Nutrient concentration variations during Oenanthe javanica growth and decay in the ecological floating bed system

The ecological floating bed system is a natural alternative to technical methods of wastewater treatment and involves complex processes induced by plants or microorganisms in the wastewater. This study aimed to identify nutrient concentration variations during Oenanthe javanica （Blume） DC growth and decay in the ecological floating bed system. Results showed that the third-order polynomial equation was suitable to describe pollutant concentration changes, showing that the effect of O. javanica ecological floating bed system on polluted water could be divided into the purification phase and decay phase. During the purification phase, nutrient concentrations rapidly decreased because O. javanica influenced water microbial communities and water physical parameters （i.e., dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature）, and had a direct uptake of nutrients. However, during the decay phase, nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the plant tissues decreased, and these lost nutrients ultimately transferred to water and led to water quality deterioration. Results also showed that the uptake and storage of O. javanica in nutrients were temporary and the plant served only as media of the nutrients removed from the water. Under these circumstances, harvesting was an appropriate intervention to improve the treatment efficiency of O. javanica ecological floating bed system.

Coupling of the flow field and the purification efficiency in root system region of ecological floating bed under different hydrodynamic conditions

The artificial ecological floating bed is a commonly adopted in situ treatment technique for repairing and purifying polluted water. The plant root system of the floating bed is the primary region to absorb and degrade the pollutant of water. Its inner flow field characteristics and the interactive water quantity with the surrounding water greatly impact the purification efficiency of the floating bed. In this paper, the particle image velocimetry （PIV） technology and the boundary velocity direct extraction method are used to study the velocity distribution of the root system region by numerical simulations and experiments in an experimental water channel. A pollution removal rate （PRR） evaluation model is built to calculate the PRR by coupling with the flow velocity field of the root system region. The variations of the total pollutant removal rate （TPRR） are discussed for different center distances （L =0.30 m, 0.45 m, 0.60 m）, flow velocities （v= 0.007 m/s, 0.015 m/s, 0.025 m/s, 0.040 m/s, 0.055 m/s, 0.070 m/s） and root system porosities （P = 54.73%, 68.33%, 79.17%）. The results indicate that the position arrangement of the floating beds influences the TPRR significantly, and the distance should be limited in a reasonable range for a high purification efficiency. Moreover, the root systems with higher porosity （P = 68.33%, 79.17%） have higher TPRR value than a lower porosity root system （P = 54.73%） within a certain flow velocity range, and the higher porosity root system has less fluctuation of the TPRR value than a lower porosity situation within a wide flow velocity range. Furthermore, under the same center distance condition, the lower flow velocity condition brings about a significantly higher TPRR value than the higher flow velocity situation.

Influence of artificial ecological floating beds on river hydraulic characteristics

The artificial ecological floating bed is widely used in rivers and lakes to repair and purify polluted water. However, the water flow pattern and the water level distribution are significantly changed by the floating beds, and the influence on the water flow is different from that of aquatic plants. In this paper, based on the continuous porous media model, a moveable two-layer combination model is built to describe the floating bed. The influences of the floating beds on the water flow characteristics are studied by numerical simulations and experiments using an experimental water channel. The variations of the water level distribution are discussed under conditions of different flow velocities（ v= 0.1 m/s, 0.2 m/s, 0.30 m/s, 0.4 m/s）, floating bed coverage rates（20%, 40%, 60%） and arrangement positions away from the channel wall（ D= 0 m, 0.1 m, 0.2 m）. The results indicate that the flow velocity increases under the floating beds, and the water level rises significantly under high flow velocity conditions in the upstream region and the floating bed region. In addition, the average rising water level value（ARWLV） increases significantly with the increase of the floating bed coverage rate, and the arrangement position of floating beds in the river can also greatly influence the water level distribution under a high-flow velocity condition（v ？0.2 m /s）.