scholarly journals Effect of corn cobs as external carbon sources on nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands treating micro-polluted river water

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 1639-1647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu-ji Yu ◽  
Tao Chen ◽  
Yanhong Xu

Abstract Micro-polluted river water is characterized as having limited biodegradability, low carbon to nitrogen ratio and little organic carbon supply, all of which makes it hard to further purify. Two bench scale constructed wetlands (CWs) with a horizontal subsurface flow mode were set up in the laboratory to evaluate their feasibility and efficiency on denitrification with and without corn cobs as external carbon sources. Micro-polluted river water was used as feed solution. The CW without corn cobs substrates possessed a good performance in removing chemical oxygen demand (COD, <40 mg/L) and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N, <0.65 mg/L), but less efficiency in removing total nitrogen (TN) and nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N). In marked contrast, the CW with 1% (w/w) corn cobs substrates as external carbon sources achieved a significant improvement in the removal efficiency of TN (increased from 34.2% to 71.9%) and NO3-N (increased from 19% to 71.9%). The incorporation of corn cobs substrates did not cause any obvious increase in the concentrations of COD and NH3-N in the effluent. This improvement in the denitrification efficiency was owing to the released organic carbon from corn cobs substrates, which facilitated the growth of abundant microbes on the surface and pores of the substrate. The open area of the used corn chips is larger than that of the pristine ones, and corn cobs can continue to provide a carbon fiber source for denitrification.

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-228
Author(s):  
Luis Sandoval ◽  
José Luis Marín-Muñíz ◽  
Jacel Adame-García ◽  
Gregorio Fernández-Lambert ◽  
Florentina Zurita

Abstract In this study, the effect of Spathiphyllum blandum on the removal of ibuprofen (IB) and conventional pollutants such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), ammonium (NH4+-N), total phosphorus (TP), and total suspended solids (TSS) is reported; this, through its use as an emergent vegetation in fully saturated (FS) constructed wetlands (CWs) at mesocosm level treating polluted river water. With the exception of TP and COD, it was found that for TN (12%), NH4+-N (11%), TSS (19%), and IB (23%), the removals in systems with vegetation were superior to systems without vegetation (p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate the importance of the species S. blandum, in particular, for the removal of ibuprofen, which is an anti-inflammatory drug commonly found in effluents of wastewater treatment plants. Thus, the results obtained provide information that can be used for the design of future efficient large-scale systems using a new ornamental species, mainly under tropical climatic conditions. This article has been made Open Access thanks to the generous support of a global network of libraries as part of the Knowledge Unlatched Select initiative.


2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 2328-2335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang-Feng Huang ◽  
Xin Liu ◽  
Jia-Jia Shang ◽  
Yi Feng ◽  
Jia Liu ◽  
...  

Plant biomass is usually added to constructed wetlands (CW) to enhance denitrification. In this study, we investigated effects of different pretreatments on two common external plant carbon sources, cattail and reed litter. We determined the average ratio of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to total nitrogen (TN), designated as C/N, in water samples after addition of litter subjected to various pretreatments. The C/N in the water samples ranged from 4.8 to 6.4 after addition of NaOH-pretreated cattail litter, which was four to six times greater than that of water from the Yapu River and 3.84–39.15% higher than that of systems that received untreated cattail litter. The C/N of systems that received H2SO4-pretreated carbon sources varied from 1.7 to 3.6. These two methods resulted in TN and total phosphorus (TP) levels lower than those in river water. The C/N was 1.4–1.7 after addition of CH3COOH-pretreated reed litter, which was 34.87–53.83% higher than that of river water. The C/N was 2.5 in systems that received mild alkali/oxidation-pretreated reeds, which was 30.59% higher than that of systems that received non-pretreated reeds. The residue rates of cattail and reed litter subjected to various pretreatments were greater than 60%. Our results showed that NaOH, H2SO4, and mild alkali/oxidation pretreatments were useful to rapidly improve the C/N of river water and enhance denitrification.


2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 181-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Koottatep ◽  
C. Polprasert ◽  
N. T.K. Oanh ◽  
U. Heinss ◽  
A. Montangero ◽  
...  

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been proven to be an effective low-cost treatment system, which utilizes the interactions of emergent plants and microorganisms in the removal of pollutants. CWs for wastewater treatment are normally designed and operated in horizontal-flow patterns, namely, free-water surface or subsurface flow, while a vertical-flow operation is normally used to treat sludge or septage having high solid contents. In this study, three pilot-scale CW beds, each with a surface area of 25 m2, having 65 cm sand-gravel substrata, supported by ventilated-drainage system and planting with narrow-leave cattails (Typha augustifolia), were fed with septage collected from Bangkok city, Thailand. To operate in a vertical-flow mode, the septage was uniformly distributed on the surface of the CW units. During the first year of operation, the CWs were operated at the solid loading rates (SLR) and application frequencies of, respectively, 80-500 kg total solid (TS)/m2.yr and 1-2 times weekly. It was found that the SLR of 250 kg TS/m2.yr resulted in the highest TS, total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) removal of 80, 96 and 92%, respectively. The TS contents of the dewatered septage on the CW beds were increased from 1-2% to 30-60% within an operation cycle. Because of the vertical-flow mode of operation and with the effectiveness of the ventilation pipes, there were high degrees of nitrification occurring in the CW beds. The nitrate (NO3) contents in the CW percolate were 180-250 mg/L, while the raw septage had NO3 contents less than 10 mg/L. Due to rapid flow-through of the percolates, there was little liquid retained in the CW beds, causing the cattail plants to wilt, especially during the dry season. To reduce the wilting effects, the operating strategies in the second year were modified by ponding the percolate in the CW beds for periods of 2 and 6 days prior to discharge. This operating strategy was found beneficial not only for mitigating plant wilting, but also for increasing N removal through enhanced denitrification activities in the CW beds. During these 2 year operations, the dewatered septage was not removed from the CW beds and no adverse effects on the septage dewatering efficiency were observed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 597-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Boog ◽  
Thomas Kalbacher ◽  
Jaime Nivala ◽  
Manfred van Afferden ◽  
Roland A. Müller

Abstract Despite recent developments in process-based modeling of treatment wetlands (TW), the dynamic response of horizontal flow (HF) aerated wetlands to interruptions of aeration has not yet been modeled. In this study, the dynamic response of organic carbon and nitrogen removal to interruptions of aeration in an HF aerated wetland was investigated using a recently-developed numerical process-based model. Model calibration and validation were achieved using previously obtained data from pilot-scale experiments. Setting initial concentrations for anaerobic bacteria to high values ( 35–70 mg L−1) and including ammonia sorption was important to simulate the treatment performance of the experimental wetland in transition phases when aeration was switched off and on again. Even though steady-state air flow rate impacted steady-state soluble chemical oxygen demand (CODs), ammonia nitrogen (NH4–N) and oxidized nitrogen (NOx–N) concentration length profiles, it did not substantially affect corresponding effluent concentrations during aeration interruption. When comparing simulated with experimental results, it is most likely that extending the model to include mass transfer through the biofilm will allow to better explain the underlying experiments and to increase simulation accuracy. This study provides insights into the dynamic behavior of HF aerated wetlands and discusses assumptions and limitations of the modeling approach.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 938-946 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. K. Al-Isawi ◽  
A. Sani ◽  
S. A. A. A. N. Almuktar ◽  
M. Scholz

The aim was to compare the impact of different design (aggregate size) and operational (contact time, empty time and chemical oxygen demand (COD) loading) variables on the long-term and seasonal performance of vertical-flow constructed wetland filters operated in tidal flow mode before and after a one-off spill of diesel. Ten different vertical-flow wetland systems were planted with Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (common reed). Approximately 130 g of diesel fuel was poured into four wetland filters. Before the spill, compliance with secondary wastewater treatment standards was achieved by all wetlands regarding ammonia-nitrogen (NH4-N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) and suspended solids (SS), and non-compliance was recorded for biochemical oxygen demand and ortho-phosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P). Higher COD inflow concentrations had a significantly positive impact on the treatment performance for COD, PO4-P and SS. The wetland with the largest aggregate size had the lowest mean NO3-N outflow concentration. However, the results were similar regardless of aggregate size and resting time for most variables. Clear seasonal outflow concentration trends were recorded for COD, NH4-N and NO3-N. No filter clogging was observed. The removal efficiencies dropped for those filters impacted by the diesel spill. The wetlands system shows a good performance regarding total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 3240
Author(s):  
Jinfeng Jiang ◽  
Liang Ma ◽  
Lianjie Hao ◽  
Daoji Wu ◽  
Kai Wang

In order to achieve advanced nitrogen removal from landfill leachate without the addition of external carbon sources, a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) and a Sequencing Biofilm Batch Reactor (SBBR) were proposed for the treatment of actual landfill leachate with ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations of 1000 ± 100 mg/L and 4000 ± 100 mg/L, respectively. The operating modes of both systems are anaerobic–aerobic–anoxic. After 110 days of start-up and biomass acclimation, the effluent COD and the total nitrogen (TN) of the two systems were 650 ± 50 mg/L and 20 ± 10 mg/L, respectively. The removal rates of COD and total nitrogen could reach around 85% and above 95%, respectively. Therefore, advanced nitrogen removal was implemented in landfill leachate without adding any carbon sources. After the two systems were acclimated, nitrogen removing cycles of SBR and SBBR were 24 h and 20 h, respectively. The nitrogen removing efficiency of SBBR was improved by 16.7% in comparison to SBR. In the typical cycle of the two groups of reactors, the nitrification time of the system was the same, which was 5.5 h, indicating that although the fiber filler occupied part of the reactor space, it had no significant impact on the nitrification performance of the system. At the end of aeration, the internal carbon source content of sludge of SBBR was equivalent to that of the SBR system. However, the total nitrogen concentration of SBBR was only 129 mg/L, which is 33.8% lower than that of SBR at 195 mg/L. The main reason was that biofilm enhanced the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) effect of the system.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
xiaoyan xu ◽  
Jie Jiang ◽  
Zhinan Guo ◽  
Lianglun Sun ◽  
Meizhen Tang

Abstract The mechanism of wastewater treatment based on psychrophilic strains to improve the denitrification efficiency of constructed wetlands at low temperatures has already become a new hotspot. In this study, three mixed psychrophilic strains (Psychrobacter TM-1, Sphingobacterium TM-2 and Pseudomonas TM-3) with high capacity of denitrification were added into a vertical-flow constructed wetlands (CWs), and the effect of the mixed strains on CWs sewage treatment was evaluated. The removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) was quantified to establish the degradation kinetic model and determine the best dosage of the mixed strains. The effect mechanism of the mixed strains on indigenous microbial community and the change of sewage treatment performance in low temperature constructed wetlands was clarified by high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that the mixed strains can effectively remove the organic pollutants (nitrogen and phosphorus) and the optimum dosage of the mixed strain was 2.5%,with average removal rates of 1.52, 2.12, 2.07 and 1.29 times than those of the control. Meanwhile, the dominant strains in the CWs were Proteobacteria (31.23–44.34%), Chloroflexi (12.04–19.05%), Actinobacteria (10.6-20.62%), Acidobacteria (8.23–11.65%), Firmicutes (2.23–15.95%) and Bacteroidetes (4.01–18.9%). These findings provide a basis for the removal of pollutants in constructed wetlands at low temperature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12456
Author(s):  
Tao Wang ◽  
Liping Xiao ◽  
Hongbin Lu ◽  
Shaoyong Lu ◽  
Xiaoliang Zhao ◽  
...  

The quality of micropolluted water is unstable and its substrate concentration fluctuates greatly. The goal is to predict the concentration effect on the treatment of nitrogen in a river with an actual low C/N ratio for the proposed full-scale Xiaoyi River estuary wetland, so that the wetland project can operate stably and perform the water purification function effectively in the long term. Two pilot-scale multistage constructed wetland–pond (MCWP) systems (S1 and S2, respectively) based on actual engineering with the same “front ecological oxidation ponds, two-stage horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands and surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) as the core and postsubmerged plant ponds” as the planned process were constructed to investigate the effect of different influent permanganate indexes (CODMn) and total nitrogen (TN) contents on nitrogen removal from micropolluted river water with a fixed C/N ratio from summer to winter in the field. The results indicate that the TN removal rate in the S1 and S2 systems was significant (19.56% and 34.84%, respectively). During the process of treating this micropolluted water with a fixed C/N ratio, the influent of S2 with a higher CODMn concentration was conducive to the removal of TN. The TN removal rate in S2 was significantly affected by the daily highest temperature. There was significant nitrogen removal efficiency in the SFCWs. The C/N ratio was a major determinant influencing the nitrogen removal rate in the SFCWs. The organic matter release phenomenon in SFCWs with high-density planting played an essential role in alleviating the lack of carbon sources in the influent. This research strongly supports the rule that there is seasonal nitrogen removal in the MCWPs under different influent substrate concentrations, which is of guiding significance for practical engineering.


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