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Role of Constructed Wetlands in Wastewater Treatment and Mitigation of Emerging Contaminants
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This review examines how constructed wetlands can serve as sustainable, cost-effective systems for treating wastewater and removing emerging contaminants including nanoplastics, pharmaceuticals, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The authors describe how physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms work together in these engineered ecosystems to break down persistent pollutants. The study suggests that constructed wetlands offer a promising nature-based solution for addressing contaminants that conventional treatment methods struggle to remove.
Traditional wastewater treatment methods are not enough in the current scenario due to the emergence of various kinds of pollutants in the environment. Emerging contaminants (ECs), including pharmaceuticals, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and nanoplastics, pose significant risks to ecosystems and human health due to their persistence and toxicity. New approaches are being developed that concentrate on the simultaneous removal of pollutants like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and ECs. Constructed wetlands (CWs) have proven to be effective, sustainable systems for mitigating these contaminants through integrated physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms. Constructed wetlands offer a cost-effective and sustainable alternative for wastewater treatment, capable of removing organic pollutants, nutrients, and emerging contaminants (ECs) like pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Advanced configurations include vertical subsurface flow systems and aerated CWs. This chapter explores the role of CWs in wastewater treatment, focusing on the mechanisms enabling the removal of ECs, such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine-disrupting pollutants, and microplastics. The chapter emphasizes the importance of physical, chemical, and biological processes, such as sorption, phytoremediation, and microbial biodegradation. Key findings include the influence of hydraulic retention time, aeration rates, and substrate composition on pollutant removal, and the critical role of plant-microbe interactions in degrading ECs. Combining advanced processes with CW systems is also discussed in the chapter, such as adding biochar for enhanced removal efficiency. By synthesizing recent advances, this work provides a roadmap for optimizing CW systems to address emerging contaminants and meet the growing demand for environmentally sustainable wastewater treatment technologies.
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Constructed wetlands for emerging pollutants removal: A decade of advances and future directions (2014–2024)
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This review evaluates a decade of research on constructed wetlands, an eco-friendly water treatment approach, for removing emerging pollutants including antibiotics and microplastics. The evidence shows that constructed wetlands can effectively remove many types of pharmaceuticals and microplastics from water through a combination of physical filtration, microbial breakdown, and plant uptake. These low-cost, nature-based systems could help reduce human exposure to microplastics in treated water, though optimizing their design for different pollutant types remains a challenge.
Nanomaterial control in constructed wetlands: Linking environmental fate, ecological effects, and sustainable management
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This review summarizes existing research on tiny human-made particles called nanomaterials, including nanoplastics, in constructed wetlands used to treat water. It finds these materials mainly build up in the soil and biofilm layer, often harming wetland organisms through stress and cell damage, which can affect water cleaning performance.
The fate of microplastics/nanoplastics (MPs/NPs) in constructed wetlands: Addressing methodological gaps and experimental challenges from lab-scale to full-scale
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This review examines the effectiveness of constructed wetlands for removing micro- and nanoplastics from water, comparing laboratory and full-scale results. Researchers found that while constructed wetlands show promising removal capabilities, the unique physical and chemical properties of plastic particles mean that lab-scale efficiencies may differ significantly from real-world performance, highlighting the need for more field-scale studies.
[Research Process on the Removal Characteristics and Ecological Response of Constructed Wetlands to Microplastics/Nanoplastics].
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This Chinese-language review summarized how constructed wetlands remove microplastics and nanoplastics through plant-substrate-microorganism interactions, covering removal mechanisms, ecological effects, and treatment efficiency. The authors found wetlands to be a cost-effective ecological approach but noted significant knowledge gaps on long-term nanoplastic behavior.
Nature-Based Solutions for Removal of Microplastics from Wastewater: Technologies, Challenges, and Prospects
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This review evaluates nature-based solutions for removing microplastics from wastewater, including constructed wetlands, green infrastructure, and aquatic plants. The study found that these approaches can achieve removal efficiencies up to 99-100%, offering ecologically friendly alternatives to conventional treatment methods, though challenges remain with long-term efficiency and removal of other contaminants.
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