Kinetics and Removal Efficiency of Nitrogen in Constructed Wetlands Cultivated with Different Plant Species for Treating Swine Wastewater Applied at Different Rates

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 232; no. 1
• Main Authors: Fia, Fátima Resende Luiz, de Matos, Antonio Teixeira, Fia, Ronaldo, de Matos, Mateus Pimentel, Borges, Alisson Carraro, Baptestini, Gheila Corrêa Ferres
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal wastes; Aquatic plants; Artificial wetlands; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Coefficients; Constructed wetlands; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Evaluation; Flowers & plants; Freshwater plants; Grasses; Hydrogeology; Kinetics; Livestock; Loading rate; Mathematical models; Nitrogen; Nitrogen removal; Plant species; Purification; Removal; Sewage; Soil Science & Conservation; Species; Storm seepage; Swine; Tanks; Typha; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Wetlands; First order models; Agro-industrial effluent; Nutrients; Removal rate; Modeling; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-020-04972-6

The present study sought to evaluate the efficiency and kinetics of nitrogen removal in Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands (HSSF-CWs) cultivated with different plant species used in the treatment of swine wastewater (SWW), under different nitrogen loading rates (LR TKN ). For this purpose, nine tanks measuring 2.0 × 0.5 × 0.6 m were used, one maintained without plants (CW 1 ), while in the others two plant species were evaluated: CW 3 , CW 5 , CW 7 , and CW 9 were planted with Tifton 85 grass ( Cynodon spp.) and CW 2 , CW 4 , CW 6 , and CW 8 were planted with cattail ( Typha latifolia ). The CWs received TKN application rates between 110 and 413 kg ha −1 day −1 , and the removal efficiencies ranged from 27.6 to 44.9%. The average mass removal rates (MRR) for TKN and NH 4 + ranged from 45.3 to 115.9 kg ha −1 day −1 and 28.9 to 66.5 kg ha −1 day −1 , respectively. Tifton 85 grass and cattail contributed, respectively, to 2.22 to 8.7% and 0.03 to 1.67% of the TKN mass removed by the CWs (MRR), equivalent to extraction rates of 2.72 to 4.94 kg ha −1 day −1 and 0.04 to 1.11 kg ha −1 day −1 . Coefficients estimated by conventional, modified, and residual first-order models ranged from 0.017 to 0.0187 day −1 , 0.0691 to 0.1285 day −1 , and 0.0298 to 0.0715 day −1 , respectively. The modified first-order model and that with residual, due to their higher R 2 values ( R 2  > 93%), indicated a good fit and considerable reliability of these equations to describe the processes of nitrogen removal from swine wastewater treated in HSSF-CW, and due to their mathematical simplicity and improvements in the representation of real behavior, they should be preferred for modeling of these systems.