Abstract

ALASINO, Noelia et al. Kinetic and Hydraulic Behavior of a Full-Scale Constructed Wetland. Tecnol. cienc. agua [online]. 2015, vol.6, n.3, pp.93-104. ISSN 2007-2422.

This work presents the results from the study of horizontal subsurface flow in a constructed wetland with Cortadeira Selloana. The wetland was built in 2010 to treat waste generated by a facility belonging to the National University of Cordoba, Argentina. It was constructed to analyze the feasibility of treating wastewater generated by housing, and was therefore built at fullscale with an area of approximately 10 m². The kinetic constant for removing organic matter was calculated and simulation software was designed to evaluate different hypothetical situations considering a piston flow reactor system. A conservative tracer test was also performed to determine the distribution of residence time and the hydrodynamic behavior of the flow. As a result, it was determined that the system does not behave according to the hydrodynamic design model but rather as a system composed of two piston flow reactors with parallel dispersion. A reaction constant was obtained for the removal of organic matter based on a piston flow reactor model and a firstorder removal kinetics of k = 0.115 d^-1. The simulation identified a priori the concentration of organic matter in the effluent from the wetland for the situations of interest. The importance of studies using scales that are larger than pilot tests is highlighted (as was done in the present study using a fullscale system), as well as monitoring them over time, given that the vegetation roots, accumulation of solids, settling of gravel and soil depressions from the weight of the cell change the system and its morphology and, therefore, its purification capacity.

Keywords : Constructed wetland; Cortadeira selloana; hydraulic behavior; kinetic constant.