SpringerLink
Log in

Enhanced organics and nitrogen removal in batch-operated vertical flow constructed wetlands by combination of intermittent aeration and step feeding strategy

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Oxygen and carbon source supply are usually insufficient in subsurface flow constructed wetlands. Simultaneous removal of organic pollutants and nitrogen in five batch-operated vertical flow constructed wetlands under different operating conditions was investigated. Alternate aerobic and anaerobic regions were created well with intermittent aeration. Four-month experiments showed that the wetland-applied intermittent aeration combined with step feeding strategy (reactor E) greatly improved the removal of organics, ammonium nitrogen (NH4–N), and total nitrogen (TN) simultaneously, which were 97, 96, and 82 %, respectively. It was much better than non-aerated reactors A and B and outperformed intermittently aerated reactor D without step feeding. Continuous aeration (reactor C) significantly enhanced the organics removal and nitrification, but it limited the TN removal (29 %) seriously as a result of low denitrification level, and the high operation cost remained a question. The effect of plants was confirmed in this study, and the monitoring data showed that the plants could grow normally. Intermittent aeration as well as step feeding had no obvious influence on the growth of wetland plants in this study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akratos CS, Tsihrintzis VA (2007) Effect of temperature, HRT, vegetation and porous media on removal efficiency of pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands. Ecol Eng 29(2):173–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • APHA-AWWA-WPCF (2001) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodelier P, Libochant AJ, Blom C, Laanbroek H (1996) Dynamics of nitrification and denitrification in root-oxygenated sediments and adaptation of ammonia oxidizing bacteria to low-oxygen or anoxic habitats. Appl Environ Microbiol 62:4100–4107

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brisson J, Chazarenc F (2009) Maximizing pollutant removal in constructed wetlands: should we pay more attention to macrophyte species selection? Sci Total Environ 407(13):3923–3930

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burgoon PS, Reddy KR, DeBusk TA (1989) Domestic wastewater treatment using emergent plants cultured in gravel and plastic substrate. In: Hammer DA (ed) Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, pp 536–541

    Google Scholar 

  • Cui LH, Ouyang Y, Lou Q, Yang F, Chen Y, Zhu W, Luo S (2010) Removal of nutrients from wastewater with Canna indica L. under different vertical-flow constructed wetland conditions. Ecol Eng 36(8):1083–1088

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong C, Zhu W, Zhao YQ, Gao M (2011) Diurnal fluctuations in root oxygen release rate and dissolved oxygen budget in wetland mesocosm. Desalination 272(1–3):254–258

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hu YS, Zhao YQ, Zhao XH, Kumar JLG (2012) High rate nitrogen removal in an alum sludge-based intermittent aeration constructed wetland. Environ Sci Technol 46:4583–4590

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jia WL, Zhang J, Wu J, **e HJ, Zhang B (2010) Effect of intermittent operation on contaminant removal and plant growth in vertical flow constructed wetlands: a microcosm experiment. Desalination 262(1–3):202–208

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kayser K, Kunst S (2005) Processes in vertical-flow reed beds—nitrification, oxygen transfer and soil clogging. Water Sci Technol 51(9):177–184

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee Y, Oleszkiewicz JA (2003) Effects of predation and ORP conditions on the performance of nitrifiers in activated sludge systems. Water Res 37(17):4202–4210

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lin YF, **g SR, Wang TW, Lee DY (2002) Effects of macrophytes and external carbon sources on nitrate removal from groundwater in constructed wetlands. Environ Pollut 119(3):413–420

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maltais-Landry G, Maranger R, Brisson J (2009a) Effect of artificial aeration and macrophyte species on nitrogen cycling and gas flux in constructed wetlands. Ecol Eng 35(2):221–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maltais-Landry G, Maranger R, Brisson J, Chazarenc F (2009b) Nitrogen transformations and retention in planted and artificially aerated constructed wetlands. Water Res 43(2):535–545

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nikolausz M, Kappelmeyer U, Székely A, Rusznyák A, Márialigeti K, Kästner M (2008) Diurnal redox fluctuation and microbial activity in the rhizosphere of wetland plants. Eur J Soil Biol 44(3):324–333

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ong SA, Uchiyama K, Inadama D, Ishida Y, Yamagiwa K (2010) Performance evaluation of laboratory scale up-flow constructed wetlands with different designs and emergent plants. Bioresour Technol 101(19):7239–7244

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ouellet-Plamondon C, Chazarenc F, Comeau Y, Brisson J (2006) Artificial aeration to increase pollutant removal efficiency of constructed wetlands in cold climate. Ecol Eng 27(3):258–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saeed T, Sun GZ (2011) Enhanced denitrification and organics removal in hybrid wetland columns: comparative experiments. Bioresour Technol 102(2):967–974

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stefanakis AI, Akratos CS, Tsihrintzis VA (2011) Effect of wastewater step-feeding on removal efficiency of pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands. Ecol Eng 37(3):431–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundaravadivel M, Vigneswaran S (2001) Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. Crit Rev Env Sci Technol 31(4):351–409

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tanner CC, Kadlec RH (2003) Oxygen flux implications of observed nitrogen removal rates in subsurface-flow treatment wetlands. Water Sci Technol 48(5):191–198

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tanner CC, Kadlec RH, Gibbs MM, Sukias JPS, Nguyen ML (2002) Nitrogen processing gradients in subsurface-flow treatment wetlands-influence of wastewater characteristics. Ecol Eng 18(4):499–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tee HC, Lim PE, Seng CE, Nawi MAM (2011) Newly developed baffled subsurface-flow constructed wetland for the enhancement of nitrogen removal. Bioresour Technol 104:235–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vymazal J (2007) Removal of nutrients in various types of constructed wetlands. Sci Total Environ 380(1–3):48–65

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vymazal J (2009) The use constructed wetlands with horizontal sub-surface flow for various types of wastewater. Ecol Eng 35(1):1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vymazal J, Kröpfelová L (2009) Removal of organics in constructed wetlands with horizontal sub-surface flow: a review of the field experience. Sci Total Environt 407(13):3911–3922

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Sun T, Li H, Li Y, Pan J (2010) Nitrogen removal enhanced by shunt distributing wastewater in a subsurface wastewater infiltration system. Ecol Eng 36(10):1433–1438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Zhang J, Jia WL, **e H, Gu RR, Li C, Gao BY (2009) Impact of COD/N ratio on nitrous oxide emission from microcosm wetlands and their performance in removing nitrogen from wastewater. Bioresour Technol 100(12):2910–2917

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • **ong J, Guo G, Mahmood Q, Yue M (2011) Nitrogen removal from secondary effluent by using integrated constructed wetland system. Ecol Eng 37(4):659–662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yalcuk A, Ugurlu A (2009) Comparison of horizontal and vertical constructed wetland systems for landfill leachate treatment. Bioresour Technol 100(9):2521–2526

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang L, Chang HT, Huang MNL (2001) Nutrient removal in gravel- and soil-based wetland microcosms with and without vegetation. Ecol Eng 18(1):91–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao YJ, Liu B, Zhang WG, Ouyang Y, An SQ (2010) Performance of pilot-scale vertical-flow constructed wetlands in responding to variation in influent C/N ratios of simulated urban sewage. Bioresour Technol 101(6):1693–1700

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao YJ, Yan C, Li YL, Li JH, Yang M, Nie E, Zheng Z, Luo XZ (2012) Effect of C/N ratios on the performance of earthworm eco-filter for treatment of synthetics domestic sewage. Environ Sci Pollut Res. doi:10.1007/s11356-012-0871-7

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Independent Innovation Foundation of Shandong University (no. 2012JC029), Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Shandong Province (no. JQ201216), the National Water Special Project (no. 2012ZX07203-004), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 50908133).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, **an, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    **lin Fan, Shuang Liang, Bo Zhang & Jian Zhang

Authors
  1. **lin Fan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shuang Liang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bo Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jian Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jian Zhang.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Hailong Wang

**lin Fan and Shuang Liang equally contributed.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fan, J., Liang, S., Zhang, B. et al. Enhanced organics and nitrogen removal in batch-operated vertical flow constructed wetlands by combination of intermittent aeration and step feeding strategy. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 2448–2455 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1130-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1130-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation