Effects of Alkali-Pretreated Plant Biomass on Nitrate Removal in Subsurface-Flow Constructed Wetlands

Abstract:

Denitrification is strongly dependent on carbon quantity and quality in most constructed wetlands (CWs), and pH may be a key factor in determining the supply of available carbon source (ACS) in the pre-treatment of external plant biomass. In this study, three bath CWs were designed, and were fed with nitrate-dominated water to investigate nitrate removal affected by external cattail litter with different pH pre-treatment (pH = 7.0, 10.0, 12.0). During the experiment, higher nitrate removal was observed in the wetland using pH12.0 pre-treatment litter leachate as the carbon source. Strong alkaline fermentation at ambient temperature can be considered as a sustainable technology for wetland plant litter pre-treatment.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volumes 522-524)
• Pages: 590-595
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.522-524.590
• Online since: February 2014
• Authors: Ming Xiao Zhang, Xue Cen Yu, Yue Wen*, Qi Zhou
• Keywords: Available Carbon Source, Nitrate Removal, Plant Biomass, Subsurface-Flow Constructed Wetlands (SSF CWs)

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