| Nitrogen removal efficiency was investigated in three subsurface flow constructed wetlands (CWs) with and without reed. Root bag made of nylon sieve with 300 mesh was used to enwrap the reed root in one of reed CWs to distinguish reed rhizosphere from non-rhizosphere. The CWs with root bag enwrapped reed root (hereinafter called as mesh CWs) and other CWs were fed with artificial ammonium-rich wastewater. The results indicated that the COD and N removal occurred mainly in the front of CWs, and C and nitrogen removal occurred concurrently along the stream way. When C/N ratio of influent was 5, the removal efficiencies of NH+4-N in control CWs, reed CWs and mesh CWs were 66.2%, 94.2% and 82.2%, respectively. TN removal efficiencies were 67.2%, 90.7% and 76.1% respectively. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification phenomenon in this study was also observed. The removal efficiency of organic carbon was different from nitrogen removal efficiency, mesh CWs showed the highest COD removal efficiency with 80.9%, while control CWs and reed CWs were 72.2% and 56.2%, respectively. C/N ratio of wastewater throughout the bed was more than 5 in three CWs, which indicated carbon source supply was enough for denitrification. The oxidation-reduction position (ORP) and concentration of total organic carbon in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere were detected. The ORP in the front of mesh CWs's rhizosphere was much higher than that in control CWs and non-rhizosphere in mesh CWs, which were 11_311 mV and 62_261 mV, respectively. Root exudates also showed the difference between rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere in mesh CWs, the TOC of them were 21.3_54.6 mg·L-1 and 6.65_12.0 mg·L-1. Due to the higher ORP and concentration of TOC, the nitrogen removal efficiency in plant CWs was much higher than that in control CWs. |
