Phosphorus and nitrogen balance in constructed wetlands with Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms

ABSTRACT Improper disposal, even after treatment, of wastewater can cause negative impacts on receiving water bodies. Particularly, substances such as nitrogen and phosphorus can become, depending on their concentrations, toxic to aquatic organisms or produce favorable conditions for the proliferation of a vegetation that can start the process of eutrophication. Constructed wetlands are a wastewater treatment built to mimic the structure of natural wetlands, promoting mechanisms of phytoremediation. Despite E. crassipes be an invasive plant which causes problems in eutrophic lakes and rivers, its use may be interesting in wetlands because it is an ornamental plant, which will increase wastewater treatment system’s acceptance, and it can be reused in crafts, in biofuel production and in animal feed. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the retention/removal of total phosphorus and Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) present in wastewater by two subsurface horizontal flow constructed wetland system cultivated with Eichhornia crassipes, with a difference of 43 days of cultivation, fixed to a support medium. The concentrations of total phosphorus ranged from 4.5 to 5.1 mg.L-1 in the affluent and from 3.2 to 4.4 mg.L-1 in the effluent of constructed wetlands, whereas NTK concentrations ranged from 95.9 to 104.7 mg.L-1 in the effluent, and from 77.5 to 85.3 mg.L-1 in the effluent.