Resumen de Constructed wetlands operated as bioelectrochemical systems for improvement and control of wastewater treatment
The objective of this work was the improvement and control of wastewater treatment using constructed wetlands operated as Microbial Fuel Cells (CW-MFCs) and Microbial Electrolysis Cells (CW-MECs). For this purpose, eight meso-scale experimental systems were constructed. The first experiment investigated the use of CW-MFC as a bioindicator, showing that it could be used as a qualitative alarm tool for sudden COD increases. The following three experiments investigated the removal of conventional contaminants as well as organic micropollutants (OMPs) using duplicates of CW-MEC, closed-circuit CW-MFC, open-circuit CW-MFC and conventional CW-control. Results showed that CW-MEC and CW-MFC+ increased the removal of COD (7-13%) and ammonium (18-22%) when compared to the control systems. Regarding OMPs, carbamazepine, diclofenac and naproxen removal was increased by 10-17% in CW-MFC+ and CW-MEC when compared to the control, while ibuprofen removal was similar amongst treatments. Additionally, a microbial activity analysis showed that activity was 4-34% higher in CW-MFC+ as compared to CW-control, and a microbial community analysis indicated that anode and cathode communities in CW-MEC were significantly different tq other treatments, seemingly due to the effects of electrolysis. In CW-MFC+ only cathode communities were different. probably due to sampling issues at the anodes.
