Recent developments in hybrid constructed wetlands for nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment

Published on September 27, 2013 08:43 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Technology

Hybrid constructed wetlands (CWs) were developed in the 1960s, but their use has only really increased since the late 1990s, mostly because of more stringent discharge limits for nitrogen and also more complex wastewaters treated in constructed wetlands.

Early hybrid CWs consisted of several stages of vertical flow (VF) followed by several stages of horizontal flow (HF) beds. During the 1990s, HF-VF and VF-HF hybrid systems were introduced.

However, to achieve higher removal of total nitrogen or to treat more complex industrial and agricultural wastewaters, other types of hybrid constructed wetlands - including free water surface (FWS) CWs and multistage CWs - have also been usedrecently.

This review paper by Jan Vymazal at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague surveys 60 hybrid constructed wetlands in 24 countries reported since 2003. Hybrid CWs are primarily used in Europe and Asia, with only limited use on other continents.

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Taxonomy

Wetlands