Are vegetated drainage ditches effective for nitrogen removal under cold temperatures?

Abstract:

:Vegetated ditches are widely used to treat agricultural wastewater, but effective nitrogen removal at low temperatures remains a challenge because plants wilt in the winter. In this study, three simulated drainage ditches vegetated with Myriophyllum aquaticum were operated with low, medium, and high water levels to study ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) removal under cold temperatures. The M. aquaticum ditches had a mean NH4+-N removal efficiency of 75.8-86.8% throughout cold period. Based on nitrogen mass balance, plant uptake, sediment adsorption, and microbial removal accounted for 12.4-21.5%, 0.0-8.1%, and 38.9-54.6% of the influent total nitrogen loading, respectively. The accumulation of nitrate confirmed that intense microbial nitrification occurred in M. aquaticum ditches even at low temperature. These results suggest that M. aquaticum is appropriate as a cold-tolerant plant for NH4+-N removal in drainage ditches.

journal_name

Bioresour Technol

journal_title

Bioresource technology

authors

Zhang S,Liu F,Huang Z,Xiao R,Zhu H,Wu J

doi

10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122744

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2020-04-01 00:00:00

pages

122744

eissn

0960-8524

issn

1873-2976

pii

S0960-8524(20)30013-4

journal_volume

301

pub_type

杂志文章