Total nitrogen removal in biochar amended non-aerated vertical flow constructed wetlands for secondary wastewater effluent with low C/N ratio: Microbial community structure and dissolved organic carbon release conditions

Biochar was utilized to intensify constructed wetland (CW) for further organic and nitrogen removal from secondary wastewater. Four sets of non-aerated biochar amended vertical flow CW (VFCW) were developed to investigate the synergistic effects of biochar and microbes on pollutant removal. Results showed that the average COD and nitrogen removal efficiencies of VFCW1 (with 1% w/w biochar with microbe and plants) achieved 89.1 +/- 5.6% and 90.2 +/- 3.1% respectively, and their corresponding removal rates of 10.2 +/- 0.8 mg-COD/(m(3).d) and 3.57 +/- 0.3 mg-TN/(m(3).d) which were 35 and 52.3% higher than control. The biochar's dissolved organic carbon release in VFCWs indicated that water and acidic media portray the optimum conditions for nitrogen removal. The 168 RNA gene sequencing analysis indicated that in the biochar-amended VFCWs, bacterial phylum Proteobacteria (24.13-51.95%) followed by Chloroftexi (5.64-25.01%), Planctomycetes (8.48-14.43%), Acidobacteria (2.29-11.65%) were abundantly enhanced. Conclusively, incorporating biochar in non-aerated VFCWs is an efficient technique for enhancing nitrogen removal from secondary effluent.

Automated summary

Biochar was used to enhance the removal of organic and nitrogen from secondary wastewater in constructed wetlands. Adding 1% biochar and microbes significantly increased the removal efficiencies of COD and nitrogen, while the release of dissolved organic carbon from biochar promoted nitrogen removal. RNA gene sequencing analysis showed enhanced growth of bacteria in biochar-amended systems.