Abstract
The low carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio in wastewater will inhibit pollutant removal, and more seriously, it will cause an increment of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions of constructed wetlands (CWs). Raising the C/N ratio of wastewater is an effective way to solve this problem, while it may cause secondary pollution and is costly. Assembling plant diversity promotes N removal, while the effects of plant diversity and increasing C/N ratio on global warming potential (GWP) combined by N2O and methane (CH4) are lack of comparison. In this study, 108 CW microcosms were established to explore the effects of increasing the C/N ratio from 1 to 5 and assembling plant diversity on N removal and GHG emissions. Results showed that when the C/N ratio was 1, (1) increasing species richness reduced N2O and CH4 emissions then reduced the GWP by 70%; (2) the presence of Arundo donax in microcosms reduced GWP by 72%; (3) an A. donax × Tradescantia fluminensis × Reineckia carnea mixture resulted in a high N removal and decreased the GWP per g N removal by 92% with a cost increment of 0.05 USD per m3 wastewater treated; and (4) as the C/N ratio increasing to 5, the GWP per g N removal of monocultures was reduced by 96%, but the cost increased by at least 0.29 USD per m3 wastewater treated. In summary, configuring plant diversity in CWs is an efficient, clean, and cost-effective measure to treat wastewater with a low C/N ratio.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Yu Liu, Lei He, Guofu Yang, Bin Luo, Qian Wang, Xiao Wang, and Shaodan Niu for their assistance in the field and laboratory works.
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This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41901242 and 31770434).
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Jie Chang, Ying Ge, and Yuanyuan Du designed the experiments. Hang Jiang, Lichunxiao Wang, and Chenxu Xiang performed the experiments. Hang Jiang analyzed the data. Hang Jiang, Jie Chang, and Ying Ge wrote the first manuscript. Wenjuan Han and Yuanyuan Du provided editorial advice in the process of writing the article, and all authors provided insights throughout the completion of the manuscript.
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Jiang, H., Du, Y., Han, W. et al. Assembling plant diversity mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and achieves high nitrogen removal when treating the low-C/N wastewater by constructed wetlands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 228–241 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22088-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22088-8