Purification ability and carbon dioxide flux from surface flow constructed wetlands treating sewage treatment plant effluent

In this study, a two-year experiment was carried out to investigate variation of carbon dioxide (CO2) flux from free water surface constructed wetlands (FWS CW) systems treating sewage treatment plant effluent, and treatment performance was also evaluated. The better 74.6-76.6% COD, 92.7-94.4% NH4+-N, 60.1-84.7% TN and 49.3-70.7% TP removal efficiencies were achieved in planted CW systems compared with unplanted systems. The planted CW was a net CO2 sink, while the unplanted CW was a net CO2 source in the entire study period. An obvious annual and seasonal variability of CO2 fluxes from different wetland systems was also presented with the average CO2 flux ranging from -592.83 mg m(-2) h(-1) to 553.91 mg m(-2) h(-1) during 2012-2013. In addition, the net exchange of CO2 between CW systems and the atmosphere was significantly affected by air temperature, and the presence of plants also had the significant effect on total CO2 emissions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.