Magdalena Gajewska

Impact of influent wastewater quality on nitrogen removal rates in multistage treatment wetlands.

Nitrogen removal in treatment wetlands is influenced by many factors, and the presence of electron donors (biodegradable organic matter) and electron acceptors (nitrate ions) is the main limiting one; for obtaining these conditions, multistage treatment wetlands (MTWs) are required, where an extensive nitrification can be obtained in the first stages under aerobic conditions leaving then to the following anoxic/anaerobic stages the duty of the denitrification. Most of the biodegradable organic matter is however oxidised in the first stages, and therefore, the inlet to the denitrification beds is usually poor of easily degradable carbon sources. This study is comparing the long-term performances obtained at several MTWs operating in Europe (North and South) and North Africa in order to understand if there is a significant avail in making use of the influent chemical oxygen demand (COD)/N ratio during the design phase for ensuring proper performances in terms of N overall removal. The statistic analysis performed in this study have shown that MTWs are capable to ensure sufficient removal of both organic and nutrients even in unfavourable proportions of macronutrients (C and N). The usual assumptions for conventional biological treatment systems concerning adequate C/N ratios seem to be dubious in case of wastewater treatment in MTWs.

Removal of organic matter and nitrogen in an horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) constructed wetland under transient loads.

A monitoring campaign in a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland under the influence of transient loads of flow-rate, organic matter, nitrogen and suspended solids showed an irregular removal of COD and TSS and lower both removal efficiencies and mass removal rates than the ones observed in other studies for similar operating conditions. This circumstance is associated to the presence of large amount of particulate organic matter from non-point sources. The mass removal rate of ammonia increased 39% as both the water and soil temperatures increased from weeks 1-8 to weeks 9-14. A good correlation between mass load and mass removal rate was observed for all measured parameters, which attests a satisfactory response of the bed under to transient loads.

Rural domestic wastewater treatment in Norway and Poland: experiences, cooperation and concepts on the improvement of constructed wetland technology

This article describes Norwegian and Polish experiences concerning domestic wastewater treatment obtained during nearly 20 years of operation for constructed wetland (CW) systems in rural areas and scattered settlements. The Norwegian CW systems revealed a high performance with respect to the removal of organic matter, biogenic elements and faecal indicator bacteria. The performance of the Polish CW systems was unstable, and varied between unsatisfied and satisfied treatment efficiency provided by horizontal and vertical flow CWs, respectively. Therefore, three different concepts related to the improvement of CW technology have been developed and implemented in Poland. These concepts combined some innovative solutions originally designed in Norway (e.g. an additional treatment step in biofilters) with Polish inspiration for new CWs treating rural domestic wastewater. The implementation of full-scale systems will be evaluated with regard to treatment efficiency and innovative technology; based on this, a further selection of the most favourable CW for rural areas and scattered settlements will be performed.

Domestic Wastewater Treatment

SSF systems are usually applied at the 2nd stage of domestic wastewater treatment, after mechanical treatment. The number of such installations working at the moment in Europe is estimated to be 100,000. In Germany about 10,000 systems are in operation.

Assessment of the technological reliability of a hybrid constructed wetland for wastewater treatment in a mountain eco-tourist farm in Poland

The aim of the present study was to assess the technological reliability of a domestic hybrid wastewater treatment installation consisting of a classic three-chambered (volume 6 m3) septic tank, a vertical flow trickling bed filled with granules of a calcinated clay material (KERAMZYT), a special wetland bed constructed on a slope, and a permeable pond used as a receiver. The test treatment plant was located at a mountain eco-tourist farm on the periphery of the spa municipality of Krynica-Zdrój, Poland. The plants operational reliability in reducing the concentration of organic matter, measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), was 100% when modelled by both the Weibull and the lognormal distributions. The respective reliability values for total nitrogen removal were 76.8% and 77.0%, total suspended solids - 99.5% and 92.6%, and PO4-P - 98.2% and 95.2%, with the differences being negligible. The installation was characterized by a very high level of technological reliability when compared with other solutions of this type. The Weibull method employed for statistical evaluation of technological reliability can also be used for comparison purposes. From the ecological perspective, the facility presented in the study has proven to be an effective tool for protecting local aquifer areas.

Application of Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands for Highly Contaminated Wastewater Treatment: Preliminary Results

Based on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of reject waters (RWC) generated during dewatering of digested sewage sludge on centrifuges in conventional WWTP and municipal landfill leachate (LL), the pilot constructed wetlands for treatment of both types wastewater were designed and built. In the paper the conception, design and assumed treatment efficiencies of the pilot plants are presented. The water balance of the pilot treatment wetlands is presented and potential implications of water losses through evapotranspiration in case of treating wastewater with high concentrations of pollutants are discussed. Preliminary treatment results, obtained during the start-up period, showed good treatment effectiveness of BOD (74% for RWC and 84.5% for LL), while the effectiveness of ammonia nitrogen removal was below 20% for LL and from 48 to 59% for RWC.

Long-term operation of Kickuth-type constructed wetland applied to municipal wastewater treatment in temperate climate

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problem of changes of effectiveness of Kickuth-type constructed wetland with subsurface flow applied to domestic wastewater treatment. This study is based on an example of a wetland 3000 m2 in surface, serving 800 inhabitants, located in Poland. The results of chemical analysis showed that after an initial year of ‘start-up time’, the efficiency of pollutant removal gradually increased to reach an apex in the 6th year of operation. Such maximum efficiency continued up to the 10th year of operation; afterwards it gradually dropped. Moreover, after 12 years of operation, a serious problem with overland flow was observed, which indicated the porous media clogging processes.

Multistage treatment wetland for treatment of reject waters from digested sludge dewatering

The paper presents the influence of sewage composition on treatment in pilot-scale facility for reject waters (RW) from sewage sludge centrifugation. The facility consisted of mechanical (two tanks with 10 d retention each) and biological parts composed of three subsurface flow reed beds working in batch. Two years of monitoring of the facility proved high efficiency removal of predominant pollutants: chemical oxygen demand (COD) 75-80%, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) 82.2-95.5% and total nitrogen 78.7-93.9% for low ratio of BOD5/COD in discharged RW. The differences in efficiency removal were correlated with the composition of organics and nitrogen compounds rather than with concentrations. It was assumed that high concentration of colloidal fraction of Org-N and COD in discharged RW led to a decrease in efficiency removal.

Application, design and operation of constructed wetland systems: case studies of systems in the Gdansk region, Poland

Abstract Constructed wetland systems in Poland are applied to provide secondary treatment of domestic wastewater, protection of surface water and treatment of landfill leachate. Due to climatic conditions vegetated submerged beds (VSB) are most commonly applied for sewage and leachate treatment. For water protection systems with FWS or with mixed flow are more commonly used. The objective of the study was to recognize the efficiency and operation conditions of existing constructed wetland in Poland. It was concluded that discharging of too high loads of contaminations as well as too high hydraulic loadings leads to beds clogging and to the decrease of treatment efficiency in consequence. The average rates of organic matter and total nitrogen decomposition rates at the CW Wiklino were twice higher for the HF-CW II in comparison to corresponding rates for HF-CW I. The constants were dependent not only on temperature of sewage but on loads of contamination in the sewage as well.

Partitioning of heavy metals in sub-surface flow treatment wetlands receiving high-strength wastewater

The retention of heavy metals at two pilot-scale treatment wetlands (TWs), consisting of two vertical flow beds (VSSF) followed by a horizontal flow bed (HSSF) was studied. The TWs received high-strength wastewater: reject waters from sewage sludge centrifugation (RW) and landfill leachate (LL). The concentrations of the metals Fe, Mn, Zn, Al, Pb, Cu, Cd, Co, and Ni were measured in treated wastewater, substrate of the beds and in plant material harvested from the beds (separately in above ground (ABG) parts and below ground (BG) parts). The TWs differed in metals retention. In the RW treating TW the metal removal efficiencies varied from 27% for Pb to over 97% for Fe and Al. In the LL treating system the concentrations of most metals decreased after VSSF-1 and VSSF-2 beds; however, in the outflow from the last (HSSF) bed, the concentrations of metals (apart from Al) increased again, probably due to the anaerobic conditions at the bed. A major removal pathway was sedimentation and adsorption onto soil substrate as well as precipitation and co-precipitation. In the LL treating facility the plants contained substantially higher metal concentrations in BG parts, while the upward movement of metals was restricted. In the RW treating facility the BG/ABG ratios were lower, indicating that metals were transported to shoots.