[Removal nitrogen of integrated vertical-flow constructed wetland under aeration condition]

Oxygen is an important limit factor of nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands, so it is the key point for improving nitrogen removal efficiency of constructed wetlands that the optimization of oxygen distribution within wetlands. Therefore, oxygen status, nitrogen removal and purification mechanism of integrated vertical-flow constructed wetland (IVCW) under aeration condition in summer and winter have been studied. The results showed that both oxygen levels and aerobic zones were increased in the wetland substrates. The area of oxic zone I (expressing with depth) extended from 22 cm, 17 cm to 53 cm, 44 cm, in summer and winter, respectively. The electric potential (Eh) profiling demonstrated that artificial aeration maintained the pattern of sequential oxic-anoxic-oxic (O-A-O) redox zones within the aerated IVCW in winter, while only two oxic-anoxic (O-A) zones were present inside the non-aerated IVCW in the cold season. The decomposition of organic matter and nitrification were obviously enhanced by artificial aeration since the removal efficiency of COD, TN and NH4(+) -N were increased by 12.2%, 6.9% and 15.1% in winter, respectively. There was no significant accumulation of NO3(-) -N in the effluent with an aeration cycle of 8 h on and 16 h off in this experiment. Moreover, we found that oxic zone I was the main region of pollutants removal in IVCW system, and artificial aeration mainly acted to enhance the purification capacity of this oxic zone in the aerated IVCW. These results suggest that aeration is important for optimization and application of IVCW system.