Ecological floating bed for decontamination of eutrophic water bodies: Using alum sludge ceramsite

Xiaohong Zhao; Xiaoyuan Zhao; Chen Chen; Haidong Zhang; Lingqing Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114845

Ecological floating bed for decontamination of eutrophic water bodies: Using alum sludge ceramsite

J Environ Manage. 2022 Mar 7:311:114845. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114845. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xiaohong Zhao¹, Xiaoyuan Zhao², Chen Chen³, Haidong Zhang⁴, Lingqing Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecology in Arid Areas, Ministry of Education, Chang'an University, Xi'an, 710054, China.
² Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
³ School of Optical Information and Energy Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; National Agricultural Experimental Station for Soil Quality, Xiangcheng, Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Taihu Lake District, Suzhou, 215105, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: wanglq@igsnrr.ac.cn.

PMID: 35272160
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114845

Abstract

In this study, a combined ecological floating bed (C-EFB) with alum sludge ceramsite (ASC) was designed to improve the water purification effect of traditional ecological floating beds (T-EFBs). During the ASC preparation stage, alum sludge was shaped into a ball, air-dried, and fired under 600 °C. The physical and chemical properties of the ASC meet the requirements of Artificial Ceramsite Filter Materials for Water Treatment (CJ/T229-2008). This study investigated the increased capability of this new-type artificial substrate (ASC) on the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N), total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN) from eutrophic landscape water. Compared with the T-EFB, the C-EFB owns a higher purification efficiency. The highest average efficiency of COD, NH₄⁺-N, TN and TP removals during the four operating stages was 78.2%, 58.1%, 46.7% and 53.2%, respectively, in the C-EFB, which were all higher than those of 53.5%, 32.4%, 27.2% and 25.8%, respectively, for the T-EFB. Among them, the C-EFB showed a higher advantage in the removal of TP. The results showed that the potential benefits of utilizing ASC in seriously eutrophic bodies of water.

Keywords: Alum sludge ceramsite; Ecological floating bed; Eutrophic water; Purification efficiency.