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Nutrient Removal in Pilot-Scale Constructed Wetlands Treating Eutrophic River Water: Assessment of Plants, Intermittent Artificial Aeration and Polyhedron Hollow Polypropylene Balls

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Abstract

Seven experimental pilot-scale subsurface vertical-flow constructed wetlands were designed to assess the effect of plants [Typha latifolia L. (cattail)], intermittent artificial aeration and the use of polyhedron hollow polypropylene balls (PHPB) as part of the wetland substrate on nutrient removal from eutrophic Jinhe River water in Tianjin, China. During the entire running period, observations indicated that plants played a negligible role in chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal but significantly enhanced ammonia–nitrogen (NH4–N), nitrate–nitrogen (NO3–N) total nitrogen (TN), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total phosphorus (TP) removal. The introduction of intermittent artificial aeration and the presence of PHPB could both improve COD, NH4–N, TN, SRP and TP removal. Furthermore, aerated wetlands containing PHPB performed best; the following improvements were noted: 10.38 g COD/m2 day, 1.34 g NH4–N/m2 day, 1.04 g TN/m2 day, 0.07 g SRP/m2 day and 0.07 g TP/m2 day removal, if compared to non-aerated wetlands without PHPB being presented.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50479034), the Innovative Projects of Modern Water Conservancy of China (XDS2007-05) and the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (05YFSZSF02100). The authors appreciate the support provided by Ms. J. Wang, Mr. J. Niu, Ms. X.J. Li and Mr. X.G. Liu. Mr. Tang is a visiting PhD student at The University of Edinburgh, supervised by Dr Scholz who is a Visiting Professor at Nankai University.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria of Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, People’s Republic of China

    Xianqiang Tang, Suiliang Huang & Jinzhong Li

  2. Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering and Electronics, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JL, Scotland, UK

    Miklas Scholz

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  1. Xianqiang Tang
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Correspondence to Suiliang Huang or Miklas Scholz.

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Tang, X., Huang, S., Scholz, M. et al. Nutrient Removal in Pilot-Scale Constructed Wetlands Treating Eutrophic River Water: Assessment of Plants, Intermittent Artificial Aeration and Polyhedron Hollow Polypropylene Balls. Water Air Soil Pollut 197, 61–73 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-008-9791-z

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