Journal
ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Volume 138, Issue -, Pages 138-147Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.07.003
Keywords
Constructed wetland; Vertical ecosystem; Horizontal flow; Greywater; Pharmaceutical active compounds; Endocrine disrupting compounds
Funding
- Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through a Consolidated Research Group (ICRA-TECH) - Catalan Institute for Water Research [2017 SGR 1318]
- Ramon y Cajal research fellowship [RYC-2014-16754]
- Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [CTM2017-85385-C2-1-R]
- European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under the Catalan FEDER Operative Program 2007-2013
- MINECO
- 7th framework program of the European Union [619116]
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A horizontal flow wetland (HF) was integrated, in a cascading vertical set-up (vertECO), in a Mediterranean tourist facility for decentralized treatment of real low load greywater streams. 15 different plant species were tested in LECA substrate at three different hydraulic retention times (HRTs: 1.9, 1.4 and 1.0 days) with additional aeration improving degradation processes. Beyond standard parameters, several organic micropollutants (14 pharmaceutical organic compounds and 12 endocrine disruptive compounds) were monitored over a 22 month period. The removal efficiency for standard parameters was very high, on average more than 90% for many parameters (COD, BOD5, TSS, VSS and turbidity) and more than 80% for TOC. BOD5 removal could be correlated with the temperature, while TN, TKN and NH4+-N showed the highest removal efficiency at the lowest HRT. The effluents consistently met the standards for various reuse applications, at all three HRTs, according to Spanish Legislation (RD, 1620/2007) and EU draft. In terms of organic micropollutants, influent greywater was characterized by high concentrations and variability (for example up to 256.1 +/- 875.3 mu g L-1 for acetaminophen, 88.7 +/- 424.5 mu g L-1 for ibuprofen). More than 95% of removal by vertECO was achieved for most of the compounds (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, salicylic acid, caffeine, estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, triclosan, methyl-, ethyl- and propylparaben) and more than 80% for diclofenac, atenolol and trimethoprim. On the other hand, hydrochlorothiazide, sulfamethoxazole and salbutamol could not be reduced by more than 30%. Statistically significant differences were found at different HRTs for acetaminophen, atenolol, ibuprofen, ethylparaben, TCPP and TBEP (p < 0.05). Conversely, most of the evaluated micropollutants were consistently removed without apparent influence from temperature.
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