Design of a constructed wetland

Design of a constructed wetland

Design of a constructed wetland (CW)

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are planned systems designed and constructed to employ wetland vegetation to assist in treating wastewater particularly secondary and tertiary

treatment of municipal, industrial wastewater The system is particularly useful for treating septic tank effluent or grey water, landfill leachate and other wastes that require removal of high concentrations organic materials, suspended solids, nitrate, pathogens and other pollutants CWs should not be used to treat raw sewage and, in industrial situations, the wastes may need to be pre-treated so that the biological elements of the wetlands can function effectively with the effluent

Subsurface flow (SSF) systems are most appropriate for treating primary wastewater, because there is no direct contact between the water column and the atmosphere, there is

no opportunity for vermin to breed, and the system is safer from a public health perspective The environment within the SSF bed is mostly either anoxic or anaerobic Oxygen is supplied

by the roots of the emergent plants and is used up in the Biofilm growing directly on the roots and rhizomes, being unlikely to penetrate very far into the water column itself SSF systems are good for nitrate removal (denitrification), but not for ammonia oxidation (nitrification), since oxygen availability is the limiting step in nitrification

The environment in the Free Water Surface (FWS) systems is generally aerobic at, and near, the surface, tending toward anoxic conditions near the bottom sediment The microbial film grows on all available plant surfaces, and is the main mechanism of pollutant removal FWS usually exhibits more biodiversity than does SSF systems

Accurate hydrological budget is needed to properly design a CW The water balance to a wetland can be calculated as:

(21) Where Qi is influent wastewater flow (volume/time), Qe is effluent wastewater flow

(volume/time), P is the precipitation (volume/time), ET is evapotranspiration (volume/time), V

is volume and t is time

Attached growth models are the most common approach used to design constructed wetland systems Depending on the type of CW being designed, a completely mixed reactor (no concentration gradients within the CW) or Plug flow (no back mixing) may be used

The general relationship for first-order plug flow models is:

(22)

Hydraulic residence time is represented as:

Substituting for t:

Where k T is calculated using equation (7)

Where Ce is effluent BOD5 (mg/l), Co is influent BOD5 (mg/l), kT = Temperature dependent first order reaction kinetics rate constant (day-1), t is hydraulic residence time (day), Q is average flow rate through the system (m3/d), h is depth of the submergence (m), ε is Porosity of the bed as a fraction and As is surface area of the systems, m2

Basing on First Order - Reaction Kinetics – Plug Flow Approach, two research-based design methods exist:

· Reed´s method for the design of constructed wetlands

· Kadlec and Knight design method

Reed’s method for the design of constructed wetlands

This method is is based on the first-order plug flow assumption for those pollutants that are removed primarily by biological processes (i.e BOD, ammonia, nitrate).[8] Reed suggests separate equations for total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) For the removal of pathogenic organisms in CWs, the same approach as that used for WSPs

For removal of BOD, NH4 and NO3 in constructed

wetlands:

Equations 22 – 24 apply

For TSS removal:

In SSF wetlands: (25)

For Pathogen Removal:

Reed argues that the mechanisms for pathogen removal are essentially the same in both waste stabilization ponds and constructed wetlands Then (27)

For TP removal:

In both SSF and FWS wetlands: (28)

The cross-sectional area of the flow is then calculated as:

(29)

And the bed width

(30)

Where

Ce is effluent faecal coliform concentration (number/100 mL), Co is influent faecal coliform concentration (number/100 mL), kT is temperature dependent rate constant (day-1), is number

of cells in series, t = Hydraulic residence time (days)

The cross sectional area and bed width are determined on the basis of Darcy’s law:

(31)

Where Kp is first order phosphorous reaction rate (2.73 cm/day), Ac is cross-sectional area of wetland bed (d*W) perpendicular to the direction of flow (m2), d is the depth (m), Ks is the hydraulic conductivity of the medium (m3/m2.day), S is The slope of the bed or hydraulic gradient (as a fraction or decimal)

Kadlec and Knight design method

A first-order decay, plug flow model for all pollutants, including BOD, TSS, total phosphorous (TP), total nitrogen (TN), organic nitrogen (OrgN), ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N), oxidised nitrogen (NOx-N), and faecal coliform (FC) is assumed.[9] Their model is based on areal rate constants, which are independent of temperature

(32)

(34) Alternatively

(35) Where As is treatment area of the wetland (m2), Ce is target effluent concentration (mg/l), Ci is target influent concentration (mg/l), C* is background pollutant concentration (mg/l), KT is first order aerial rate constant (m/yr), q is hydraulic loading rate (m/yr), Q is average flow rate through the wetland (m3/day)

Kadlec and Knight [9] advocate the use of the “global” parameters they determined from plug flow analysis of performance data available to date on the North American Data Base

(NADB) [10] in other systems They suggest that specific parameters should be locally

determined prior to investment in a full-scale system, in order to ensure suitability of design Controlling organic loading

This is essential to control organic loading since it is a carbon source for denitrifying bacteria and to prevent overloading of the oxygen transfer ability of the emergent plants in the

wetland system If the carbon source is not available for denitrification, then lower overall nitrogen removal will result Heavy organic loading, especially if not evenly distributed, will cause plant die off and odours [11] BOD organic loading is expressed as follows:

(36)

Where OLR is BOD Organic Loading Rate Rates (kg/ha.d), Q is a verage flow rate through the system (m3/d), Ci is Influent BOD5 (mg/l), As is Surface area of the systems (m2) The

BOD loading for SSFCW should not exceed 133 kg/ha.day [12]

Controlling hydraulic loading

Hydraulic loading rate (HLR) refers to the loading on a water volume per unit area basis It It

is as determined as:

(37)

Where HLR is hydraulic Loading Rate (cm/day), Q is average flow rate through the system (m3/d), As is surface area of the systems (m2)

Hydraulic Loading Rate should not exceed 5cm/day However Tanzanian experience reveals that Hydraulic loading of up to 20cm/day provide sufficient wastewater

treatment.

Determine the Bed slope and Retention time

of wastewater in the system

While bed slope influence water velocity in a treatment wetland thereby providing sufficient hydraulic gradient through the wetland, treatment performance in CWs is a function of detention time, among other factors On one hand shorter detention times do not provide adequate time for pollutant degradation to occur Longer detention times on the other hand can lead to stagnant, anaerobic conditions

Bed slope is determined as follows:

(38)

Detention Time is determined as follows: