scholarly journals Effectiveness of septage pre-treatment in vertical flow constructed wetlands

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 2544-2553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Karolinczak ◽  
Wojciech Dąbrowski

Abstract Septage is wastewater stored temporarily in cesspools. A periodic supply of its significant quantities to small municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) may cause many operational problems. In the frame of the research, it has been proposed to utilize vertical flow constructed wetlands for pre-treatment of septage prior to its input to the biological stage of a WWTP. The aim of the work was to assess the effectiveness of pre-treatment in relation to factors such as: seasonality, hydraulic load, pollutants load of the VF bed and interactions between these factors. The results proved that application of a VF bed to septage pre-treatment can significantly reduce the concentration of pollutants (biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5): 82%, chemical oxygen demand (COD): 82%, total suspended solids (TSS): 91%, total nitrogen (TN): 47%, ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N): 70%), and thus decrease the loading of the biological stage of a WWTP. The mathematical models of mass removal process were created. They indicate that in case of all analysed parameters, removed load goes up with the increase of load in the influent. However, with the increase of hydraulic load, a decrease of the removed BOD5, COD, TSS and total phosphorus, and in vegetation period an increase of TN, can be observed in terms of load. There are no statistically significant effects of seasonality.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 3326-3340
Author(s):  
Manoj Kumar ◽  
Rajesh Singh

In this study, two-phase continuous vertical flow constructed wetlands were installed with a pre-cleaner bioelectrochemical system for the removal of NH4+-N (60.41–85.78%), NO3−-N (25.55–35.18%), TN (57.80–84.65%), TKN (37.24–70.08%), PO43−-P (38.89–63.40%), SO42− (49.53–76.06%), and COD (25.83–74.70%) from municipal wastewater.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 817-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Boutin ◽  
S. Prost-Boucle

This study surveyed four campsites and four rural villages of major tourist interest, called tourist-interest or ti-villages, that were monitored for several years, generating over 70 performance balances for vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) that were intentionally scaled down for experimental trials. The wastewater effectively qualifies as domestic sewage, although relatively concentrated, with the campsites presenting particularly high nitrogen concentrations (122 gTKN L–1) (TKN: total Kjeldahl nitrogen). The applied daily loads were also particularly high, with some combinations of load parameters (hydraulic load, organic matter, TKN) leading to 400% overloading. Even under those drastic conditions, the quality of effluent remained excellent on the characteristic organic matter parameters, with removal performances always over 85%. Analysis of the dataset points to two major design thresholds: for campsites, in order to maintain a 73% nitrification rate even at the height of the summer season, the load applied onto the first stage filter in operation could achieve up to 600 gCOD m–2 day–1 (COD: chemical oxygen demand). For tourist-interest villages, in order to maintain an 85% nitrification rate, the load applied onto the second stage filter in operation could achieve up to 22 gTKN m–2.day–1. Here, VFCWs were demonstrated to robustly handle a massive increase in loads applied, providing the construction and operation stringently follow design standards and practices.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 430-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Troesch ◽  
F. Salma ◽  
D. Esser

Vertical flow constructed wetlands for small communities (<5,000 population equivalent) have been successfully developed in France since the 1990s (currently about 3'000 plants are in operation). This paper summarizes the results and efficiencies of 70 plants designed and built by Epur Nature or SINT. The results show clearly that the design performs well for organic matter removal and nitrification and makes sludge management easy. Therefore if well designed, such systems can achieve an outlet quality of BOD5 < 20 mg/L, chemical oxygen demand <90 mg/L, suspended solids <30 mg/L and TKN < 15 mg/L. In addition, some new configurations involving a French vertical first stage fed with raw sewage, patented by Epur Nature, are presented as an aid to reduce the global footprint.


2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Langergraber ◽  
C. Prandtstetten ◽  
A. Pressl ◽  
R. Rohrhofer ◽  
R. Haberl

Using subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands (SSVFCWs) with intermittent loading it is possible to fulfil the stringent Austrian effluent standards regarding nitrification. For small plants (less than 500 persons) standards for ammonia nitrogen concentration have to be met at water temperatures higher than 12 °C, effluent concentrations and treatment efficiencies for organic matter have to be met the whole year around. According to the Austrian design standards the required surface area for SSVFCWs treating wastewater was 5 m2 per person. Within the first part of an Austrian research project the goal was to optimise, i.e. minimise the surface area requirement of vertical flow beds. Therefore, three SSVFCWs with a surface area of 20 m2 each have been operated in parallel. The organic loads applied were 20, 27 and 40 g COD/m2/d, which corresponds to a specific surface area requirement of 4, 3 and 2 m2 per PE, respectively. The paper compares the effluent concentrations and elimination efficiencies of the three parallel operated beds. It could be shown that a specific area demand of 4 m2 per person is suitable to be included in the revision of the Austrian design standard. Additionally it could be shown that during the warmer seasons (May–October) when the temperature of the effluent is higher than 12 °C the specific surface area might be further reduced; even 2 m2 per person has been proven to be adequate.


2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guenter Langergraber ◽  
Alexander Pressl ◽  
Raimund Haberl

This paper describes the results of the first full-scale implementation of a two-stage vertical flow constructed wetland (CW) system developed to increase nitrogen removal. The full-scale system was constructed for the Bärenkogelhaus, which is located in Styria at the top of a mountain, 1,168 m above sea level. The Bärenkogelhaus has a restaurant with 70 seats, 16 rooms for overnight guests and is a popular site for day visits, especially during weekends and public holidays. The CW treatment system was designed for a hydraulic load of 2,500 L.d−1 with a specific surface area requirement of 2.7 m2 per person equivalent (PE). It was built in fall 2009 and started operation in April 2010 when the restaurant was re-opened. Samples were taken between July 2010 and June 2013 and were analysed in the laboratory of the Institute of Sanitary Engineering at BOKU University using standard methods. During 2010 the restaurant at Bärenkogelhaus was open 5 days a week whereas from 2011 the Bärenkogelhaus was open only on demand for events. This resulted in decreased organic loads of the system in the later period. In general, the measured effluent concentrations were low and the removal efficiencies high. During the whole period the ammonia nitrogen effluent concentration was below 1 mg/L even at effluent water temperatures below 3 °C. Investigations during high-load periods, i.e. events like weddings and festivals at weekends, with more than 100 visitors, showed a very robust treatment performance of the two-stage CW system. Effluent concentrations of chemical oxygen demand and NH4-N were not affected by these events with high hydraulic loads.


2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Siaw Wee Jong ◽  
Fu Ee Tang

Individual septic tanks are the most common means of on-site sanitation in Malaysia, but they result in a significant volume of septage. A two-staged vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) system for the treatment of septage was constructed and studied in Sarawak, Malaysia. Raw septage was treated in the first stage wetlands, and the resulting percolate was fed onto the second stage wetlands for further treatment. Here, the effects of a batch loading regime on the contaminant removal efficiency at the second stage wetlands, which included palm kernel shell within their filter substrate, are presented. The batch loading regime with pond:rest (P:R) period of 1:1, 2:2 and 3:3 (day:day) was studied. The improvement of the effluent redox condition was evident with P:R = 3:3, resulting in excellent organic matters (chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand) and nitrogen reduction. The bed operated with P:R = 1:1 experienced constant clogging, with a water layer observed on the bed surface. For the P:R = 3:3 regime, the dissolved oxygen profile was not found to decay drastically after 24 hours of ponding, suggesting that the biodegradation mainly occurred during the first day. The study results indicate that a suitable application regime with an adequate rest period is important in VFCWs to ensure efficient operation.


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