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Purification of leachate from sludge treatment beds by subsurface flow constructed wetlands: effects of plants and hydraulic retention time

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Abstract

Sludge treatment beds (STBs) have been used widely in many countries due to low energy consumption, low operating and maintenance costs, and better environmental compatibility. Penetration, evaporation, and transpiration are the main processes for sludge dewatering in STBs. However, the leachate quality from STBs usually cannot meet discharge limits. Moreover, such leachate has very low COD/N ratio, which makes it difficult to treat. In the present study, two subsurface flow (SSF) constructed wetlands (CWs) were investigated for the treatment of leachate from STBs under three different hydraulic retention time (HRT) (3 days, 4 days, 6 days), aiming for evaluating the effects of plants and HRT on treatment performance, as well as the potential of SSF CWs to treat sludge leachate with low COD/N ration. The results showed that plants play an important role in leachate treatment. The best treatment performance was achieved with HRT of 4 days. In this condition, the mean removal efficiencies of COD (chemical oxygen demand), NH4+-N, TN (total nitrogen), and TP (total phosphorus) in the planted and the unplanted CWs were 61.6% (unplanted − 3.7%), 76.6% (unplanted 43.5%), 70% (unplanted 41%), and 65.6% (unplanted 6%), respectively. Heavy metal concentrations were below the Chinese integrated wastewater discharge standard during the experimental period in the planted CW, and the removal efficiencies in the planted CW system were higher than in the unplanted CW system. In all, planted SSF CWs can be an effective approach in removing leachate from sludge treatment beds. Furthermore, considering to temperature and seasonal variation, the leachate from STBs needs to be further studied in pilot- and full-scale condition.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Mark Francis Sixsmith for revising the English language.

Funding

Shanshan Hu received support from the China Scholarship Council for the PhD scholarship (CSC, No. 201706760061). This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (Grant no. 2014CFB928).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16521, Prague, Czech Republic

    Shanshan Hu & Zhongbing Chen

  2. The Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province, Jiangsu Normal University, Shanghai Road 101, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Zuopeng Lv

  3. College of Resources and Environmental Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, China

    Ke Chen

  4. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Jian’gan Road 12, Guilin, 541004, China

    Liangliang Huang

  5. College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China

    Xingtao Zuo & Jiajie He

  6. Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, People’s Republic of China

    Yi Chen

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  1. Shanshan Hu
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Correspondence to Yi Chen.

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Table SM1

Characteristics of the sludge leachate entering the two CWs (DOCX 18 kb)

Fig. SM1

Air temperature and humidity trend under the different hydraulic retention time. (PNG 90 kb)

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Hu, S., Chen, Z., Lv, Z. et al. Purification of leachate from sludge treatment beds by subsurface flow constructed wetlands: effects of plants and hydraulic retention time. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 5769–5781 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-4006-7

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