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Ecological Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoleng
Key Laboratory of Water Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Department of Environmental Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, School Environment, Northeast Normal University,
Changchun 130117, China
b
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Article history:
Received 16 September 2014
Received in revised form 17 March 2015
Accepted 9 April 2015
Available online xxx
The present study explored treatment performance and nitrogen removal mechanisms of a single-stage
tidal ow constructed wetland (TFCW) under ooded time ranging from 12 to 48 h. The TFCW achieved
high and stable COD (7794%), NH4+N (5582%), and TN (6084%) removal efciencies simultaneously,
without costly aeration. Quantitative response relationships between nitrogen transformation rates and
nitrogen functional genes were established, and these relationships conrmed that, under the FT
constraints, the anammox 16S rRNA was the key factor of the NH4+N transformation rates, whereas,
(napA + narG) was the key factor regulating the NO3N transformation rate. The analysis also revealed
that the simultaneous nitrication, anammox, and denitrication (SNAD) process was the dominant
nitrogen removal pathway in the TFCW.
2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Tidal ow constructed wetland (TFCW)
Flooded time (FT)
Nitrogen functional genes
Anammox
1. Introduction
Tidal ow constructed wetlands (TFCWs) are one of the most
signicant developments in constructed wetlands (CWs) in the last
decade, having substantially improved the treatment capacity of
organic matter and ammonia nitrogen by overcoming the limited
oxygen supply of traditional CWs (Sun et al., 2005; Wu et al.,
2011a). However, the total nitrogen (TN) removal efciency in
TFCWs is not ideal because of the high oxygen content (Ju et al.,
2014; Cui et al., 2012).
The tidal ow principle, which includes four operational
procedures (ll-contact-drain-rest), distinguishes TFCWs from
traditional CWs (Sun et al., 2006). The theory behind the process
of nitrogen removal in TFCWs is as follows. First, ammonium
cations (NH4+N) are adsorbed on matrix, pores, and surfaces
when wetland cells are ooded. Second, as wetland cells drain,
matrix, pores immediately ll with air, according to Ficks law,
which shows that oxygen transfer is favored over nitrication of
adsorbed NH4+N. Finally, in the next ood cycle, nitrate (NO3N)
and nitrite (NO2N) desorb into bulk water, where they are
denitried into atmospheric nitrogen (Austin, 2006; Chang et al.,
2014). Therefore, the ooded time (FT) of TFCWs plays a key role in
forming effective anoxic conditions that are favorable for reducing
oxidized-N (NO2N/NO3N) to improve removal total nitrogen
(TN).
* Corresponding authors. Tel.: +86 431 89165612; fax: +86 431 89165611.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2015.04.073
0925-8574/ 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
267
Table 1
Inuent wastewater characteristics in each phase (average SD) (mg/L).
COD
NH4+N
NO2N
NO3N
TN
pH
DO
Phase 1 (12 h)
2148 days
Phase 2 (18 h)
5583 days
Phase 3 (24 h)
90118 days
Phase 4 (36 h)
125153 days
Phase 5 (48 h)
160188 days
199.9 8.16
32.80 1.35
0.0083 0.0049
5.37 1.7
38.18 2.75
7.43 0.31
8.68 0.17
240.93 11.93
34.20 2.52
0.0057 0.0021
5.9 0.24
39.79 2.45
7.38 0.46
8.37 0.16
207.6 16.96
34.57 3.6
0.0040 0.0036
5.00 0.14
39.57 4.9
7.36 0.10
8.17 0.28
206.1 5.27
37.50 1.73
0.0087 0.0067
4.47 0.27
41.98 1.55
7.34 0.02
7.44 0.37
204.07 16.51
34.80 0.62
0.0097 0.0058
4.74 0.33
39.55 0.74
7.32 0.03
7.02 0.34
268
was higher than the accumulation rate with other FTs, the
accumulation rate still remained under 0.05 g/m3/day (Fig. 2).
3.2. Effect of FT on the absolute abundance of nitrogen functional
genes
Fig. 1. Concentrations and removal efciency of COD (a), NH4+N (b), TN (c) and
effuent concentration of NO3N, NO2N, and DO (d).
N were both under 0.6 mg/L (Fig. 1d). The efuent concentrations
of DO decreased slightly as FTs increased from 12 to 48 h (Fig. 1d).
FT played an important role in the nitrogen transformation
rates. The transformation rates of TN, NH4+N, and NO3N
decreased sharply as FT increased. NH4+N and TN removal rates
nearly halved when FT increased from 12 to 48 h. Under this
scenario, the NO3N removal rate decreased from 5.69 to 1.70 g/
m3/day. Although the NO2N accumulation rate with a CT of 18 h
269
Fig. 4. Nitrogen transformation pathways with functional genes in TFCWs (a) and
transformation limiting pathways of NH4+N (b), NO3 N (c) and NO2N (d).
Table 2
Quantitative response relationships between nitrogen transformation rates and functional genes abundance (n = 5).
Stepwise regression models
Equations
R2
p-Value
Equations
R2
p-Value
0.819
0.035
0.990
0.010
0.915
N.A.
0.011
N.A.
0.996
0.998
0.004
0.002
270
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