The influence of wastewater with different microplastic loads on plant health in constructed wetlands

B.Sc. Efrain Sandoval

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been studied and developed for being a cost-effective, efficient, sustainable, and low-maintenance wastewater treatment system for decades. CWs use the natural processes of different nutrient cycles, such as Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus to treat the effluents of small-density populated areas. The effectiveness of CWs in treating the water lies in the design that depends on the local necessities and characteristics of climate, effluent characteristics, plant species, and number of inhabitants. Several studies have investigated the removal efficiency (RE) of nutrients with the use of many combinations of different hydraulic loading rates, the efficiency of different CW designs, and Macrophytes. The symbiotic interaction Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has been found in 80% of land plant families and has been widely reported to play an important role by providing many benefits to the host plants such as uptake of nutrients, enhanced resistance to soil-borne pests and diseases, improved resistance to drought, tolerance of heavy metals, and better soil structure. Since the discovery of microplastics in the sediments on the coast of the United Kingdom in 2004, microplastics have been presented as a threat to the health of humans and nowadays is known that microplastics can be found in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In this study, we have merged the variables of AMF, and of two types of microplastics in different loads, to analyze the impact on the removal efficiency of CWs of Nitrogen, Carbon, and Phosphorus. The results conclude that the effect of microplastics in general does not generate an impact on the performance of the RE of TOC, TC, Phosphate, and Nitrates but it affects the RE of TN. In the case of the presence of AMF, it generated a significant influence on the RE of the Phosphate, TOC, TC, and TN.

Keywords

AMF, Microplastic, Constructed Wetlands

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 26. 4. 2024

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 23. 5. 2024
• Supervisor: doc. Zhongbing Chen
• Reader: Yingrun Chen

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Master programme:
Nature Conservation