Effects of recycled FGD liner material on water quality and macrophytes of constructed wetlands: A mesocosm experiment

We investigated the use of flue-gas-desulfurization (FGD) by-products from electric power plant wet scrubbers as liners in wetlands constructed to improve water quality. Mesocosm experiments were conducted over two consecutive growing seasons with different phosphorus loadings. Wetland mesocosms using FGD liners retained more total and soluble reactive phosphorus, with lower concentrations in the leachate (first year) and higher concentrations in the surface water (second year). Leachate was higher in conductivity (second year) and pH (both years) in lined mesocosms. Surface outflow did not reveal any significant difference in physicochemical characteristics between lined and unlined mesocosms. There was no significant difference in total biomass production of wetland plants between lined and unlined mesocosms although lower average stem lengths and fewer stems bearing flowers were observed in mesocosms with FGD liners. Potentially phytotoxic boron was significantly higher in the belowground biomass of plants grown in lined mesocosms with low phosphorus loading. A larger-scale, long-term wetland experiment close to full scale is recommended from this two-year mesocosm study to better predict the potentially positive and negative effects of using FGD by-products in constructed wetlands.