The increasing generation of sewage water due to rapid urbanization and industrialization poses serious environmental and public health challenges. Conventional disinfection methods such as chlorination and ozonation suffer from limitations including toxic by-products and high operational costs. The present study explores an eco-friendly approach for sewage water disinfection using silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized via a green route using neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf extract. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV–Visible spectroscopy, showing a characteristic surface plasmon resonance peak around 420 nm, confirming nanoparticle formation. Sewage samples were treated with varying concentrations of AgNPs and analyzed for physicochemical parameters including pH, conductivity, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and ionic content. A significant reduction in BOD, COD, conductivity, and microbial load was observed. Maximum disinfection efficiency of approximately 99% was achieved at higher nanoparticle doses. The study demonstrates that neem-mediated AgNPs offer a cost-effective, sustainable, and highly efficient alternative for sewage water treatment.
Sharma et al. (Wed,) studied this question.