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Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment: Municipal, Industrial, and Agricultural

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2023) | Viewed by 7188

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Interests: environmental and soil chemistry; hydrogeochemistry; heavy metals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Interests: beneficial plant-microbe interactions for improving phytoremediation activity in floating treatment wetlands and constructed wetlands; soil remediation; soil microbial ecology; microbes involved in contaminated soil and water remediation

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Guest Editor
Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Interests: industrial/tannery and municipal wastewater treatment using Constructed Wetlands (CWs) for reuse in agriculture; water-rock dissolution reaction kinetics; chromium, arsenic and other trace elements removal from water using iron nanoparticles; biochar; biosorbents; clay minerals; organo-clays.

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water scarcity is a major threat to agriculture and humans due to over-abstraction of groundwater, rapid urbanization, and improper water use in industrial processes. Industrial consumption of water and abstractions rate is higher than the water recharge, which ultimately produces large amounts of wastewater such as from households, textile and pharmaceutical industries, SMEs, mining, and tannery industries. In contrast to many chemical and mechanical methods, constructed wetlands (CWs) are highly efficient bio-hydro-geochemical systems for the remediation of wastewater that comes from various sources. This technology is easy to adopt, maintain, and implement and can treat several contaminants in wastewater at the same time. CW systems involve the use of wetland plants, microbes, and bedding media. In contrast to conventional treatment technologies, CWs are considered an inexpensive and eco-friendly technique to treat various types of wastewaters, although their application and the potential need to be explored on a larger scale. The heavy metal(loid)s, organic pollutants, BOD, COD, and salinity are major issues in complex wastewaters that can be effectively treated for reuse using CWs; that is, a combination of biological and physicochemical processes such as combination with substrate media, sedimentation, precipitation of insoluble compounds (mainly oxygen hydroxides and sulfides), and plant absorption.

To achieve the UN’s SDGs for sustainable environments, agriculture, and water resources, and to battle pollution problems globally, environmental cleanup through CWs is paramount. This Special Issue welcomes pilot-scale, field-scale, fundamental, applied, and theoretical studies on the following topics:

  • Types of constructed wetlands and their role in wastewater remediation;
  • Role of CWs in the treatment of mixed (industrial, household, and commercial) wastewaters;
  • Tannery industry Cr-laced wastewater;
  • Use of biochar, biomaterials, and other solid wastes as bedding media in accelerating the efficiency of CWs;
  • Plants as major drivers of sustainable environmental remediation in CWs;
  • Microbes’ potential for enhancing cleanup of wastewater using CWs;
  • Developing a reliable model design for remediation via CWs;
  • The emission of greenhouse gasses and their climatic impacts in CWs;
  • Role of bedding media and plants in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from CWs.

Prof. Dr. Nabeel Khan Niazi
Dr. Muhammad Afzal
Dr. Irshad Bibi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • constructed wetlands;
  • sustainable environment;
  • wastewater recycling;
  • UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030;
  • remediation;
  • bedding media and microbes;
  • wetlands plants

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1759 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Degradation of Ciprofloxacin in Floating Treatment Wetlands Augmented with Bacterial Cells Immobilized on Iron Oxide Nanoparticles
by Syed Wajid Ali Shah, Mujaddad ur Rehman, Azam Hayat, Razia Tahseen, Sadia Bajwa, Ejazul Islam, Syed Najaf Hasan Naqvi, Ghulam Shabir, Samina Iqbal, Muhammad Afzal and Nabeel Khan Niazi
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14997; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214997 - 13 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2052
Abstract
Antibiotic contamination of water is an emerging global issue with severe implications for both public health and the environment. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a synthetic fluoroquinolone antibiotic, which is broadly used in human and veterinary medicines around the world to treat various bacterial infections. [...] Read more.
Antibiotic contamination of water is an emerging global issue with severe implications for both public health and the environment. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a synthetic fluoroquinolone antibiotic, which is broadly used in human and veterinary medicines around the world to treat various bacterial infections. The presence of CIP in the aquatic environment poses serious health problems to human beings and other living entities. Floating treatment wetland (FTW) is a low-cost and eco-friendly wastewater remediation technology. In the current study, the Canna indica. (Indian shot) was vegetated in a floatable mat to develop FTWs. A consortium of three bacterial strains, Acinetobacter lwoffii ACRH76, Bacillus pumulis C2A1, and Acinetobacter sp. HN3, was immobilized on iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs) and augmented in the FTWs for the remediation of CIP-contaminated (100 mg/L) water. The augmentation of bacteria (immobilized or free) in the FTWs significantly enhanced the removal of CIP from water. The maximum reduction in CIP (98%), chemical oxygen demand (COD; 90%), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD; 93%) and total organic carbon (TOC; 95%) was observed in FTWs that had Fe3O4-NP supported bacteria. This study reveals that FTWs have a great potential to remove the CIP from contaminated water, albeit its CIP removal efficiency was substantially enhanced by augmentation with Fe3O4-NPs supported bacteria. Full article
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14 pages, 2553 KiB  
Article
Ciprofloxacin Removal from Aqueous Media Using Floating Treatment Wetlands Supported by Immobilized Bacteria
by Syed Wajid Ali Shah, Mujaddad ur Rehman, Muhammad Tauseef, Ejazul Islam, Azam Hayat, Samina Iqbal, Muhammad Arslan and Muhammad Afzal
Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14216; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114216 - 31 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2108
Abstract
The unwanted occurrence of antibiotics in the environment is an emerging concern of non-target toxicity and antimicrobial resistance. Floating treatment wetland (FTW) is a low-cost and ecofriendly wastewater remediation strategy; however, the effect of immobilized bacteria on its efficacy during the remediation of [...] Read more.
The unwanted occurrence of antibiotics in the environment is an emerging concern of non-target toxicity and antimicrobial resistance. Floating treatment wetland (FTW) is a low-cost and ecofriendly wastewater remediation strategy; however, the effect of immobilized bacteria on its efficacy during the remediation of ciprofloxacin (CIP)-contaminated water has not been documented. In this study, Phragmites australis was planted to develop FTW, and it was augmented with a bacterial consortium (Acinetobacter lwoffii ACRH76, Bacillus pumulis C2A1, and Acinetobacter sp. HN3), with and without immobilization for the remediation of CIP-contaminated (100 mg L−1) water. The augmentation of bacteria (immobilized or in suspension) in the FTWs significantly increased the elimination of CIP from the water. Maximum removal of CIP (97%), COD (92%), BOD (93%), and TOC (90%) from the water was observed in the FTWs having immobilized bacteria. This research revealed that the FTWs have tremendous potential to remove the CIP from the water and its removal efficiency can be enhanced via immobilized bacterial augmentation strategies. Full article
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18 pages, 1600 KiB  
Article
Elucidating the Potential of Vertical Flow-Constructed Wetlands Vegetated with Different Wetland Plant Species for the Remediation of Chromium-Contaminated Water
by Fazila Younas, Irshad Bibi, Muhammad Afzal, Nabeel Khan Niazi and Zubair Aslam
Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5230; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095230 - 26 Apr 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2076
Abstract
Water scarcity is one of the key global challenges affecting food safety, food security, and human health. Constructed wetlands (CWs) provide a sustainable tool to remediate wastewater. Here we explored the potential of vertical flow-CWs (VF-CWs) vegetated with ten indigenous wetland plant species [...] Read more.
Water scarcity is one of the key global challenges affecting food safety, food security, and human health. Constructed wetlands (CWs) provide a sustainable tool to remediate wastewater. Here we explored the potential of vertical flow-CWs (VF-CWs) vegetated with ten indigenous wetland plant species to treat chromium (Cr)-contaminated water. The wetland plants were vegetated to develop VF-CWs to treat Cr-contaminated water in a batch mode. Results revealed that the Cr removal potential of VF-CWs vegetated with different wetland plants ranged from 47% to 92% at low (15 mg L−1) Cr levels and 36% to 92% at high (30 mg L−1) Cr levels, with the maximum (92%) Cr removal exhibited by VF-CWs vegetated with Leptochloa fusca. Hexavalent Cr (Cr(VI)) was reduced to trivalent Cr (Cr(III)) in treated water (96–99 %) of all VF-CWs. All the wetland plants accumulated Cr in the shoot (1.9–34 mg kg−1 dry weight (DW)), although Cr content was higher in the roots (74–698 mg kg−1 DW) than in the shoots. Brachiaria mutica showed the highest Cr accumulation in the roots and shoots (698 and 45 mg kg−1 DW, respectively), followed by Leptochloa fusca. The high Cr level significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the stress tolerance index (STI) percentage of the plant species. Our data provide strong evidence to support the application of VF-CWs vegetated with different indigenous wetland plants as a sustainable Cr-contaminated water treatment technology such as tannery wastewater. Full article
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