by PSP Volume 16 No 9a.
2007 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
EFFECT OF HYDRAULIC LOADING RATE ON THE
REMOVAL EFFICIENCY IN A CONSTRUCTED
WETLAND IN SUBTROPICAL CHINA
Jie Chang1, Xiaohong Zhang1, Reinhard Perfler2, Qing-Shan Xu1, Xiao-Yin Niu1 and Ying Ge1*
1
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zijinghua Rd., Hangzhou 310058, P R China
2
Institut fr Wasservorsorge, Gewsserkologie und Abfallwirtschaft, Universitt fr Bodenkultur, 1190 Vienna, Austria
SUMMARY
This study evaluated the effect of hydraulic loading
rate (HLR) on the removal of water pollutants with an in-
tegrated vertical flow constructed wetland in subtropical
China. There were three plant species in the constructed
wetland, Coix lacrymajobi and Canna edulis in warm
seasons and Lolium perenne in cold seasons. The percent-
age removal of ammonium (NH4-N), total phosphate (TP),
chemical oxygen demand (COD) and five-day biochemi-
cal oxygen demand (BOD5) all showed a shallowly nega-
tive response to an increase in HLR from 200 to 1200 L m-2
d-1, while the mass removal rate showed a markedly posi-
tive response to HLR. The upper limit for mass loading
rates of NH4-N, TP and BOD5 did not occur, even when
HLR was increased to 1200 L m-2 d-1, while the equiva-
lent for COD occurred when HLR reached 1000 L m-2 d-1.
It is concluded that the design of this constructed wetland
was very efficient in removing aqueous pollutants.
KEYWORDS: constructed wetland, integrated vertical flow, nutri-
ent removal, hydraulic loading rate, subtropical region.
ABBREVIATIONS
Aw, total area of the constructed wetland; BOD5, five-
days biochemical oxygen demand; CA, chamber A (water
down-flow); CB, chamber B (water up-flow); Ce, the out-
flow concentrations; Ci, the inflow concentrations; COD,
chemical oxygen demand; CW, constructed wetland; HLR,
hydraulic loading rate; HRT, hydraulic retention time;
MLR, mass loading rate; NH4-N, ammonium; Q, the flow
of wastewater; Rmass, mass removal rate; RR, the per-
centage removal rate; and TP, total phosphate.
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INTRODUCTION
Several wetland designs have been developed recently
to aid pollution control, such as removal of enteric organ-
isms and treatment of wastewater [1, 2]. Provided the sys-
tems are designed well with suitable vegetation and con-
trolled pollutant loading, they will compare favorably with
other approaches, such as conventional secondary and ad-
vanced wastewater treatment for highly eutrophic lake water
[3], eutrophic aquaculture wastewater [4], and communal
sewage [5]. Reductions in COD, BOD5 and nutrients are,
in general, higher in constructed wetland (CW) [1, 6]. This
variability with respect to nutrients can be attributed to the
differences in hydraulic loading rates (HLR), the types of
nutrient, and the abiotic environment [7]. Previous reports
on CW have mostly dealt with temperate regions, and there
is relatively little information on their use in treating mod-
erately polluted stream water in subtropical regions.
CW typically requires a low HLR and a long hydraulic
retention time (HRT) to achieve efficient pollutant removal
[8]. Bojcevska et al. [9] demonstrated a positive linear rela-
tionship between mass removal rates (Rmass) and mass load-
ing rates (MLR) of NH4-N and TP in a tropical free-water
CW. However, debate about the relationship between HLR
and the removal rates (RR) still continues for conditions
with high HLR, in part because a lack of criteria to define
what is meant by high or low HLR. Values for HLR of
135 L m-2 d-1 [4], 1540 and 1950 L m-2 d-1 [8] were all con-
sidered by the authors to be very high, though values up to
5410 L m-2 d-1 have been reported by Schulz et al. [10].
MLR has, therefore, been taken into consideration when
comparing the performance efficacy of CWs under differ-
ent values for HLR.
The aim of the present study was to examine the effect
of HLR on the removal efficacy in a CW near Hangzhou
in subtropical China. The system, which used integrated
vertical flow with a fluctuating water level, was tested for
the treatment of moderately eutrophic water in a creek with
HLR being increased gradually from 200 to 1200 L m-2 d-1.
 by PSP Volume 16 No 9a. 2007 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Constructed wetland system
In 1998, a CW was built at the end of the Longhong
Creek before it discharges into West Lake (12010E,
3031N). The river received agricultural (mainly tea field
and fish pond) as well as domestic wastewater from houses
scattered in the up-creek areas (Fig. 1). The maximum and
minimum temperatures are 39.9 C and -9.4 C, annual
mean temperature is 16.7 C. Annual mean precipitation
and evaporation are 1375 mm and 1352 mm, respectively.
The annual non-frost period is 246 d, and there are up to
three periods of snowfall in winter.
North
Longhong Creek
Output
Cushion ches
50-cm layer in the second chamber (CB, water upflow),
such that the sand surface of CA is 15 cm higher than that
of CB. Perforated irrigation pipes were placed on the sand
surface in CA for wastewater irrigation. A brick wall in the
sand layer divided the two chambers, and a network of hor-
izontal pipes in the gravel layer connected the two cham-
bers. Eutrophic water was pumped from the Longhong
Creek and stored temporarily in a 3-m3 buffer tank before
discharging into CA.
Seedlings of Coix lacrymajobi (about 35 cm tall) and
Canna edulis (about 45 cm tall) were transplanted to CA
and CB in May 1998. The system started feeding creek
water at 200 L m-2 d-1 (equals 200 mm d-1) in late May,
and vegetation was established within three weeks. An auto-
controlled pump was used to pump water from Longhong
Creek into the CW four times per day, i.e. intermittently.
In late November, the two species withered and the vege-
tation in both chambers was replaced with a winter spe-
cies, Lolium perenne.
Tests were conducted with HLR ranging from 200 to
1200 L m-2 d-1 in warm seasons, by setting different run-
ning hours of the pump. From May to October in 1999,
200 L m-2 d-1 increased at the beginning per month, and

water samples were taken at the end of the month, when

Chamber A Chamber B the duration had over about eight times of the HRT (3 days
Input for this system), insuring a steady state of the water qual-
t ity under a given HLR. We sampled the inflow and out-
Down flow Up flow flow water at 08:00, 12:00 and 16:00 each day, three days
successively.

FIGURE 1 Water samples analysis

Location of the integrated vertical flow constructed wetland.
Nesslerization was used for NH4-N, total phosphorus
(TP) was digested by K2S2O8 oxidation and determined by
colorimetry [11], and chemical oxygen demand (CODMn)
Input was determined by back titration method after potassium
Spread hosepipe
Output permanganate/sulphuric acid digestion. Biochemical oxygen
Catchment hosepipe
demand in five days (BOD5) was measured by OxiTop in-
Sand bed
strument (Wissenschaftlich-Technische Werksttten GmbH
Sand bed & Co. KG, Weilheim, Germany).
RR for the aqueous pollutants by CW was calculated as
Grave bed follows:
Ci - Ce (1)
RR(%) = 100%
Ci
Chamber A Chamber B

FIGURE 2 - The ichnography of the integrated vertical

where Ci and Ce are the inflow and outflow concen-
flow constructed wetland near Longhong creek, Hangzhou. trations in mg L-1.
HLR (L m-2d-1) was calculated
The CW consists of two chambers, with dimensions of Q
9 m 9 m (81 m2 each) and 1.3 m depth. We designed the HLR = (2)
system for the project supported by European Union con- Aw
tract ERBIC18CT960059 (Fig. 2). There are two layers of where Q is the flow (L d-1) of wastewater through the
inert material in both chambers to support plants growth. A CW, Aw is the total area (m2 ) of the CW.
20-cm layer of coarse gravel (40-80 mm diameter) was laid
on the cement bottom. A 65-cm sand layer was then placed MLR and Rmass of aqueous pollutants were calculated
in the first brick-wall chamber (CA, water downflow) and a in g m-2 d-1.

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Ci HLR (3) creased as high as 1200 L m-2 d-1, CW could still efficiently
MLR = remove NH4-N, RR kept at 82%, and removal efficiencies
1000
(Ci Ce ) HLR for TP and BOD5 were also kept at considerable levels, RR
R = (4) over 50%. While for COD, RR decreased to 26% at HLR
mass 1000
1200 L m-2 d-1, although it still kept at 40% when HLR was
1000 L m-2 d-1.
RESULTS Mass removal at different hydraulic loading rates

Removal rates at different hydraulic loading rates Rmass for the four parameters all showed a positive re-
sponse to the increase (200 to 1200 L m-2 d-1) of HLR:
The RR for NH4-N decreased slightly (variation range
NH4-N from 0.17 to 0.90 g m-2 d-1; TP from 0.06 to 0.27 g
only 10%) with the increase of HLR from 200 to 1200 L m-2
m-2 d-1; COD from 0.45 to 1.95 g m-2 d-1; and BOD5 from
d-1, RR for COD and TP showed a larger decrease (16%
0.35 to 2.34 g m-2 d-1. However, the Rmass for COD de-
and 27%, respectively), while BOD5 showed almost no
creased when HLR exceeded 1000 L m-2 d-1 (Table 2).
change with increasing HLR (Table 1). When HLR was in-

TABLE 1 - Performance in removal rate (MeanSD) at different hydraulic loading rates.

HLR (L m-2 d-1) NH4-N (%) TP (%) COD (%) BOD5 (%)
200 91.771.25 71.7927.18 36.469.11 47.554.74
400 96.191.40 85.248.06 42.885.90 53.8524.48
600 88.0923.81 68.0524.28 37.7110.08 51.2118.55
800 86.339.23 71.4518.32 39.269.33 49.167.50
1000 80.575.89 65.1117.49 40.665.73 51.1126.64
1200 81.6610.31 58.225.39 26.5217.02 52.3812.40

TABLE 2 - Performance in mass removal rates (MeanSD) at different hydraulic loading rates.

NH4-N TP COD BOD5

HLR (L m-2 d-1) (g m-2 d-1) (g m-2 d-1) (g m-2 d-1) (g m-2 d-1)
200 0.170.09 0.060.03 0.450.11 0.350.04
400 0.350.20 0.130.08 1.050.27 0.800.08
600 0.490.27 0.160.09 1.390.35 1.150.11
800 0.640.35 0.220.13 1.930.49 1.470.15
1000 0.740.41 0.250.14 2.490.63 1.910.19
1200 0.900.50 0.270.15 1.950.49 2.340.23

DISCUSSION
HLR is the major operational control factor for im-
proving treatment efficiency of a CW [12-16]. Some studies
have demonstrated that too high HLR (1950 L m-2 d-1 in
Lin et al. [8]; 781 L m-2 d-1 in Wu et al. [16]) caused a re-
duction in the removal efficiency of aqueous pollutants.
However, in the present study, only slightly decreases were
found when HLR increased to 1200 L m-2 d-1.
The CW present removed most of the ammonium, and
RR remained above 80%, regardless of the high HLR
(1200 L m-2 d-1), with average Ci 0.92 mg L-1. The RR was
similar to Lin et al. [4] (RR=86%, Ci=0.80 mg L-1, HLR=
135 L m-2 d-1), but higher than that found by Lin et al. [8]
(RR=64%, Ci=0.18 mg L-1, HLR=1950 L m-2 d-1) and Wu
et al. [16] (RR=68%, Ci=0.90 mg L-1, HLR=781 L m-2 d-1).
The value of Rmass for NH4-N ranged from 0.17 to 0.90 g
m-2 d-1 in present CW (MLR from 0.18 to 1.10 g m-2 d-1)
and was similar to that reported in other studies [4, 16],
provided MLR are taken into consideration (Fig. 3): CWs
with lower Ci at higher HLR might had the similar treat-
ment efficiency to those with higher Ci at lower HLR.
RR of TP in the present study was 58-85% at HLRs
from 200 to 1200 L m-2 d-1, and average Ci was 0.39 mg L-1.
The RR was similar to Wu et al. [16] (RR=73%, Ci=0.33
mg L-1, HLR=781 L m-2 d-1), but higher than Lin et al. [4]
(RR=32%, Ci=5.19 mg L-1, HLR=135 L m-2 d-1). Rmass for
TP in this study ranged from 0.06 to 0.27 g m-2 d-1 (MLR
from 0.08 to 0.47 g m-2 d-1), influenced slightly by increas-
ing MLR (Fig. 3). Rmass for TP was similar to Wu et al.
[16] (Rmass=0.19 g m-2 d-1, MLR=0.26 g m-2 d-1), and Lin
et al. [4] (Rmass=0.22 g m-2 d-1, MLR=0.70 g m-2 d-1). This
is consistent to the conclusions that higher removals were
generally associated with lower nutrients loading rates [17].
The RR for COD ranged between 26% and 43%, with
Ci 6.13 mg L-1. RR here was a little higher than that of Tao et
al. [15] (RR=25%, Ci=628 mg L-1, HLR=49 L m-2 d-1). The
Rmass for COD increased until HLR reached to 1000 L m-2 d-1,

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2.0 0.6
NH4 -N TP

Mass removal rate (g m d )

Mass removal rate (g m d )

-1
-1

1.5

-2
-2

0.4

1.0 2
R = 0.9615
2
R = 0.9952
0.2
0.5

0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
-2 -1 -2 -1
Mass loading rate (g m d ) Mass loading rate (g m d )

10 10

COD BOD5
8 8
Mass removal rate (g m -2 d-1)
Mass removal rate (g m -2 d-1)

6 6

4 4

2 2
R2 = 0.8167 R2 = 0.9969

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 0 5 10 15 20

M ass loading rate (g m-2 d-1) M ass loading rate (g m-2 d-1)

FIGURE 3 - Linear regression analysis comparing observed mass removal rates and mass loading rates
(both g m-2 d-1) for NH4-N, TP, COD and BOD5 (Published data on other CWs are showed for comparison).

from 0.45 to 2.49 g m-2 d-1 (MLR from 1.23 to 6.13 g m-2
d-1). Our Rmass was much less than reported by Tao et al.
[15] (Rmass=7.66 g m-2 d-1, MLR=30.84 g m-2 d-1) in a sur-
face-flow constructed wetland, though there was a similar
trend between Rmass and MLR (Fig. 3). A high MLR is
desirable for increasing microbial activity, while severe or
prolonged overloading inhibits activity [15].
The overall RR for BOD5 in the presented CW was
approximately 50%, with Ci 3.73 mg L-1. It was similar to
Lin et al. [8] (RR=54%, Ci=6.2 mg L-1, HLR=1950 L m-2
d-1), and Diemont [14] (RR=48%, Ci=81 mg L-1, HLR=
220 L m-2 d-1), but slightly less than Wu et al. [16] (RR=
77%, Ci=6.75 mg L-1, HLR=781 L m-2 d-1). Rmass for BOD5
in this study was also enormously increased (0.35 to 2.34 g
m2 d1) with an increase of MLR from 0.75 to 4.48 g m-2
d-1 (Fig.3), less than that in Taiwan (Rmass=4.1 g m-2 d-1,
MLR= 5.3 g m-2 d-1) [8]. An upper limit of 6-11 g m2 d1
BOD loading to surface-flow CWs has been suggested for
aerobic treatment of municipal wastewater [15]. Diemont
[14] stated that BOD removal of tropical free-water sur-
face CW treatment could be similar to or greater than that
found in temperate regions due to the higher microbial ac-
tivity caused by higher temperatures.

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CONCLUSION
This study demonstrated positive relationships between
removal efficiency and hydraulic loading rate for NH4-N,
TP, COD and BOD5 in a subtropical integrated vertical flow
constructed wetland system. The only one of the four pol-
lutants to show an upper limit in response to the increase of
HLR was COD, which showed a transition at 1000 L m-2 d-1.
Consequently, it seems likely that the HLR of an integrated
vertical flow constructed wetland could be even higher than
1200 L m-2 d-1 in treating moderately nutrient-rich water.
Studies are needed possibly to establish the optimum HLR
and highest removal efficacy in subtropical constructed
wetlands.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful for funding from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30370146) and
European Union contract ERBIC18CT960059. We thank
Friedrich Wissing for the help in vegetation establishment
of the constructed wetland.
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Received: January 17, 2007
Revised: May 02, 2007
Accepted: May 04, 2007
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Ying Ge
College of Life Sciences
Zhejiang University
368 Zijinghua Road
Hangzhou 310058
P.R. CHINA
Phone: +86 571 8820 6466
Fax: +86 571 8820 6465
E-mail: geying@hzcnc.com
FEB/ Vol 16/ No 9a/ 2007 pages 1082 - 1086