Artificial wetlands performance: nitrogen removal

Artificial wetlands (AW) are a promising option for wastewater treatment in small communities due to their high performance in nutrients removal and low operation and maintenance costs. Nitrogen can favour the growth of algae in water bodies causing eutrophication when present at high concentrations. Nitrogen can be removed through different mechanisms (e.g. nitrification-denitrification, adsorption and plant uptake). Environmental conditions such as temperature and relative humidity can play an important role in the performance of these systems by promoting the growth of macrophytes such as reeds and cattails (e.g. Phragmites australis, Typha latifolia respectively). In this paper, two AW systems were compared, one located in Mexico City, Mexico at an altitude higher than 2,000 m above the sea level, and the second one located in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico at an a altitude near the sea level (27 m). Both systems comprised five reactors (147-L plastic boxes) filled with volcanic slag and gravel and intermittently fed with synthetic water. The removal nitrogen efficiency found for the system located in Mexico City was higher than that of the Tabasco system (90 and 80% as TKN respectively). The higher temperatures in the Tabasco system did not enhanced the nitrogen removal as expected.