Simultaneous removal of nitrogen and dimethyl phthalate from low-carbon wastewaters by using intermittently-aerated constructed wetlands

Abstract

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) such as dimethyl phthalate (DMP) have been widely used as a plasticizer in society, which pose severe harm to human health. In this study, the potential of DMP elimination and nitrogen removal from low-carbon wastewaters by intermittently-aerated subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SSFCWs) was evaluated, and the effect of the influent DMP concentrations on nitrogen removal was also investigated. The results showed a better removal of DMP (88.5–97.8%) was obtained in CWs under different influent DMP concentrations, and the high removal of COD (86.7–95.0%) and NH4+-N (95.5–98.7%) was also achieved simultaneously. The maximum TN removal (48.7%) was observed at an influent DMP concentration of 10 mg L−1. Furthermore, the TN removal and DMP reduction had a good fitting relationship (R2 = 0.71) in CWs under different influent DMP concentrations. The analysis of DMP decomposition processes demonstrated that DMP was degraded into some smaller molecular fractions, and DMP degradation intermediates mainly including monomethyl phthalate (MMP) and phthalate (PA), which might provide a potential carbon source for the denitrification processes in CWs. These findings could contribute to a better understanding of DMP removal mechanism and provide useful guidance for the practical application of CWs for treating wastewater containing phthalates.