Technologies for performance intensification of floating treatment wetland - An explicit and comprehensive review

With the wide application of floating treatment wetland (FTW), the limited performance of FTWs should be improved. A comprehensive review is accordingly necessary to summarize the state-of-the-art on FTWs for performance improvement. An attempt has been made to gain information from literature about technologies to enhance the performance of FTWs. These technologies have been classified into three categories according to their mechanisms: 1) increasing the amount and activity of bacteria; 2) enhancing the growth of plant; and 3) configurable innovations. The design and application of each enhanced FTW have been discussed in detail. Thereafter, all the technologies have been compared and analyzed according to their improvement in pollutant removal and ecological effects. In summary, FTW with additional bio-carriers has a higher potential for future applications with the benefits of wide application conditions, scale-up potential, and the easy combination with other methods to further improve the removal efficiency. The stability and sustainability of these technologies should be further investigated.