• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2016

A set of lab-scale polymer synthetic fiber packed column wetlands composing three columns (CW1, CW2 and CW3) with different hydraulic regimes, recirculation frequencies and pollutant loading rates, were operated in 2012. Synthetic fiber tested as an alternative wetland medium for soil mixture or gravel which has been widely used, has very high pore size and volume, so that clogging opportunity can be greatly avoided. The inflow to the wetland was artificial stormwater. All the wetlands achieved effective removal of TSS (94%~96%), TCOD (68%~73%), TN (35%~58%), TKN (62%~73%) and NH4-N (85%~ 99%). Particularly, it was observed that COD was released from the fiber during one distinct period in all wetlands. This was probably due to the degradation of polymer fiber, and the released organic matters were found to serve as carbon source for denitrification. In addition, with longer retention time and frequent recirculation, lower effluent concentration was observed. With higher pollutant loading rate, higher nitrification and denitrification rates were achieved. However, although organic matters were released from the fiber, the lack of carbon source was still the limiting factor for the system since the release persisted only for 40 days.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.263-271
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• 2018

In this study, we analyzed the removal efficiency of ammonia nitrogen and phosphate dependant on the column depths using various absorbents such as zeolite silica sand, and activated carbon through the column test. In addition, we analyzed electrochemical adsorption behaviors of ammonia nitrogen and phosphate through the quantum mechanical calculation based on density functional theory calculation. Experimental results represent the removal efficiency of ammonia nitrogen and phosphate are zeolite > activated carbon > silica sand, and activated carbon > zeolite > silica sand, respectively. Zeolite shows high adsorption property for ammonia nitrogen over 90%, regardless of the column depth, while activated carbon exhibits high adsorption property for both ammonia nitrogen and phosphate as the column depth for filter media increases. Theoretical findings using DFT calculation for the adsorption behaviors of adsorbents (activated carbon and silica sand) and nutrients ($PO_4{^{3-}}$, $NH_4{^{+}}$) show that activated carbon represented narrower HOMO-LUMO band gap with high adsorption energy, and even more favorable environment for electron adsorption than silica sand, which leads to the effective removal of nutrients.