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Micro-aeration with hollow fiber membrane enhanced the nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands

  • Sediment Environment, Pollution and Remediation
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Abstract

The nitrogen removal efficiency in constructed wetlands (CWs) was largely affected by the dissolved oxygen (DO). In this study, micro-aeration with different numbers of hollow fiber membrane modules (HFMEs) was adopted to increase the oxygen availability and improve the nitrogen removal efficiency in CWs under different air temperatures and different hydraulic retention time (HRT). Compared to the plant oxygen release (ROL) of wetland plants and traditional mechanical aeration, HFME increased the oxygen availability and enhanced the nitrogen removal efficiency in CWs. The COD and NH4+–N removal efficiencies increased with the increase of the HMFE. TN removal efficiency was increased by 8~16% after the application of HFME in CWs in the high-temperature stage. However, less HFME in CW-M1 realized the highest TN removal efficiency in low- and medium-temperature stages. At low temperature after 4-day HRT, the DO concentration respectively reached 6.25 mg L−1 and 3.25 mg L−1 in the upper zone and the bottom of CW-M1. The TN removal efficiencies in the upper zone of CW-M1 (60.69%) and the bottom of CW-M1 (64.98%) were all significantly higher than those in the upper zone of CK (35.98%) and the bottom of CK (39.9%). In addition, the microbial biomass and community analyses revealed that CW-M1 showed the most nitrifying bacteria and the best metabolic activity of bacteria. HEMF in CW-M1 also increased the nitrifying capacity from 0.12 to 0.46 mg kg−1 h−1. The application of HFME in CWs accelerated the nitrification process by enhancing nitrifying bacteria and less HFME realized the highest TN removal efficiency through nitrification-denitrification processes.

The application of hollow fiber membrane modules in CWs enhanced the pollutants (TN and COD) removal efficiency in the process of biological nitrification-denitrification and increased the number of nitrifying bacteria.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for Zhijie Gong’s and Suyan Wang’s advices on hollow fiber membrane preparation and microbial analysis.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51909034 and 51679041), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2232019D3-21, No. 2232018D3-22, and No. 2232015DZ1-01), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2018M641894), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and Graduate Student Innovation Fund of Donghua University (CUSF-DH-D-2019079 and CUSF-DH-D-2019080), the Shanghai Sailing Program (Grant No. 19YF1401900), the Shanghai Rising-Star Program (Grant No. 19QC1401100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Xinshan Song, Yufeng Zhao, Yuhui Wang, Zhihao Si, Xiaoyan Ge, Zhijie Gong, Juan Zhou & Xin Cao

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  1. Xinshan Song
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  2. Yufeng Zhao
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  3. Yuhui Wang
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  4. Zhihao Si
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  5. Xiaoyan Ge
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  6. Zhijie Gong
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  7. Juan Zhou
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  8. Xin Cao
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Correspondence to Xin Cao.

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Responsible editor: Angeles Blanco

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Highlights

1. It is feasible to control the oxygen level to remove TN with less HFM in CWs.

2. HFM is the better choice for TN removal than ROL and traditional aeration at low temperature.

3. TN and COD removals were significantly affected by the number of HFME and temperature.

4. Micro-aeration with HFME promoted the growth of nitrifying bacteria in CW-M1.

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Song, X., Zhao, Y., Wang, Y. et al. Micro-aeration with hollow fiber membrane enhanced the nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 25877–25885 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06315-3

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