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Removal efficiency and enzymatic mechanism of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) by constructed wetlands

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Abstract

Four vertical-flow constructed wetland systems were set up in the field in order to study the removal efficiency and possible enzymatic mechanism of the constructed wetlands in treating sewage containing different concentrations of dibutyl phthalate (DBP). Under DBP spiked concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/L, good DBP removal rates of 62.08, 82.17, and 84.17% were achieved, respectively. Meanwhile, certain removal effects of general water quality parameters were observed in all four constructed wetlands: with high average removal rates of nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 91.10~93.89 and 82.83~89.17%, respectively, with moderate removal efficiencies of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) of 44.59~49.67, 30.58~37.18, and 28.52~37.45%, respectively. Compared to the control, an increase of enzyme activities of urease, phosphatase, dehydrogenase, and nitrate reductase was observed in the treatments with DBP addition. In the presence of 0.5 mg/L of DBP concentration, the urease, phosphatase, and dehydrogenase activities reached the highest levels, with an increase of 350.02, 36.57, and 417.88% compared with the control, respectively. It appeared that the low concentration of DBP might better stimulate the release of enzymes.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51578538) and Science and Science and Technology Promotion Project of Ministry of Water Resources (TG1520).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Xin Qi, Tiancui Li, Feihua Wang, Yanran Dai & Wei Liang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xin Qi & Tiancui Li

Authors
  1. Xin Qi
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  2. Tiancui Li
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  3. Feihua Wang
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  4. Yanran Dai
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  5. Wei Liang
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Correspondence to Wei Liang.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Qi, X., Li, T., Wang, F. et al. Removal efficiency and enzymatic mechanism of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) by constructed wetlands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 23009–23017 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2384-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2384-5

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