Water 2017, 9(12), 928; https://doi.org/10.3390/w9120928
Peat as Substrate for Small-Scale Constructed Wetlands Polishing Secondary Effluents from Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Queen’s University, 58 University Ave., Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University, 58 University Ave., Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2 November 2017 / Revised: 18 November 2017 / Accepted: 21 November 2017 / Published: 28 November 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Constructed Wetland Systems: Design, Operation, and Performance)
Abstract
With the recent development of constructed wetland technology, it has become a mainstream treatment technology for the mitigation of a variety of wastewaters. This study reports on the treatment performance and pH attenuation capacity of three different configurations of small-scale on-site surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCW): T1 (Peat + Typha latifolia), T2 (T. latifolia alone), and T3 (Peat alone) treating secondary effluent from the Amherstview Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) for two treatment periods (start-up period and operational period). The aim of this study was to compare the nutrients removal efficiencies between the different treatments, as well as to evaluate the effects of substrate and vegetation on the wetland system. For a hydraulic retention time of 2.5 days, the results showed that all treatment systems could attenuate the pH level during both the start-up and operational periods, while significant nutrient removal performance could only be observed during the operational period. Peat was noted to be a better SFCW substrate in promoting the removal of nitrate (NO3-N), total nitrogen (TN), and phosphorus. The addition of T. latifolia further enhanced NO3-N and TN removal efficiencies, but employing T. latifolia alone did not yield effluents that could meet the regulatory discharge limit (1.0 mg/L) for phosphorus. View Full-TextKeywords:
constructed wetland; peat; pH; Typha latifolia; wastewater stabilization pond
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MDPI and ACS Style
Jin, M.; Carlos, J.; McConnell, R.; Hall, G.; Champagne, P. Peat as Substrate for Small-Scale Constructed Wetlands Polishing Secondary Effluents from Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant. Water 2017, 9, 928.
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