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Effects of Solids Accumulation on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Substrate, Plant Growth and Performance of a Mediterranean Horizontal Flow Treatment Wetland
Sacco, A.; Sciuto, L.; Licciardello, F.; Cirelli, G.L.; Milani, M.; Barbera, A.C. Effects of Solids Accumulation on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Substrate, Plant Growth and Performance of a Mediterranean Horizontal Flow Treatment Wetland. Environments2023, 10, 30.
Sacco, A.; Sciuto, L.; Licciardello, F.; Cirelli, G.L.; Milani, M.; Barbera, A.C. Effects of Solids Accumulation on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Substrate, Plant Growth and Performance of a Mediterranean Horizontal Flow Treatment Wetland. Environments 2023, 10, 30.
Sacco, A.; Sciuto, L.; Licciardello, F.; Cirelli, G.L.; Milani, M.; Barbera, A.C. Effects of Solids Accumulation on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Substrate, Plant Growth and Performance of a Mediterranean Horizontal Flow Treatment Wetland. Environments2023, 10, 30.
Sacco, A.; Sciuto, L.; Licciardello, F.; Cirelli, G.L.; Milani, M.; Barbera, A.C. Effects of Solids Accumulation on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Substrate, Plant Growth and Performance of a Mediterranean Horizontal Flow Treatment Wetland. Environments 2023, 10, 30.
Abstract
Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of solids accumulation on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, substrate, plant growth and performance of a horizontal flow (HF) treatment wetland (TW) planted with Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. sub sp. australis. The study was carried out in an eight-year-old full-scale HF-TW located in the Mediterranean region (Sicily, Italy). To collect data inside the HF unit, nine observation points (besides the inlet and the outlet) along three 8.5 m long transects (T1, T2, and T3) were identified. The first transect (close to the inlet zone) showed hydraulic conductivity (Ks) reduction of about one order of magnitude higher than the other two. Results highlighted GHG emissions increasing during the summer when temperature and solar radiation were higher than in the rest of the year. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emis-sions decreased from T1 to T3, with maximum monthly values in T1 (21.4 g CO2 m-2 d-1) about double with respect to T2 (12.6 g CO2 m-2 d-1) and T3 (10.7 g CO2 m-2 d-1) observed in July. The CO2 seasonal trend was similar to that of P. Australis growth. Theoretical me-thane (CH4) emissions followed the trend of volatile solids (VS), which was about 3.5 and 4 times in T1 to T2 and T3. The highest CH4 emissions in T1 were probably due to anaerobic bacteria (methanogens) that proliferated in the waterlogged, anoxic part of TW. The pore-clogging affected the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency which de-creasing from T1 to T3 for the observation period. Notwithstanding this behaviour, the final effluent quality was very satisfactory with the average value of COD removal efficiency above 90%.
Keywords
Treatment wetlands; Greenhouse gas emission; clogging; water quality; Phragmites australis
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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