Nitrogen Removal from Domestic Wastewater and the Development of Tropical Ornamental Plants in Partially Saturated Mesocosm-Scale Constructed Wetlands

Vertical partially saturated (VPS) constructed wetlands (CWs) are a novel wastewater treatment system for which little information is known about its design parameters and performance under tropical climates. The objective of this study is to evaluate the nitrogen removal process from domestic waste...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2019-11, Vol.16 (23), p.4800
Main Authors: Nakase, Carlos, Zurita, Florentina, Nani, Graciela, Reyes, Guillermo, Fernández-Lambert, Gregorio, Cabrera-Hernández, Arturo, Sandoval, Luis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anaerobic conditions
Artificial wetlands
Biomass
Chemical oxygen demand
Climatic conditions
Containers
Denitrification
Design parameters
Domestic wastewater
Environmental conditions
High density polyethylenes
Hybrids
Microorganisms
Molecular weight
Nitrates
Nitric oxide
Nitrogen
Nitrogen - analysis
Nitrogen removal
Nitrous oxide
Ornamental plants
Plant tissues
Plants (botany)
Pollutants
Polyethylene
Tropical Climate
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Waste Water - analysis
Wastewater
Wastewater treatment
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Wetlands
Zantedeschia - metabolism
Zingiberales - metabolism
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Summary:Vertical partially saturated (VPS) constructed wetlands (CWs) are a novel wastewater treatment system for which little information is known about its design parameters and performance under tropical climates. The objective of this study is to evaluate the nitrogen removal process from domestic wastewater and the production of tropical ornamental plants ( and ) in VPS CWs at a mesocosms scale. Nine VPS CWs, with a free-flow zone of 16 cm and a saturated zone of 16 cm, were used as experimental units. Three units were planted with and three, with (one plant per unit); the remaining three units were established as controls without vegetation. They were fed with domestic wastewater intermittently and evaluated for the elimination of COD, N-NH , N-NO , Norg, NT, and PT. The results showed an increase in the removal for some pollutants in the vegetated systems, i.e., N-NH (35%), Norg (16%), TN (25%), and TP (47%) in comparison to the unvegetated systems. While N-NO removal showed better removal in 10% of the systems without vegetation, no significant differences were found ( > 0.05) for COD removal. The aerobic and anaerobic conditions in the VPS CWs favor the elimination of pollutants in the systems, and also the development of the tropical species evaluated in this study; good development was exhibited by a high growth rate and biomass production.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph16234800