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MODULE 2 - WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Unit 2.6 - Further reading: Case study on constructed wetlands

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2
2 System design ....................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Plant design..................................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Pool design...................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Medium and vegetal species ........................................................................................... 7
3 Performance monitoring ....................................................................................................... 8
4 References ........................................................................................................................... 11

CONSTRUCTED WETLAND IN A CHEESE FACTORY IN MORGEX, ITALY

1 Introduction

In the present study, the design and realization of a functional hybrid (HF and VF)
phytoremediation plant is presented. The plant was installed by a team of Politecnico di Torino to
process the outlet wastewater of Morgex (Aosta Valley, Italy) mountain cheese factory.
The critical parameters that we intended to reduce were the TSS, BOD5, and COD. Our
purpose was to evaluate the feasibility and the treatment efficiency under heavy stress condition.
Indeed, the wastewater system had to work during the winter period and treat a very variable
organic loading rate (typical of a milk-house). To realize a functional system, the most known
advanced solutions were used to maximize the available space and to reduce the initial cost.

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Figure 1 – Photo of the site.

2 System design

2.1 Plant design

The idea was to realize a constructed wetland hybrid system in an area near the cheese
factory with the following structural units (Figure 2):
• a first pre-treatment for the reduction of the fat part;
• a tank for the needing to pump the fluid in the following pools;
• phytoremediation treatment with two separated vertical submerged flow pools (V-
SFS);
• an horizontal submerged flow pool (H-SFS);
• a tank for stocking the outlet water;
• the control system panel

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Figure 2 - Morgex hybrid phytoremediation plant general layout with details of functional blocks.

V-SFS wetlands (often two or more stages in combination) are used for TSS filtration, BOD
removal, and nitrification; subsequent H-SFS stages are used for effluent polishing. This process
configuration is capable of producing a nitrified effluent. If total nitrogen reduction is a design goal,
then recycle of the nitrified effluent back to the primary treatment tank is commonly employed. Fat
biodegradation may become difficult as their biodegradability rate is very low. The fat separator
system is made of a pre-build unit buried immediately under the wastewater discharge, and can
also sustain light street load. For the realization of this system a single pre made fat separator unit
capable of 3,800 L has been used. Then the wastewater was accumulated inside a pre-made tank
of 10,000 L. A pump station, placed inside it, moves the flow at the top of the vertical pools. The
design head of the pumps is 7.6 m, and is given by the geodetic difference between the starting
pool level and the level of the arrival one, plus the distributed and the concentrated head losses
along the pipes.
Since the inlet flow is Qp = 10 l/s, the minimum nominal power (Pnom) of the pump is 1.05
kW, but for better reliability it has been assumed an effective power (Peff) of 1.33 kW. The flow
between the vertical pools and the horizontal one is assured by the geodetic difference. The inlet
flow to the horizontal pool is guaranteed by a semi-circular weir. The alternative and discontinue
activation of the pumps is controlled by a remote control panel that after a pause of 2 h allows a
working period of 2 min and 40 s. The outlet flow will reach a buried tank (using a PEAD pipe of

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DN = 110 mm), placed in the nearby of the two vertical pools (made of PRFV and has a capacity of
18,000 L). At the top of the tank a small gutter is placed where it is possible to pick the samples for
the analysis. During the start-up phase, where the activity of the plants is not so strong, the
processed wastewater will be treated in a separated treatment plant.

2.2 Pool design

Indispensable and prior condition was to calculate the effective area of the available working
space. The field that will be used for the construction of the plant is 42 m length and 23.5 m width
(about 1000 m2 in total), and it is for the most part plane and with minimum climb. Chemical and
physical analysis (Table 1) of the wastewater coming from a similar milk-house placed in the
vicinity was used to realize preliminary design of the plant, after that the outlet limits according to
the Italian law were fixed. Consequently, the calculus models that resulted most reliable at the
design time were adopted.

Table 1. Chemical and physical analysis of untreated wastewater.

2.2.1. Vertical subsurface flow system (V-SFS)

The two vertical subsurface flow pools are placed one parallel to the other. Two different
methods are initially adopted for the V-SFS system in order to perform BOD5 treatment. The Brix
equation is utilized for the design; the empiricism that is contained in this approach is evident. The
equation contains a 25% security factor and is not easy to handle it when a predetermined area is
set. The first method is based upon the oxygen request, on the required removal request and on
the oxygenation capacity.

Assuming that for the nitrification of 1 g of nitrogen 4.3 g of oxygen is required, Ka measures
the air transport that takes place in the subsoil and shapes up to 30 mg/m 2 day, considering a
security factor of 25%, and setting oxygen demand (OD) value equal to 20.6 g O2/day (estimating a

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BOD5 removal of 30% after the pre-treatment) a total square area of 858 m2 is obtained. It was
documented that vertical flow beds are extremely effective in removing suspended solids and
BOD5 and they do also nitrify at high loading rate during cold winters. The second adopted method
uses the plant outlet flow as key parameter. Indeed, a critical decision is the evaluation of the
intervals between the stop and go phases of the pumps. Assuming 2.5 L of working water used for
1 L of worked milk, about 20 m3 of produced wastewater is obtained in a single day. The correct
number of delivery gap was taken from the literature and can be included between 2 and 6 for day
for single vertical pool. Considering 20 m3/12 (total gap for day for both pools) = 1.6 m 3. Divided for
the two vertical pools the single volume to be processed is equal to 0.8 m3. The final dimensions of
the pools are identified in L = 16 m and W = 11.25 m. Each pool has an area of 180 m2 for a total
area of 360 m2. For precautionary purpose this calculation does not take into consideration the
BOD5 removed inside the fat separator, in this way we can have an organic load rate higher than
the normal. The BOD removal factor of V-SFS pools is assumed as 70% so the organic load is
calculated equal to 822 mg/L (Table 2).

Table 2. Preliminary and definitive main features of the milk-house wastewater treatment facility.

2.2.2. Horizontal subsurface flow system (H-SFS)

The dimensioning of the H-SFS pool was obtained using two methodologies. Both the
approaches considered the Reed et al. (1995) first grade decay and a plug-flow model for BOD5
treatment. The model seems to be almost entirely independent from the temperature (only for the
nitrogen species a sort of dependency is present). In our case the temperature of the cheese
factory outlet wastewater is constantly at about 30 °C and reaches the last pool with a temperature
of approximately 10–15 °C. During the winter season, when the temperature is frequently expected
to be near 0 °C, the wastewater will reach the system with a lower temperature but it will be

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decidedly higher than the air one. All the tubes are placed at 30 cm underground to avoid the risk
of ice. The model is not so sensible to the changing of the climatic condition, so a temperature of
15 °C as nominal value was considered.

Using Eq. (2) with an average flow (Qav) of about 17 m 3/d, first order kinetic constant (Kt) of
0.733 d−1 a porosity (n) of 32% (literature value for coarse sand), a pool depth (d) of 0.7 m, a BOD5
inlet concentration (Ci) equal to 1.175 mg/L (taken as maximum value of the used chemicals
analysis) and a BOD5 outlet concentration (C0) of 40 mg/L (set by the Italian law), the requested
pool area (As) is 343.9 m2. With this value the hydraulic retention time is 4.6 days as minimum (an
optimal value is placed between 4 and 15 days). The hydraulic load is evaluated with a value of
about 0.05 m/day (reference values are placed between 0.01 and 0.05). The transversal area is
calculated with Darcy's formula and is equal to 22.9 m2. The second methodology used Eq. (2) with
the C0 as unknown parameter. Considering an average flow of about 17 m3/d, first order kinetic
constant (Kt) of 0.733 d−1, a porosity of 3%, a pool depth of 1 m, and a BOD5 inlet concentration
equal to 1.175 mg/L the obtained BOD5 is equal to 87 mg/L with a remove value equal to 89%. The
pool is set with the following values: L = 16.4 m and W = 11 m, for a total area of 180.4 m2. The
L/W ratio is 1.49 and results verified as the following hydraulic check: L × i = 0.02 < 0.3. This
control assures a correct outflow of the wastewater. For the organic load the Environmental
Protection Agency suggests a high limit value of 0.2 kg BOD5/m2 a day for surface transversal unit,
in this way there will not be any medium occlusion at the beginning of the bed (Table 2).

2.3 Medium and vegetal species

According to the Danish guidelines (Brix and Arias, 2005), it was decided to adopt a multi-
layer for the horizontal pool with substrate of different dimensions (starting from the bottom 8–16
mm gravel, 4–8 mm gravel, 8–16 mm medium gravel and a 50% soil and 50% peat layer). Instead,
for the two vertical pools a single layer medium was chosen, that changes only in the bottom and
upper part (starting from the bottom 6–12 mm gravel, 0–3 mm sand and again 6–12 mm gravel) as
visible in Figure 3.

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Figure 3 - UP: layout details of the V-SFS pool; DOWN: layout details of the H-SFS pool.

The right selection of the plant species was based upon different possibilities. Phragmites
australis, available in a nearby natural wetland zone was used. For both the pool systems
seedlings were used in an initial number of 4 m2. In the horizontal bed, where it is important to
have the maximum roots extension, the Phragmites will be an ideal choice, because its roots can
reach 1 m deep in a very short time. At the same time, used in the vertical beds, this particular
plant species will create a dense network of roots that will increase the efficiency of the removal
process.
Treatment performances and criticalities were monitored from December 2007 to February
2010. Samples were taken at V-SFS and H-SFS outlet in the buckets and at the inlet inside the
pump station.

3 Performance monitoring

The wastewater flow volumetric intensity was observed from the beginning of the monitoring
phase to vary on a seasonal, diurnal and hourly basis with very high differences between the
minimum effluent flow and the maximum one. Consequently, the cheese factory produced more
wastewater quantity then used in the design model. Indeed, a daily maximum flow was measured
of about 40 m3. To avoid the risk of clogging situations the factory management realized a water
separator to divide the refreshing process water from the washing one. Using only the washing

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water quota the flow reenters inside the design range, even if in some occasion flood situation was
noticed in the H-SFS pool. The causes can be found in a wrong pump time programming, due to
blackout reset or inadequate electric maintenance, and, in some situations, an extremely high flow
rate that started the pump station tank emergency sequence. During the first winter the
temperatures were very low and several snowfalls contributed to create a dramatic situation for the
plant. A monitoring count effectuated after the snowmelt showed that in the two V-SFS pools the
Phragmites mortality reached a value of about 50% and in the H-SFS one was of about 15%. In
the same period, it was observed how that one critic point of the entire plant can be estimated in
the grease trap, almost always full and not sufficient to catch all the grease trace inside the
wastewater. To avoid malfunctioning situations, in agreement with the management of the factory,
a method was studied to keep the grease trap tank constantly clean. A simple physical treatment is
not enough for the grease breakdown, so alternative solution will be taken in consideration for the
future. After the first year the treatment system started to work regularly with minor malfunctioning
reports, and the Phragmites growth proceeded well reaching the dominance in about two years.
The overall removal rates performed by the plant during the several monitored periods have been
respectively 28% minimum and 88% maximum for TSS, 53% minimum and 80% maximum for
COD, 31% minimum to 80% maximum for BOD5, 25% minimum to 80% maximum for TOC, 10%
minimum and 73% maximum for total phosphorus, 40% minimum and 51% maximum for total
nitrogen. Considering the general performances of the whole treatment system (from mid-2007
until mid-2010), it can be noticed that the outlet concentrations did never satisfied the national
limits for discharging in superficial water for industrial facilities, and also never satisfied the limits
for reuse (see the Italian discharge and reuse limits – D.Lgs. 152/2006). This does not mean that
the system treatment is a failure as the reduction value is still higher. In Table 3 the detailed results
obtained for the different parameters are reported; it can be noticed that the most part of
considered parameter removal takes place in the 1st stage, reducing this way the risk of clogging
in the 2nd stage H-SFS bed. Another potential criticality, for a biological treatment scheme like the
one adopted in this case, is the very low level of nutrients available in the inlet wastewater in
comparison with the level of biodegradable organic carbon available. During the monitoring phase
it was highlighted that the nutrient levels never assumed strange behavior, but maintain a linear
value over time. It is important to control this chemical indicator in order to understand how well the
plant biological compartment is working during time.

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Table 3. Treatment performance for the analyzed parameters during the entire monitored period.

During more than two years of monitoring the TSS was removed reaching good treatment
performance of about 80% in the entire wetland. This 80% reduction is comparable with data from
two other milk house treatment wetlands constructed in the United States (Oregon and Indiana)
that reported TSS reductions of 73% and 65%, respectively. Vymazal (2009) in his study on
horizontal subsurface flow, for various types of wastewater, reports an average value for
agricultural wastewaters of about 77%. The performance is also inside the range to those
commonly observed in full scale H-SFS, which varies from 75 to 85% (IWA, 2000).
In the COD monitoring, the removal reached a value of 80% in the entire system. A strong
increase in the COD removal was noticed after plant growth, even if in midwinter and specifically
inside the two V-SFS pools.
An overall reduction of 80% was achieved in BOD5 concentrations. In comparison with other
similar dairy milk-house treatment wetlands, the efficiency of this treatment system was in
agreement with the values of 40–50% reported for a similar wetland in Oregon during the start-up
phase, but it was also in agreement with the preliminary BOD5 reductions of 62–81% obtained from
another similar system in Indiana (Reaves et al., 1994) during the latest phase. In the Vymazal's
research the treatment performance of H-SFS wetland treating agricultural wastewater indicates a
reduction efficiency of 68%.
During the monitoring phase the pH trend (Table 3) was always near the neutral value, even
if in several cases the initial value was far away from neutrality. The treatment system was able to

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process remnant wastewater contaminants. TKN, NH3-N, N2O and NO3 contaminants were always
present inside the wastewater in a very low trace. In some cases, the values were hardly under the
unit for mg/L. During the monitoring phase the removal trend followed the adopted technology
scheme. Indeed, most of inlet nitrogen enters the 1st stage in its organic forms, and during the
passage throughout the V-SFS bed was then strongly oxidized, and during the permanence inside
the H-SFS the ammonification happened again in a light form (Table 3). In this particular case
nitrates were not a big concern, firstly because their presence in the inlet was already near the law
limits and secondly because the wetland system was designed using the most influent
contaminants inside the wastewater (BOD5). With higher TP concentration the system reached a
mean reduction value of about 55%, but when the presence of TP was near or under the law limit
the system efficiency started to decade. The overall percentage reduction obtained by this wetland
system was comparable with the percentage reductions reported by Reaves et al. (1994) at the
Oregon milk-house system (66%) and at the low end of reductions ranging from 49 to 78%
reported by Skarda et al. (1994) at the Indiana milk-house wetland. Vymazal (2009) founded that
the average treatment performance of H-SFS wetlands treating agricultural wastewater was of
54%.

4 References

H. Brix, C.A. Arias. Danish guidelines for small-scale constructed wetland systems for onsite
treatment of domestic sewage. Water Sci. Technol., 51 (9) (2005), pp. 1-9
H. Brix, C.A. Arias, N.H. Johansen. BOD and nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater in
an experimental two-stage vertical flow constructed wetland system with recycling. Proceedings of
the Eighth International Conference on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control, Arusha,
Tanzania, September 16–19 (2002), pp. 400-410
IWA, 2000 International Water Association (IWA), 2000. Constructed Wetland for Pollution
Control: Processes, Performance, Design and Operation. Scientific and Technical Report No. 8,
IWA Publishing, London, UK.
R.P. Reaves, P.J. DuBowy, B.K. Miller. Performance of a constructed wetland for dairy waste
treatment in Lagrange County, Indiana. Constructed Wetlands for Animal Waste Management.
Proceedings of Workshop, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, April 4–6, 1994 (1994), pp.
43-53
S.H. Reed, R.W. Crites, E.J. Middlebrooks. Natural Systems for Waste Management and
Treatment (2nd ed.), McGraw-Hill, New York (1995)

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S.M. Skarda, J.A. Moore, S.F. Niswander, M.J. Gamroth. Preliminary results of wetland for
treatment of dairy farm wastewater. Constructed Wetlands for Animal Waste Management.
Proceedings of Workshop, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, April 4–6, 1994 (1994), pp.
34-42
J. Vymazal. The use constructed wetland with horizontal sub-surface flow various types of
wastewater. Ecol. Eng., 35 (2009), pp. 1-17

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