Effect of plants in constructed wetlands for organic carbon and nutrient removal: a review of experimental factors contributing to higher impact and suggestions for future guidelines

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2018

Authors

António Fiúza (Author) FEUP; João M. Jesus (Author) FEUP; Anthony S. Danko (Author) Other; Maria Teresa Borges (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Vol. 25 No. 5

Pages: 4149-4164

ISSN: 0944-1344

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 24 Citations

Scopus - 25 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00N-RFP

DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-0982-2

Abstract (EN): Constructed wetland is a proven technology for water pollution removal, but process mechanisms and their respective contribution are not fully understood. The present review details the effect of plants on removal efficiency of constructed wetlands by focusing on literature that includes experiments with unplanted controls for organic carbon and nutrient (N and P) removal. The contribution of plant direct uptake is also assessed. Although it was found that several studies, mostly at laboratory or pilot scales, showed no statistical differences between planted and unplanted controls, some factors were found that help maximize the effect of plants. This study intends to contribute to a better understanding of the significance of the effect of plants in a constructed wetland, as well as to suggest a set of experimental guidelines in this field.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 16