Performance comparison of gravel- and oil palm shell-based constructed wetland mesocosms for copper, zinc and lead removal

Petra Odette Abi; Harry Lye Hin Chong.

Transactions on Science and Technology, 12(1), Article ID T121OA1, pp 1 - 9.

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ABSTRACT
Heavy metal pollution in aquatic environment usually happened at low concentration. Current heavy metal removal technologies have high operational cost. Subsurface flow constructed wetland is a potential solution as it is a low-cost ecotechnology. The high production of underutilised oil palm shell in Malaysia poses a potential as an alternative media for constructed wetland in heavy metal removal. This study aimed to compare the feasibility of oil palm shell as alternative media to gravel in mesocosm-scale constructed wetland for the removal of copper, zinc and lead. All oil palm shell- and gravel-based mesocosm units, unplanted and planted with Typha angustifolia, were spiked with synthetic wastewater under batch drain-and-fill mode and operated at three days hydraulic retention time for 180 days. The removal of lead in both oil palm shell- and gravel-based mesocosms were consistently near 100%. Copper and zinc removals in the oil palm shell-based mesocosms were ranging at 93.11 – 100% and 97.75 – 100%, respectively. Whereas copper removal in the gravel-based mesocosms ranged at 92.13 – 99.98%. Although pH in the planted gravel-based mesocosm was near neutral (pH 6.47 – 7.43), plant presence reduced zinc removal from 99.93% (Day 228) to 66.37% (Day 405) in the gravel-based mesocosm. Higher removal of sulphate in the oil palm shell-based mesocosms suggested the occurrence of metal sulphide precipitation. Oil palm shell-based mesocosms performed better than gravel-based mesocosms, both in unplanted and planted conditions. Further studies need to be done on the changes of media’s physicochemical properties after experiment as well as copper, zinc and lead mass balance to understand better the removal pathway of copper, zinc and lead in all the mesocosms.

KEYWORDS: Oil palm shell; Constructed wetland; Heavy metal; Typha angustifolia; Wastewater treatment



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