Sewage water treatment with energy recovery using constructed wetlands integrated with a bioelectrochemical system

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the role of constructed wetlands (CWs) integrated with a bioelectrochemical system (BES), which can concurrently treat wastewater effectively with energy recovery. This CW integrated system utilizes NH₄⁺–N (96.66%), NO₃⁻–N (83.09%), PO₄³⁻–P (91.04%) and SO₄²⁻ (83.98%) to enable effective pollutant removal from sewage wastewater. Nitrite accumulation was not observed in the systems with applied voltage >15 mV and MFCs–ME. The ME-30-CWs system favours the removals of all pollutants, except ammonia. The average power density and current density of 1.723 mW m⁻² and 5.423 mA m⁻² were recorded in MFC–CWs during wastewater treatment. Bacteria causing waterborne diseases such as Shigella sp. and Salmonella sp. were significantly eliminated in the CW integrated system. The promising potential of CWs and bioelectrochemical technology can be an effective alternative to the water–energy nexus for waste stream applications.