Reactive transport simulation in a tropical horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland treating domestic wastewater Original Research Article

A promising approach to the simulation of flow and conversions in the complex environment of horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSSF-CWs) is the use of reactive transport models, in which the transport equation is solved together with microbial growth and mass-balance equations for substrate transformation and degradation. In this study, a tropical pilot scale HSSF-CW is simulated in the recently developed CWM1-RETRASO mechanistic model. The model predicts organic matter, nitrogen and sulfur effluent concentrations and their reaction rates within the HSSF-CW. Simulations demonstrated that these reactions took place simultaneously in the same (fermentation, methanogenesis and sulfate reduction) or at different (aerobic, anoxic and anaerobic) locations. Anaerobic reactions occurred over large areas of the simulated HSSF-CW and contributed (on average) to the majority (68%) of the COD removal, compared to aerobic (38%) and anoxic (1%) reactions. To understand the effort and compare computing resources needed for the application of a mechanistic model, the CWM1-RETRASO simulation is compared to a process-based, semi-mechanistic model, run with the same data. CWM1-RETRASO demonstrated the interaction of components within the wetland in a better way, i.e. concentrations of microbial functional groups, their competition for substrates and the formation of intermediary products within the wetland. The CWM1-RETRASO model is thus suitable for simulations aimed at a better understanding of the CW system transformation and degradation processes. However, the model does not support biofilm-based modeling, and it is expensive in computing and time resources required to perform the simulations.