Treatment of Anaerobic Digester Effluent Using Acorus calamus: Effects on Plant Growth and Tissue Composition

Abstract

The responses of Acorus calamus under greenhouse conditions for 56 days when exposed to three dilutions (25%, 50%, and undiluted) of anaerobic digester effluent from a swine farm were determined. Plant growth, morphology, pigments, and minerals in plant tissues as well as water quality were investigated. The plants grew well in all concentrations of anaerobic digester effluent with no statistically significant effects on plant growth and morphology, and without any toxicity symptoms. The NH4+ concentrations in leaves and roots and the NO3− concentrations in leaves as well as the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium concentrations in the plant tissues increased with increasing effluent concentration. The nutrients in the anaerobic digester effluent were removed effectively (NH4-N > 99% removal; PO4-P > 80% removal), with highest removal rates in the undiluted digester effluent. The removal of total suspended solids (>80% in 42 days) and chemical oxygen demand (37–53%) were lower. The dissolved oxygen concentration in the anaerobic digester effluent increased overtime, probably because of root oxygen release. It is concluded that Acorus calamus could be a promising species for treating high-strength wastewater with high nutrient concentrations, such as effluents from anaerobic digesters as well as other types of agricultural wastewaters.

Treatment of Anaerobic Digester Effluent Using <i>Typha angustifolia</i> L.: Growth Responses and Treatment Efficiency

“…For PO 4 -P, approximately 80% of PO 4 -P was removed after 49 d of treatment (Fig. 4d), which was similar to PO 4 -P removal from digested swine wastewater treated by A. calamus (>80%) [61] and total phosphorus (TP) removal from swine wastewater treated by Lythrum Salicaria L. (74%). However, it was found higher than other species such as T. latifolia and S. americanus (20-34% TP) [56], C. indica and S. officinale (38%), P. australis (35%) [60].…”

A Glimpse of the World of Volatile Fatty Acids Production and Application: A review

“…Apart from the VFAs content that has its own various application, a lot of studies have been carried out to treat ADE, for example, directly reuse in field as fertilizer [ 225 , 226 ]; cultivate constructed wetland plants and algae, etc. [ 227 , 228 ]; and nutrients recovery [ 229 , 230 ]. Some typical constituents of anaerobic digestion effluent, except for VFAs, are summarized in Table 1 .…”

“…In addition, previous studies have reported that wetland plants provide many benefits for wastewater treatment including nutrient uptake, microbial growth support, oxygen provision for oxidation processes, and other physico-chemical processes [ 243 , 244 ]. 228 ,investigated two tropical wetland species growing up in anaerobic digestion effluent, results showed that high removals of biological oxygen demand (BOD) (96–100%), COD (69–73%), PO 4 -P (48%), NH 4 + -N (99%), and inorganic N (64%). The pollutant level in the anaerobic digester effluent was significantly reduced.…”

Characterization of the Spatial Variation of Microbial Communities in a Decentralized Subtropical Wastewater Treatment Plant Using Passive Methods

“…Families Xanthomonadaceae and Nitrospiraceae exhibited a decreasing trend from the inlet to the outlet (Figures 5c and 6c). These families are known to be aerobic bacteria [72] involved in nitrification [73] in significant symbiotic interactions with plants [74]. This decreasing trend could be related to the ammonia concentration which also decreased along the HFCW.…”