Advanced Treatment of Tail Water Using Pilot-scale Horizontal and Vertical Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands in Low-temperature Seasons

Abstract

There were significant differences in the working efficiency and mechanism of constructed wetlands between low temperature and suitable temperature conditions. This study designed a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HFCW) and a vertical subsurface flow constructed wetland (VFCW) to explore their performance differences in advanced treatment of sewage based on contaminant degradation analysis including the removal of organic matters, total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP), as well as the analysis of microbial community structure. The results showed that when the COD concentration of influent was between 37.50 to 80.00 mg·L-1, the concentration of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were within the first level A criteria specified in the discharge standard of pollutants for municipal wastewater treatment plant at the continuous flow of 2 m3·d-1:①Both HFCW and VFCW showed stable degradation ability of organic matter in influent and good resistance to high organic load. ②Supplementation of the carbon source significantly improved the nitrogen removal efficiency of two subsurface flow constructed wetlands. HFCW achieved the average removal rate of TN at 76.01%, and the average removal rate of TN by VFCW reached 71.69% after the carbon addition. In contrast, dosage of an external carbon source showed limited effect on phosphorus removal. Furthermore, it worked more effectively for performance improvement of HFCW than that of VFCW. ③The analysis of microbial community structure in wetland substrate and plant rhizosphere samples revealed that Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Verrucomicrobia were the dominant phylum in two series of wetland samples. For the dominant microbiota at the genus level, there were more significant differences in microbial community structure in wetland substrate samples than that in plant rhizosphere samples. Hydrogenophaga, Erysipelothrix, and Devosia contributed the most to the differences between the microbial communities of HFCW and VFCW. Overall, the species diversity and abundance of microbial samples from VFCW was higher than those from HFCW.