Abstract
The present work designs a low-cost biological treatment strategy consisting of constructed wetlands (CWs) followed by entrapped algae (EA) for removing nutrients (PO43−, NO3−, and NH4+) and organic matters from high-strength wastewater. The CWs are efficient means for organic pollutant removal but face challenges in nutrient removal. Algae have a high growth rate and nutrient uptake capabilities from wastewater. The severe challenge that limits the use of algae for nutrient removal from wastewater is its post-treatment separation from wastewater. This work presents a strategy to address the described problems of CWs and algae-based system. It also assesses the performance of the system using synthetic wastewater. A combined system of CW followed by EA (CW-EA) was able to treat 86.0% of phosphate, 95.0% of nitrate, 74.0% of ammonium, and 87.0% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from high-strength wastewater.
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The authors acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India for providing research grants (Internal grant no GAP-259 and SR/FTP/ETA-0058/2011).
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Gupta, S., Srivastava, P. & Yadav, A.K. Simultaneous removal of organic matters and nutrients from high-strength wastewater in constructed wetlands followed by entrapped algal systems. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 1112–1117 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06896-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06896-z