Plastic particles affect N2O release via altering core microbial metabolisms in constructed wetlands

Xiangyu Yang; Yi Chen; Tao Liu; Lu Zhang; Hui Wang; Mengli Chen; Qiang He; Gang Liu; Feng Ju

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121506

Plastic particles affect N₂O release via altering core microbial metabolisms in constructed wetlands

Water Res. 2024 May 15:255:121506. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121506. Epub 2024 Mar 22.

Authors

Xiangyu Yang¹, Yi Chen², Tao Liu³, Lu Zhang⁴, Hui Wang⁴, Mengli Chen³, Qiang He³, Gang Liu⁵, Feng Ju⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Campus B, 83 Shabeijie, Shapingba, Chongqing 400044, China; Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou 310024, China; Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Section of Sanitary Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft 2628 CN, the Netherlands; Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Geological Engineering, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China.
² Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Campus B, 83 Shabeijie, Shapingba, Chongqing 400044, China; National Centre for International Research of Low-Carbon and Green Buildings, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China. Electronic address: chenyi8574@cqu.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Campus B, 83 Shabeijie, Shapingba, Chongqing 400044, China; National Centre for International Research of Low-Carbon and Green Buildings, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou 310024, China; Institute of Advanced Technology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou 310024, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Section of Sanitary Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft 2628 CN, the Netherlands.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou 310024, China; Institute of Advanced Technology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou 310024, China. Electronic address: Jufeng@westlake.edu.cn.

PMID: 38552486
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121506

Abstract

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been proven to effectively immobilize plastic particles. However, little is known about the differences in the impact of varying sized plastic particles on nitrous oxide (N₂O) release, as well as the intervention mechanisms in CWs. Here, we built a lab-scale wetland model and introduced plastic particles of macro-, micro-, and nano-size at 100 μg/L for 370 days. The results showed that plastic particles of all sizes reduced N₂O release in CWs, with the degrees being the strongest for the Nano group, followed by Micro and Macro groups. Meanwhile, ¹⁵N- and ¹⁸O-tracing experiment revealed that the ammoxidation process contributed the most N₂O production, followed by denitrification. While for every N₂O-releasing process, the contributing proportion of N₂O in nitrification-coupled denitrification were most significantly cut down under exposing to macro-sized plastics and had an obvious increase in nitrifier denitrification in all groups, respectively. Finally, we revealed the three mechanism pathways of N₂O release reduction with macro-, micro-, and nano-sized plastics by impacting carbon assimilation (RubisCO activity), ammonia oxidation (gene amo abundance and HAO activity), and N-ion transmembrane and reductase activities, respectively. Our findings thus provided novel insights into the potential effects of plastic particles in CWs as an eco-technology.

Keywords: Carbon metabolism; Constructed wetlands; Nitrogen metabolism; Nitrous oxide; Plastic particles.