Page 210 - AJWEP-v22i2

Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution. Vol. 22, No. 2 (2025), pp. 204-215.
doi: 10.36922/AJWEP025080051

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Wastewater treatment using recycled automobile tires

Liudmyla Melnik , Olha Rybalova * , Olena Bryhada , Oleksii Ilinskyi ,
1
2
2
2
Anton Matsak * , and Bohdan Tsymbal 2
2
1 Laboratory of Urban and Production Wastewater, Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute of Ecological Problems, Kharkiv,
Ukraine
2 Department of Occupational Hazard and Environmental Safety, Faculty of Public Safety and Management, National
University of Civil Defence of Ukraine, Cherkasy, Ukraine
*Corresponding authors: Olha Rybalova (olgarybalova@ukr.net); Anton Matsak (antonmatsak1984@gmail.com)

Received: February 21, 2025; 1st revised: March 14, 2025; 2nd revised: April 4, 2025;
3rd revised: April 13, 2025; Accepted: April 14, 2025; Published online: April 24, 2025

Abstract: This study explores a promising phytoremediation method for wastewater treatment using various
filtering material types, including used automobile tires and construction waste. Developing an affordable, eco-
friendly solution to minimize the release of untreated wastewater into natural water sources by utilizing industrial
byproducts and waste materials is a critical challenge. This research focuses on the scientific understanding of
implementing phytoremediation facilities that utilize construction debris and discarded automobile tires as filtering
media for wastewater treatment. The proposed filter materials (waste tires and construction waste) demonstrated
the following treatment effectiveness: ammonium – 40%; nitrates, nitrites, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and
suspended solids – 70%; organic pollutants by COD and biological oxygen demand – 70% and 28.5%, respectively;
chlorides – 20%; sulfates – 23%; total iron – 99%; surfactants – 28%; and overall disinfection efficiency of nearly
99%. These results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed filtering media in enhancing wastewater treatment
through phytoremediation.

Keywords: Environmental hazard; Waste; Automobile tires; Utilization; Wastewater; Treatment facility;
Purification processes

1. Introduction units – there is an urgent issue of warehousing, storage,
transportation, and processing of tens of millions of car
One of the world’s key environmental problems is tires annually. 2
the issue of car tire recycling. With the development The storage of rubber waste is associated with the
of the automotive industry, the problem of recycling very long decomposition period of rubber under natural
used tires is constantly growing. As the number of conditions. Worn tires are practically not subjected to
cars increases, so does the number of tires that need natural degradation, and, as a result, require large space
to be recycled. More than 1.5 million tons of car tires for storage and disposal. In landfills, tires can accumulate
are used annually in the United States and more than methane and other gases; they are flammable, posing
2 million tons in the European Union (EU). Given the risks of emergencies, fires, and pollution. When one ton
1
sharp increase in the number of cars in Ukraine – 202 of tires is burned, about 270 kg of soot and 450 kg of
cars per 1,000 inhabitants, totaling about 10 million toxic substances are released into the atmosphere. Tire

Volume 22 Issue 2 (2025) 204 doi: 10.36922/AJWEP025080051