Constructed wetlands operated as bioelectrochemical systems for the removal of organic micropollutants

The removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) has been investigated in constructed wetlands (CWs) operated as bioelectrochemical systems (BES). The operation of CWs as BES (CW-BES), either in the form of microbial fuel cells (MFC) or microbial electrolysis cells (MEC), has only been investigated in...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Hartl, Marco|||0000-0002-6685-1268, García Galán, María Jesús|||0000-0002-7814-4202, Matamoros Mercadal, Víctor, Fernández Gatell, Marta|||0000-0002-3370-3859, Rousseau, Diederik, Du Laing, Gijs, Garfi, Marianna|||0000-0001-9234-5580, Puigagut Juárez, Jaume|||0000-0002-8325-8095
Format: article
Publication Date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repository:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/336034
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/336034
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129593
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Electrolytic cells
Emerging contaminants
Meso-scale setup
Microbial electrolysis cells
Microbial fuel cells
Real urban wastewater
Cèl·lules electrolítiques
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Enginyeria ambiental::Tractament de l'aigua
Description
Summary:The removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) has been investigated in constructed wetlands (CWs) operated as bioelectrochemical systems (BES). The operation of CWs as BES (CW-BES), either in the form of microbial fuel cells (MFC) or microbial electrolysis cells (MEC), has only been investigated in recent years. The presented experiment used CW meso-scale systems applying a realistic horizontal flow regime and continuous feeding of real urban wastewater spiked with four OMPs (pharmaceuticals), namely carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac (DCF), ibuprofen (IBU) and naproxen (NPX). The study evaluated the removal efficiency of conventional CW systems (CW-control) as well as CW systems operated as closed-circuit MFCs (CW-MFCs) and MECs (CW-MECs). Although a few positive trends were identified for the CW-BES compared to the CW-control (higher average CBZ, DCF and NPX removal by 10–17% in CW-MEC and 5% in CW-MFC), these proved to be not statistically significantly different. Mesoscale experiments with real wastewater could thus not confirm earlier positive effects of CW-BES found under strictly controlled laboratory conditions with synthetic wastewaters.

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