Removal of Total Nitrogen and Phosphorus Using Single or Combinations of Aquatic Plants

Phytoremediation is a potentially suitable technology for taking up large amounts of N and P during plant growth and the removal of plant material, thereby avoiding eutrophication. We compared the capacity of nine different aquatic plant species for removing total P (TP), total N (TN), and NH4+-N from raw domestic sewage wastewater collected from a living area located in Guangzhou city, China, and different concentrations of artificial wastewater. The experiments were performed in two stages, namely screening and modification. In the screening stage, four plant species were identified from the nine grown in raw domestic sewage water for 36 days. In the modification stage, the TN and TP removal ability of different plant combinations were determined in artificial wastewater at different N/P concentrations. After having been grown in monocultures for 46 days, Ipomoea aquatica (90.6% and 8.8%) and Salvinia natans (67.3% and 14.2%) obtained the highest TP removal efficiency in lightly and highly polluted wastewater, respectively. The combination of S. natans and Eleocharis plantagineiformis effectively removed TP and TN from lightly polluted water, suggesting that this combination is suitable for phytoremediation of eutrophic wastewater.