of the vermifilter unit also provide a wonderful site for the
growth of aerobic microbes.
• The pollutants in wastewater are adsorbed and stabilized by the earthworms and the aerobic microbes
excreted from the gut of earthworms.
• The vermicast offers excellent ‘hydraulic conductivity’ in vermifilter layers because of being porous-like sand for
cleaning sewage.
• Coelomic fluid also degrades harmful and ineffective microbes from wastewater thus preventing choking of
the medium. (Sinha et al. 2012)

15. Materials: Vermicomposting tanks can be made from local materials (bricks or concrete). Vermifilters
require enclosed reactors made from durable materials that eliminate vermin entry, usually plastic or
concrete. Filter material for the vermifilter can be sawdust, straw, coir, bark mulch or peat. Worms are
required, and three species to date have been successfully used: Eisenia fetida, Eudrilus eugeniae and
Eisenia andrei. It is possible to find worms in the local environment, buy them from vermicomposting or
vermifilter businesses or import them. Prefabricated composting vessels of different sizes are available on
the market.

16. Methods
1. Wastewater Physicochemical Properties Analyzed
• The untreated sewage wastewater was fed to the vermifilter bed as well
as the control bio-filter bed and allowed to move through the bed.
• The treated sewage water was then collected at the bottom of the
vermifilter bed and was analyzed for pH, BOD5, COD, TDSS and
turbidity.
• The pH was measured by the Hanna Instrument which was allowed to
settle for 10 minutes before measurement. The BOD5 was determined
by the standard oxidation procedure after 5 days at 20◦C whilst the
COD and turbidity were also determined by a uv-vis
spectrophotometer according to procedures clearly explained in detail
by Sinha et al., [6] The TDSS was determined by filtration and the
amount of solids removed was determined by drying at 100°C.

17. 2. The Vermifiltration Experimental Procedure
• 5L of sewage wastewater was kept in calibrated
8L poly vinyl chloride (PVC) drum.
• The drum was kept on an elevated platform just
near the vermifilter bed.
• The PVC drum had a tap at the bottom to which
an irrigation system was attached.
• The irrigation system consisted of a 1.3 cm
polypropylene pipe with 2mm holes for trickling
water that allowed uniform the distribution of
wastewater on the soil surface of the vermifilter
bed.

18. • Wastewater from the drum flowed through the
irrigation pipe by gravity at a rate of
0.003m3/hr.
• The wastewater percolated down through
various layers in the vermifilter bed passing
through the soil layer inhabited by
earthworms, the sandy layer, the gravel, and at
the end was collected in a chamber at the
bottom of the vermifilter bed.
• The hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the
vermifilter bed was kept uniformly at 2 hours in
all experiments and each experimental run was
allowed to go through 2 cycles.
• All experiments for both the vermifilter and the
control bio-filter were replicated 3 times.

19. 3. The Control Bio-Filter Bed Experiment
• The control bio-filter bed, without earthworms was set as a comparison to evaluate the effect of earthworms as bio-
filters in wastewater treatment.
• The control bio-filter bed was an exact replica of the vermifiltration bed but had no earthworms added to it.
• The soil, sand particles and the gravels in the control bio-filter bed are reported to also contribute in the filtration and
cleaning of wastewater by adsorption of the impurities on their surface [2-4, 6].
• Soil, sand and gravel particles provide ideal sites for colonization by decomposer microbes which work to reduce BOD,
COD, TDSS and the turbidity from the wastewater [2-4, 5-6].
• When the wastewater passed through the beds, a layer of microbial film was produced around them and together they
constituted the geological and the microbial system of wastewater filtration [2-4, 6].
• Increase of the volume of wastewater passing through the soil filter also increases formation of biofilms of decomposer
microbes [2-4, 5-6].
• Hence it is critical to have a control bio-filter bed to determine the effect of earthworms

20. Uttranchal
University

21. Vermifiltration treatment is low energy dependent and has distinct
advantage over all the conventional biological wastewater treatment
systems- the Activated Sludge Process, Trickling Filters, and Rotating
Biological Contactors which are highly energy intensive, costly to install and
operate, and do not generate any income.
In the vermifilter process there is 100% capture of organic materials, the capital
and operating costs are less, and there is high value added end product
(vermicompost).
sludge is discharged in the vermifilter bed as excreta (vermicompost) which is
useful soil additive for agriculture and horticulture
ADVANTAGES OF VERMIFILTRATION
1
2
3

22. There is no foul odor as the earthworms arrest rotting and decay of all
putrescible matters in the wastewater and the sludge.
Large quantities of worm biomass will be available as food for the cattle, poultry, and
fish farming, after the first year of vermitreatment.
It can utilize waste organics that otherwise cannot be utilized by other
technologies. vii. Achieve greater utilization of waste materials that cannot be
achieved by other technologies.
ADVANTAGES OF VERMIFILTRATION
4
5
6

23. References
1] Sinha RK, Chandran V, Soni BK, Patel U, Ghosh A (2012) Earth-worms: nature’s chemical managers and detoxifying agents in the environment: an innovative study on treatment of toxic waste-
waters from the petroleum industry by vermifiltration technology. Environmentalist 32(4):445–452. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-012-9409-2
[2] R. K. Sinha, G. Bharambe and P. Bapat, “Removal of high BOD and COD loadings of primary liquid waste products from dairy industry by vermifiltration technology using earthworms”,
Indian Journal of Environmental Protection, 27 (6), pp. 486-501, 2007.
[3] R. K. Sinha, S. Agarwal, K. Chauhan, V. Chandran and B. K. Soni, “Vermiculture technology: Reviving the dreams of Sir Charles Darwin for Scientific Use of Earthworms in Sustainable
Development Programs,” Technology and Investment, 1, pp. 155-172, 2010.
[4] R. K. Sinha, K. Chauhan, D. Valan, V. Chandran, B. K. Soni and V. Patel, “Earthworms: Charles Darwin’s unheralded soldiers of mankind: Protective and Productive for Man and
Environment”, Journal of Environmental Protection, 1, pp. 251-260, 2010.
[5] S. D. Ghatnekar, M. F. Kavian, S. M. Sharma, S. S. Ghatnekar, G. S. Ghatnekar and A. V. Ghatnekar, “Application of vermi-filter-based effluent treatments from the gelatine industry”,
Dynamic Soil, Dynamic Plant, pp. 83-88, 2010.
[6] S. A. Azuar and M. H. Ibrahim, “Comparison of sand and oil palm fibre vermibeds in filtration of palm oil mill effluent (POME)”, UMT 11th International Annual Symposium on
Sustainability Science and Management, 09th-11th July 2012, Terengganu, Malaysia, pp. 14141419, 2012.
[7] Darwin F and Seward AC, “More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in series of hitherto unpublished letters.” John Murray, London, (1903), vol. 2, pp. 508. [4] Darwin F and Seward
AC, “More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in series of hitherto unpublished letters.” John Murray, London, (1903), vol. 2, pp. 508.
[8] Martin JP., “Darwin on earthworms: the formation of vegetable moulds.” Bookworm Publishing, ISBN (1976) 0-916302-06-7.
[9] Hand P., “Earthworm biotechnology.” In: Greenshields R (ed) Resources and application of biotechnology: the new wave. MacMillan Press Ltd, US (1988).