Analyzing remediation potential of wastewater through wetland plants: A review

Abstract

Treatment of different wastewater using macrophytes‐vegetated constructed wetland reveals its potential in terms of significant reduction in BOD, COD, suspended solids, total solids, total nitrogen, heavy metals along with remediation of xenobiotics, pesticides and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The rhizosphere of macrophytes such as Phragmites, Typha, Juncus, Spartina and Scirpus serves as an active and dynamic zone for the microbial degradation of organic and sequestration of inorganic pollutant resulting in successful treatment of domestic, textile and other effluents. Up to 2049–6648 µg metal per gram dry weight of plant biomass are found to accumulate in plant parts i.e. shoots and roots. Major metal removal mechanisms are bioaccumulation in plant parts, phytoextraction and phytostabilization. Different wastewaters treated through this technology are industrial, domestic, dairy, pesticides, PAHs, and xenobiotics containing effluents. Loading limits of the wetland, removal efficiency, biomass disposal and variation in seasonal growth are some of the limiting factors which can be overcome by stimulating the plant microbe interaction through designer rhizospheres involving pigmentation, biostimulation and genetic alterations of plant and associated microbial community. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 33: 9–27, 2014

The Potential Growth of Sugarcane in Constructed Wetlands Designed for Tertiary Treatment of Wastewater

“…However, in general, direct comparison experiments between planted and unplanted CW give results similar to the present work-planted CWs performed better than unplanted CWs [32,[46][47][48][49]. Among the possible roles of plants in the wastewater treatment processes, the roots surface support for microbial film development and the provided oxidized rhizosphere were pointed out as the principal plants contributions [37,42,50,51].…”

“…The contribution of plants to nutrients' removal performance of CW depends on several factors including CW characteristics, wastewater composition, operational conditions and plant species [41][42][43][44][45]. However, in general, direct comparison experiments between planted and unplanted CW give results similar to the present work-planted CWs performed better than unplanted CWs [32,[46][47][48][49].…”

Influences of Coal Ash Leachates and Emergent Macrophytes on Water Quality in Wetland Microcosms

“…J. effusus did have significantly higher dry biomass than E. quadrangulata (p < 0.01) with a mean of 45.7 g per microcosm compared to 35.8 g. The only significant difference in growth parameters between treatments was increased height growth in E. quadrangulata receiving low sulfur leachates (p < 0.01). Previous research has shown that the emergent macrophytes tend to be tolerant to inorganic pollutants (Bhatia and Goyal 2014) and that these species have previously been found to grow in wetlands treating coal ash wastewater, so the lack of observed toxicity is not surprising.…”

“…Emergent macrophytes help facilitate this filtration by slowing the flow of water and wind, sequestering chemicals, releasing oxygen in the rhizosphere, and providing algal and microbial habitat (Vymazal 2013;Bhatia and Goyal 2014;Preussler et al 2015;Sundberg-Jones and Hassan 2007). Constructed wetland treatment systems (CWTS) containing emergent macrophytes can potentially be effective for treating CCR wastewater, though the literature on this topic is limited (Ye et al 2001a, b;Dorman et al 2009).…”

A Review on Phytoremediation of Crude Oil Spills

“…In aquatic ecosystems such as lakes, rivers, and wetlands, there are different types of plants termed macrophytes thriving in or near water that are emergent, submergent, or floating (Bhatia and Goyal 2014). They can be possibly used as oil hydrocarbon phytoremediators.…”