Comparison of single and mixed plant artificial floating islands for domestic sewage treatment

Abstract

The artificial floating island is an ecological restoration technology of water environment based on the principle of ecological hydraulics aiming at solving the problem of eutrophic water by degrading chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. It has good social benefits, environmental benefits, and broad application prospects. Against the backdrop of domestic wastewater treatment, the mixed plant-type artificial floating island, which include pickerel weed, Scirpus tabernaemontani, and bog rushes, was put into a test environment. Through the analysis of the adsorption and the absorption effect of various plants, the purifying effect of the mixed type of plant artificial floating island was thus determined and summarized based on the known total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand values. According to the test results, it can be concluded that the effect of the mixed type of plant artificial floating island system in treating domestic wastewater is significant. The removal rate of total nitrogen and total phosphorus reached 55.12 % and 37.59 %, respectively, and the removal rate of chemical oxygen demand reached 47.85 %. The mixed type of plant artificial floating island can effectively dispose the nitrogen and phosphorus in the water.