Ceramsite Facilitated Microbial Degradation of Pollutants in Domestic Wastewater

Qiong Wan, Qingji Han, Hailin Luo, Tao He, Feng Xue, Zihuizhong Ye, Chen Chen and Shan Huang
Additional contact information
Qiong Wan: School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Qingji Han: Xi’an Research and Design Institute of Wall & Roof Materials Co., Ltd., Xi’an 710061, China
Hailin Luo: State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ecological Environment Simulation and Protection, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Guangzhou 510535, China
Tao He: State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ecological Environment Simulation and Protection, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Guangzhou 510535, China
Feng Xue: Xi’an Pengyi Environmental Engineering co. Ltd., Xi’an 710054, China
Zihuizhong Ye: Stuart Country Day School, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Chen Chen: State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ecological Environment Simulation and Protection, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Guangzhou 510535, China
Shan Huang: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-13

Abstract: Although constructed wetlands (CWs) are widely used around the world with various substrates, the mechanisms of how these modified substrates affect wastewater treatment are still unknown. In this study, CW microcosms were established with and without ceramsite as a substrate, and the wastewater treatment efficiencies were evaluated during 71 days of incubation. Using the 16S rRNA high-through sequencing, the mechanisms of how CW substrate changed the microbial community was quantified. The results showed that compared to soil as substrate, the use of ceramsite as substrate material enhanced the removal of pollutants from CW systems, particularly under a short retention time (1.5-day) condition. There were more beneficial microorganism groups (nitrogen, sulfur, phosphate) in the ceramsite CW system than the non-ceramsite CW system, particularly in the bottom layers. Moreover, the CW with ceramsite substrate had more nitrification function. All of these results suggested that the ceramsite CW system enhanced the removal of pollutants because it increased the concentration of key microbes that are necessarily for nutrient cycles.

Keywords: constructed wetland; ceramsite substrate; microbial community component; nitrogen functional microorganisms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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