Hybrid constructed wetlands for highly polluted river water treatment and comparison of surface-and subsurface-flow cells

A series of large pilot constructed wetland （CW） systems were constructed near the confluence of an urban stream to a larger fiver in Xi＇an, a northwestern megacity in China, for treating polluted stream water before it entered the receiving water body. Each CW system is a combination of surface- and subsurface-flow cells with local gravel, sand or slag as substrates and Phragmites australis and Typha orientalis as plants. During a one-year operation with an average surface loading of 0.053 m3/（m2.day）, the overall COD, BOD, NH3-N, total nitrogen （TN） and total phosphorus （TP） removals were 72.7% ~ 4.5%, 93.4% ＋ 2.1%, 54.0% ＋ 6.3%, 53.9% ~ 6.0% and 69.4% ：t： 4.6%, respectively, which brought about an effective improvement of the fiver water quality. Surface-flow cells showed better NH3-N removal than their TN removal while subsurface-flow cells showed better TN removal than their NH3-N removal. Using local slag as the substrate, the organic and phosphorus removal could be much improved. Seasonal variation was also found in the removal of all the pollutants and autumn seemed to be the best season for pollutant removal due to the moderate water temperature and well grown plants in the CWs.

Contaminant removal from low-concentration polluted river water by the bio-rack wetlands

The bio-rack is a new approach for treating low-concentration polluted river water in wetland systems.A comparative study of the efficiency of contaminant removal between four plant species in bio-rack wetlands and between a bio-rack system and control system was conducted on a small-scale （500 mm length × 400 mm width × 400 mm height） to evaluate the decontamination effects of four different wetland plants.There was generally a significant difference in the removal of total nitrogen （TN）,ammonia nitrogen （NH 3-N） and total phosphorus （TP）,but no significant difference in the removal of permanganate index （COD Mn） between the bio-rack wetland and control system.Bio-rack wetland planted with Thalia dealbata had higher nutrient removal rates than wetlands planted with other species.Plant fine-root （root diameter 3 mm） biomass rather than total plant biomass was related to nutrient removal efficiency.The study suggested that the nutrient removal rates are influenced by plant species,and high fine-root biomass is an important factor in selecting highly effective wetland plants for a bio-rack system.According to the mass balance,the TN and TP removal were in the range of 61.03-73.27 g/m^2 and 4.14-5.20 g/m^2 in four bio-rack wetlands during the whole operational period.The N and P removal by plant uptake constituted 34.9%-43.81% of the mass N removal and 62.05%-74.81% of the mass P removal.The study showed that the nitrification/denitrification process and plant uptake process are major removal pathways for TN,while plant uptake is an effective removal pathway for TP.