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Performance of hybrid subsurface constructed

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ARTICLE in WATER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JANUARY 2016
Impact Factor: 1.11 DOI: 10.2166/wst.2015.457

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13

IWA Publishing 2016 Water Science & Technology

73.1

2016

Performance of hybrid subsurface constructed wetland

system for piggery wastewater treatment
X. Zhang, T. Inoue, K. Kato, J. Harada, H. Izumoto, D. Wu, H. Sakuragi,
H. Ietsugu and Y. Sugawara

ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to evaluate performance of a hybrid constructed wetland (CW) built
for high organic content piggery wastewater treatment in a cold region. The system consists of four
vertical and one horizontal ow subsurface CWs. The wetland was built in 2009 and water quality
was monitored from the outset. Average purication efciency of this system was 95 5, 91 7,
89 8, 70 10, 84 15, 90 6, 99 2, and 93 16% for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5),
chemical oxygen demand (COD), total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), ammonium-N (NH4-N), total
phosphorus (TP), total coliform (T. Coliform), and suspended solids (SS), respectively during August
2010December 2013. Pollutant removal rate was 15 18 g m!2 d!1, 49 52 g m!2 d!1, 6 4 g m!2
d!1, 7 5 g m!2 d!1, and 1 1 g m!2 d!1 for BOD5, COD, TN, NH4-N, and TP, respectively. The
removal efciency of BOD5, COD, NH4-N, and SS improved yearly since the start of operation. With
respect to removal of TN and TP, efciency improved in the rst three years but slightly declined in
the fourth year. The system performed well during both warm and cold periods, but was more
efcient in the warm period. The nitrate increase may be attributed to a low C/N ratio, due to limited
availability of carbon required for denitrication.
Key words

| cold climate, high organic content wastewater, horizontal ow, hybrid system, reed
bed, vertical ow

X. Zhang
T. Inoue (corresponding author)
J. Harada
H. Izumoto
D. Wu
H. Sakuragi
Graduate School of Agriculture,
Hokkaido University,
N9W9, Kita-ku, Sapporo,
Hokkaido 060-8589,
Japan
E-mail: tino@env.agr.hokudai.ac.jp
K. Kato
NARO Tohoku Agricultural Research Center,
Shimo-Kuriyagawa,
Morioka, Iwate 020-0198,
Japan
H. Ietsugu
TUSK Co., Ltd,
2-8, Midorimachi-minami,
Nakashibetsu-cho,
Hokkaido 086-1166,
Japan
Y. Sugawara
NARO Hokkaido Agricultural Research Center,
Hitsujigaoka-1, Toyohira-ku,
Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-8555,
Japan

INTRODUCTION
Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been used worldwide to
remove pollutants from various wastewater systems; their
advantages include low cost, simple design, low energy consumption, and low maintenance (Knight et al. ; Tanner
et al. ; Hunt et al. ; Vymazal ; Cooper ).
Constructed wetlands can be categorized as surface ow
or subsurface ow. Among subsurface ow CWs, some are
designed for vertical ow (VF) and the others for horizontal
ow (HF). Vertical ow CWs can provide favourable conditions for nitrication, but less denitrication occurs in
these systems (Cooper ). Horizontal ow CWs, on the
other hand, can remove more organic compounds and suspended solids (SS) with higher efciency but a limited
supply of oxygen constrains nitrogen (N) removal (Cooper
). Vertical ow CWs are also effective at removing SS
doi: 10.2166/wst.2015.457

and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and allow for

nitrication at high loading rates even during cold winters
(Brix et al. ). To harness the strengths of both designs,
VF and HF CWs could be combined in series as a hybrid
subsurface wetland system. There have been many studies
regarding hybrid CW systems (Cooper ; Vymazal ,
, ; Gaboutloeloe et al. ) but few have monitored
their long-term performance for piggery wastewater
treatment.
In subsurface ow CWs, N removal and transformation
are driven by processes such as NH3 volatilization, ammonication, nitrication, denitrication, plant uptake, biomass
assimilation, adsorption and dissimilatory nitrate reduction,
i.e. partial nitricationdenitrication, Anammox, and
Canon processes (Saeed & Sun ).

14

X. Zhang et al.

Performance of hybrid CW system for piggery wastewater treatment

In wetlands, phosphorus (P) can be transformed by soil

accretion, adsorption/desorption, precipitation/dissolution,
plant/microbial uptake, fragmentation and leaching, mineralization, and burial (Kadlec & Knight ).
Organic compounds can be removed by aerobic and
anaerobic processes in subsurface ow wetlands (Cooper
et al. ; Saeed & Sun ).
In Hokkaido, Japan, there were 265 piggery farms in
2013. Whereas most farms use some sort of wastewater
treatment, the systems are not very efcient and operating
costs are high. To improve wastewater treatment efciency
and reduce operating costs, a real-scale hybrid system was
constructed to treat slurry urine from a piggery farm with
about 150 sows and 2,000 pigs. The objective of this study
was to evaluate performance of a hybrid CW system built
for high organic content piggery wastewater treatment in a
cold region of Japan.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In the autumn of 2009, a multi-stage hybrid subsurface ow
CW system was built in the vicinity of Chitose city
(N42 48.60 , E141 43.80 ), Hokkaido, northern Japan.
Chitoses mean annual air temperature is 7.2 C and the
mean daily minimum air temperature is !13.8 C during
the coldest time of year (early February). Mean annual precipitation is 991 mm, of which 326 mm occurs during the
cold season (November to April).
Figure 1 shows a diagram of the hybrid CW system. It is
comprised of four VF beds (V), a single HF bed (H), and a
lagoon reservoir. Each V is equipped with a self-priming
W

Figure 1

Schematic diagram of the hybrid constructed wetland system (Kato et al. 2013c).

Water Science & Technology

73.1

2016

siphon. The total bed area is 1,472 m2 and the average

depth is 0.8 m. The average hydraulic loading rate of this
system was 0.7 cm d!1. Starting in August 2010, part of the
efuent from the third V was recirculated by pumps into
the rst V (recirculation of 260% relative to inow) and
second V (60%) (hereafter Vr refers to VF bed with recirculation) in order to increase overall system performance.
The surface of rst Vr was partitioned into three zones
while the second and third Vrs Vr were divided into two
zones, like the French hybrid system, used alternatively to
maintain dry surface conditions during the crop growing
season (Molle et al. ). Volcanic porous pumice gravel
was used as the main bed material. To prevent the system
from clogging or freezing, autoclaved lightweight aerated concrete (ALC) and Supersol (recycled porous glass) were used
as a surface cover material, and each bed featured a safety
bypass structure (Kato et al. a, b). Common reed (Phragmites australis) was planted in the VF CWs, and various
upland crops and wetland ower species were planted at
HF CW to evaluate the adaptation of different plants.
From December 2009 to December 2013, water
samples were collected monthly or bimonthly at the inlet
of the rst bed and outlet of each bed. The data collected
after August 2010 (when recirculation started) are used in
this paper for total efciency calculation. Analysis of
BOD5, SS, and total coliform (T. Coliform) was performed
immediately after water sampling. Water samples for testing total carbon (TC), chemical oxygen demand (COD),
ammonium-N (NH4-N), total N (TN), nitrate-N (NO3-N),
nitrite-N (NO2-N), organic-N (Org-N), total P (TP), phosphate (PO4-P), and organic-P (Org-P) were initially stored
in a refrigerator and later analyzed. Dissolved oxygen

15

X. Zhang et al.

Purification efficiency (%) (Cin ! Cout ) 100=Cin

Removal efficiency (%) (Lin ! Lout ) 100=Lin
where Cin and Cout are the concentration of pollutants, Lin
and Lout are the load of pollutants in inuent and efuent,
respectively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 shows the average physicochemical parameters in
the efuent during each stage, along with the nal efuent.
|

73.1

2016

There was a gradual, slight decrease of pH, water temperature and EC, and an increase of DO concentrations in the
ve beds.
Inuent water discharged from the piggery farm contained a large amount of pollutants. Table 2 shows the
efuents average pollutant concentrations during each
stage, along with the nal efuent. The inuent concentrations for this system were higher than those reported by
Lee et al. () and Borin et al. (). High concentrations
of pollutants such as BOD5, COD, and TN decreased from
inlet of the rst Vr to outlet of the fth V in our hybrid
system. Concentrations of NO3-N increased at each bed.
This systems purication efciency ranged from 70 10%
to as high as 99 2%, for all parameters except NO3-N.
Compared with performances from various piggery wastewater CWs reported by Borin et al. (), this system
removed pollutants more efciently.
Figure 2 shows the N and P concentrations in various
forms. Total concentrations of N and P decreased dramatically from inuent to efuent. NH4-N concentrations were
predominant in total N during the rst four stages, but the
proportion decreased from 86.1% in the inuent of the

(DO), temperature (T), electrical conductivity (EC), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), and pH were measured
in the eld at the time of water sampling. Flow rates were
calculated by the change in water level at all tanks with
self-priming siphons.
Efciencies of this hybrid system were calculated in
terms of purication efciency and removal efciency.

Table 1

Water Science & Technology

Performance of hybrid CW system for piggery wastewater treatment

Average physicochemical parameters in the inow of each bed and the nal outow
1st Vr

pH

2nd Vr

3rd V

4th H

5th V

Out

8.3 0.5

8.0 0.5

7.7 0.5

7.7 0.5

7.6 0.6

7.2 0.7

15.9 8.1

12.6 7.7

11.2 7.4

10.6 7.8

10.5 7.8

10.2 8.1

DO

mg L!1

2.3 2.9

3.2 2.9

3.8 2.0

4.4 2.5

3.9 2.9

4.9 2.9

ORP

mV

123 122

196 79

231 78

249 82

270 79

311 83

EC

mS cm!1

10.3 2.9

6.2 1.5

5.0 0.6

4.7 0.6

4.3 0.6

3.7 0.6

Flow rate

m3 d!1

10.8 6.7

24.6 15.8

40.8 27.4

12.2 7.0

12.4 7.2

12.5 7.3

August 2010December 2013.

Table 2

Average pollutant concentration in the inow of each bed and the nal outow, and purication efciency of the hybrid subsurface ow constructed wetland system
1st Vr

2nd Vr

mg L

!1

1,941 1,748

439 419

COD

mg L

!1

6,644 3,517

1,836 1,197

TC

mg L!1

3,073 1,352

1,088 580

TN

mg L

!1

1,352 299

NH4-N

mg L!1

1,164 478

NO3-N

mg L

!1

26 55

73 62

TP

mg L!1

146 55

36 26

T. Coliform

CFU 100mL!1

2,971 4,798

177 313

SS

mg L!1

1,416 1,181

185 215

BOD5

August 2010December 2013.

3rd V

176 125

4th H

5th V

Out

Purication efciency (%)

135 91

87 51

53 34

95 5

1,091 615

896 465

649 268

458 198

91 7

736 331

604 293

472 213

293 172

89 8

670 211

500 140

466 133

393 109

393 108

70 10

504 254

346 140

291 133

235 120

144 106

84 15

84 62

94 65

107 63

190 60

27 12

22 7

17 4

12 3

90 6

56 53

52 128

20 19

14 31

99 2

137 151

88 83

42 26

34 32

93 16

16

X. Zhang et al.

Figure 2

73.1

2016

Nitrogen and phosphorus concentration of various forms.

rst Vr to 38.6% in the efuent of the fth V. Meanwhile,

NO3-N content increased from 1.9% in the inuent of the
rst Vr to 48.4% in the efuent of the fth V. This could
be attributed to the depletion of carbon, which denitrifying
bacteria need for denitrication. Organic P concentration
was high in the inuent of the rst Vr but gradually
decreased from the rst stage to the fth stage.
Average received load, removed load, and removal efciency of the pollutants in the inuent for each stage and
nal efuent are shown in Table 3. The total removal efciency of BOD5 and COD were 93 7% and 88 10%,
respectively, indicating the hybrid system performed well
with respect to removal of high content organic matter.
Total N removal efciency was 62 20% with a received
load of 9.4 5 g m!2 d!1, indicating this hybrid system was
also effective in removing N. Further, this system effectively
removed TP with 87 9% efciency. High removal efciency of BOD5 and COD in this system might be
concerned with efciency degradation in V bed, which provided oxidized conditions for aerobic degradation.
Table 3

Water Science & Technology

Performance of hybrid CW system for piggery wastewater treatment

Nitrication and denitrication were favoured because of

the rich content of TC and increased DO. DO is increased
because wastewater is splashed on to the V beds. Among
these V beds, the rst and second Vr beds played an important role in removal of BOD5, COD, TN, NH4-N, and TP;
nearly half to more than half of the received loads were
removed in these stages, this may be attributed to the recirculating operation among the rst, second and third beds.
The removal efciency of TN increased in the fourth H compared to that in the third V, possibly due to increased nitrate
reduction in the fourth H. Likewise, NH4-N removal efciency increased in the fth V, which may be explained by
suitable conditions for NH4-N oxidation in the fth V.
Figure 3 shows box-and-whisker diagrams of yearly pollutant inuent load, efuent load, and removal efciency.
For the entire period of operation, this system received
high COD load. From the rst year to the fourth year,
the median received COD load was 66.9 g m!2 d!1,
25.4 g m!2 d!1, 33.6 g m!2 d!1, and 35.7 g m!2 d!1 in the
inuent, and 14.3 g m!2 d!1, 4.2 g m!2 d!1, 2.2 g m!2 d!1

Average received load, removed load, and removal efciency

1st Vr

2nd Vr

3rd V

4th H

5th V

Total

d )

BOD5
COD
TN
NH4-N
TP

41 48
136 139
24 13
20 13
32

30 46
107 104
37 28
28 23
22

41 44
251 232
105 66
74 55
64

9 10
60 60
29 19
18 13
11

15 15
113 95
64 38
38 29
32

16 19
53 54
95
85
11

Removed load (g m!2 d!1)

BOD5
COD
TN
NH4-N
TP

31 39
92 95
11 7
10 10
22

21 43
50 79
11 15
10 16
11

9 14
42 58
55
10 11
11

36
17 27
46
34
00

55
29 26
06
14 11
11

15 18
49 52
64
75
11

Removal efciency (%)

BOD5
COD
TN
NH4-N
TP

70 24
66 24
45 19
47 30
72 18

34 51
26 39
20 20
22 28
6 40

19 15
15 10
66
16 11
13 13

32 17
22 13
14 12
18 21
18 17

34 27
28 18
!1 9
46 23
27 20

93 7
88 10
62 20
80 24
87 9

Received load (g m

!2

August 2010December 2013.

!1

17

Figure 3

X. Zhang et al.

Performance of hybrid CW system for piggery wastewater treatment

Water Science & Technology

73.1

2016

Yearly pollutant inuent (in) load, efuent (out) load and removal efciency. Error bars represent minimum and maximum values.

and 1.7 g m!2 d!1 in the efuent, respectively. The systems

removal efciency from the rst to the fourth year was:
BOD5 (81 11%, 90 8%, 95 7%, 98 3%), COD (72
12%, 83 12%, 92 10%, 93 3%), TN (38 24%, 62
19%, 71 15%, 63 12%), NH4-N (38 28%, 75 21%,
86 17%, 92 5%), TP (78 10%, 86 10%, 91 7%,
88 9%), and SS (no data, 88 7%, 98 2%, 98 2%),
respectively. Removal of COD, BOD5, and NH4-N grew
more efcient from the rst to the fourth year. Removal efciency of TN and TP also increased during the rst three
years but there was a slight decrease in the fourth year.
Despite this decrease, the hybrid system still had good TP
and TN removal efciency. Overall, the hybrid CW system
had increased pollutant removal efciency each year.
Figure 4 shows the systems removal efciency with
respect to COD, TN, and TP at each bed during the cold
period (from November to April) and warm period (from

May to October). In the rst Vr bed, removal efciency

was high for all the pollutants during both cold and warm
periods. In the second Vr bed, removal efciency was
higher for TC, BOD5, COD, TN, and NH4-N during the
warm period, while TP removal efciency was almost the
same during both periods. Overall, the removal efciency
in the third V bed for TC, BOD5, COD, TN, and NH4-N
were lower compared to the other beds, and it had similar
efciency during both periods with the exception of TP. In
the fourth H bed, removal efciency for all pollutants was
higher during the warm period. In the fth V bed, removal
efciency for TC, BOD5, COD, NH4-N, and TP was higher
during the warm period, with the exception of TN.
TN had low removal efciency compared to NH4-N
for both periods. This could be explained by the increased
NO3-N content in the fth V bed. Processes such as
ammonication, nitrication, and denitrication involve

18

Figure 4

X. Zhang et al.

73.1

2016

Removal efciency of pollutants at each bed during cold and warm periods. Error bars represent standard deviations.

temperature dependent microbial activities, so N removal

efciency can vary by season (Kadlec ).
However, the efciency of total P removal varied little
between warm and cold periods. This was because P is
mainly removed through adsorption on to the bed media
(Drizo et al. ) and it is said that adsorption is independent of temperature (Kadlec & Reddy ). A similar
conclusion was made in the study by Sharma et al. (),
who reported seasonal efciency of a hybrid sub-surface
ow constructed wetland system treating milking parlour
wastewater.
Figure 5 shows the relationship between concentrations
of NH4-N, NO3-N, and the C/N ratio. When the CWs
received high C/N ratio water, concentrations of NH4-N
were generally high but concentrations of NO3-N were generally low. On the other hand, when the C/N ratio became

Figure 5

Water Science & Technology

Performance of hybrid CW system for piggery wastewater treatment

low, NO3-N concentrations were high while NH4-N concentrations were low. Figure 6 shows a similar relationship
between concentrations of NH4-N, NO3-N, and TC. A low
TC concentration resulted in a nitrate increase, due to
depletion of carbon needed for denitrication.

CONCLUSIONS
The hybrid subsurface CW system had high pollutant
removal efciency for most of the pollutants. For BOD5
and COD, the removal efciency reached 93 7% and
88 10%, respectively. The COD load removal was 49
52 g m!2 d!1 while the received load was 53 54 g m!2 d!1.
The system also performed well in removing N, with a
removal efciency of 62 20% and 80 24% for TN and

Relationship between nitrogen and C/N ratio in the inuent of each stage and the nal efuent of the constructed wetland.

19

Figure 6

X. Zhang et al.

Performance of hybrid CW system for piggery wastewater treatment

Water Science & Technology

73.1

2016

Relationship between two forms of nitrogen (NO3-N and NH4-N) and total carbon (TC) concentration in the inuent of each stage and the nal efuent of the constructed
wetland.

NH4-N, respectively. These results indicate that the system

was able to remove high loads of organic matter and N.
The system was also highly efcient during both warm and
cold periods. The rst and second Vrs played an important
role in pollutant removal. Yearly results showed pollutant
load removal increased each year. Total C concentrations
may have inuenced N transformation and concentrations
in the system. Overall, the hybrid subsurface CW system
was proven to be a suitable and efcient piggery wastewater
treatment system.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan for
nancial support and to the owner of the piggery farm in
Chitose for the support received to carry out this research.
This work was also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant
Number 26292185.

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First received 19 June 2015; accepted in revised form 21 August 2015. Available online 4 September 2015