SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Digital Commons @ ESF Dissertations and Theses Summer 8-15-2019 The Use of Hydrogen Peroxide as a Source of Oxygen for Ammonia Removal in Saturated Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands Madhuri Dinakar [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.esf.edu/etds Part of the Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Dinakar, Madhuri, "The Use of Hydrogen Peroxide as a Source of Oxygen for Ammonia Removal in Saturated Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands" (2019). Dissertations and Theses. 100. https://digitalcommons.esf.edu/etds/100 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ ESF. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ESF. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. THE USE OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE AS A SOURCE OF OXYGEN FOR AMMONIA REMOVAL IN SATURATED VERTICAL FLOW CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS by Madhuri Dinakar A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science Degree State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse, New York August 2019 Department of Environmental Resources Engineering Approved by: Wendong Tao, Major Professor JoAnne Ellis, Chair, Examining Committee Lindi J. Quackenbush, Department Chair S. Scott Shannon, Dean, The Graduate School © 2019 M. Dinakar All rights reserved Acknowledgements This study could not have been completed without the help and support of several people. First, I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Wendong Tao for his guidance and willingness to help throughout my research. I am appreciative of his advising which pushed me into becoming the researcher I am today. I thank my committee members Dr. Teng Zeng, Prof. Daley and Dr. Nosa Egiebor for their valuable suggestions on the thesis. Next I express my gratitude to Prof. Daley who encouraged me to participate and present my research at the NYWEA annual conference as well as the CNY NYWEA Spring Technical Conference. I must also thank JoAnne Ellis who despite being retired agreed to chair my defense. I am thankful for the graduate assistantships provided by the Environmental Resources Engineering Department and the Graduate School. I would like to recognize the assistance of Marlene and Kevin from the Analytical and Technical Services at ESF who immensely helped me determine the experimental setup. I extend my sincere thanks to Dr. Stephen Stehman who helped me better understand the data analysis. Many thanks to my lab peers Fred Ageyman, Alper Bayrakdar, Youl Han, and Joel Requena with whom I would have intellectual discussions to troubleshoot. Your support in continuing my experiments while I was away at conferences is also greatly appreciated. Friends and family are one of the pillars in life. I am extremely thankful to all my friends for their support and encouragement. They would bring a smile to my face on bad days and give me the enthusiasm needed to start with a fresh mind. Thank you to all my colleagues at the Environmental Resources Engineering Department. I would like to acknowledge my family for their financial and emotional support. Special thanks to Sushant Potdar for his positive morale and his help with graphing. Lastly, I am deeply grateful to my parents for their unconditional love and motivation which brought me to ESF to pursue my master’s and encouraged me to complete it. iii Table of Contents List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... vii Abstract .................................................................................................................................................viii Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 Objective ................................................................................................................................................. 2 Chapter 2: Literature review .................................................................................................................. 4 Types of Constructed Wetlands ........................................................................................................... 4 Ammonia Removal in Treatment Wetlands .......................................................................................... 5 Oxygen Supply in Wetlands................................................................................................................. 8 Hydrogen Peroxide as a Source of Oxygen ........................................................................................ 10 Hydrogen Peroxide as a Disinfectant.................................................................................................. 10 The Enzyme Catalase ........................................................................................................................ 11 Hydrogen Peroxide Use in Constructed Wetlands .............................................................................. 12 References ......................................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 3: Use of hydrogen peroxide as a source of oxygen for nitrification in vertical flow constructed wetlands ................................................................................................................................................ 17 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Materials and Methods ...................................................................................................................... 18 Experimental Design...................................................................................................................... 18 Wetland Setup and Operation ........................................................................................................ 18 Sampling and Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 20 Plant Growth Measurement ........................................................................................................... 21 Results and Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 21 Effect of Hydrogen Peroxide on Dissolved Oxygen Distribution ..................................................... 21 Temperature and pH ...................................................................................................................... 23 Effect of Hydrogen Peroxide on Ammonia Removal ....................................................................... 25 Effect of Hydrogen Peroxide on Plant Growth and Nitrogen Assimilation ...................................... 27 Removal Efficiencies with Hydrogen Peroxide Treatment............................................................... 28 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 29 References ......................................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 4: Future discussion and conclusion ........................................................................................ 33 iv Appendix .............................................................................................................................................. 35 Resume ................................................................................................................................................. 56 v List of Tables Table 3.1. Concentrations of various constituents in synthetic wastewater made to mimic secondary effluent…………………………………………………………………………………… 19 Table 3.2. Operational parameters used during the experiment…………………………………….. 20 Table 3.3. Dissolved oxygen and temperature measurements for various hydrogen peroxide treatments……………………………………………………………………………………………. 22 Table 3.4. Plant growth details for the two wetlands W1 and W2………………………………….. 27 vi List of Figures Figure 2.1 Cyperus alternifolius (umbrella sedge) which is a hydrophyte commonly used for SSF wetlands……………………………………………………………………………………………... 7 Figure 2.2. Biochemical reactions involved in nitrification……………………………………….... 9 Figure 2.3. Graph depicting the two bactericidal concentrations of H2O2 ………………………….. 12 Figure 3.1. Experimental setup…………………………………………………………………….... 19 Figure 3.2. Influent flow rates for wetlands W1 and W2…………………………………………… 23 + - Figure 3.3. Results of (a) dissolved oxygen (b) pH variation (c) NH4 -N data (d) NO3 -N values for W1 and W2……………………………………………………………………………………… 24 Figure 3.4. Total Ammonia removal rates and contribution by plant uptake in Wetlands W1 and W2……………………………………………………………………................................................ 26 Figure 3.5. Regression analysis of height and biomass of C.alternifolius…………………………... 27 Figure 3.6. Change of above-ground plant biomass