Performance of a tidal flow constructed wetland used for post-treatment of on-site wastewater in cold climate

The performance of a tidal flow constructed wetland (TFCW) following wastewater treatment in a package plant designed for two households was studied in a nine-month field trial and its design evaluated through process modelling and pumping tests. The TFCW is operated by filling and draining periods lasting five to nine days, depending on wastewater production by users. The effects of passive aeration, temperature, influent concentration of nutrients and bacteria as well as hydraulic loading on the treatment efficacy of the TFCW system were studied. Results showed that the TFCW system removed ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N, 76%), phosphate -phosphorus (PO4-P, 56%), total inorganic nitrogen (TIN, 28%) and reduced water pH by15%. The removal efficiency of TIN was significantly improved in the summer (> 50%). The average influent concentration of total phosphorus (TP) was low after the preceding package plant treatment (1.12 mg L-1), but the TFCW showed ability to further reduce TP to the average concentration of 0.57 mg L-1. A coupled reactive transport model was developed in the COMSOL Multiphysics (R) 5.6 software to predict processes of water flow and was validated against the actual data from the field. The modelling exhibited a satisfactory prediction accuracy and capability to capture behavior of effluent PO4-P, NH4-N and dissolved oxygen concentration. Moreover, modelling processes helped to understand the defects of water flow and adsorption processes within the treatment wetland.

Automated summary

The performance and design of a tidal flow constructed wetland (TFCW) for wastewater treatment were studied through a nine-month field trial and process modelling. The TFCW demonstrated effective removal of pollutants and pH reduction. The modelling accurately predicted water flow processes and identified defects in the treatment wetland.